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Exploring Where the Rich and Famous People of Los Angeles Go

I was curious to see the other side of LA, the glamorous one. So far, I wasn’t too impressed—the houses looked nice but nothing out of the ordinary. I certainly couldn’t picture all these movie stars and socialites living here, in Korea Town or in Little Armenia.

We first headed to Santa Monica, where there is a lovely pier marking the end of Route 66. The beach looked gorgeous… It was easy to tell locals from tourists—locals had their winter jacket on, while tourists like us were in T-shirts! Indeed, LA was much warmer than I expected, it was about 20C during the day, much better than the -10C temperatures we had when we left Ottawa.

After Santa Monica, we took the ocean drive to Malibu. The road, bordered by a cliff, zigzagged along the Pacific Ocean and offered a great view. As we got closer to Malibu, the houses got bigger and the fences around them higher, but nothing like in Beverly Hills.

Now, this is where rich people live. You can tell by the size of the driveways, hiding the houses, or by the fact that there is no parking anywhere. Or because there is a flurry of landscapers driving around but no one in sight. Or because all houses display signs such as “do not enter, private property, armed response.” Bel Air, an enclave inside Beverly Hills, looked even more guarded.

We eventually ended up in Rodeo Drive, LA’s version of Avenue Montaigne in Paris. It wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be, most flagship stores such as Chanel or Gucci didn’t have bouncers at the door (it’s a thing in Paris).

I bought one thing—a Starbucks coffee. Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but they are not exactly my cup of tea.

Santa Monica Pier
Forest Gump
Santa Monica Beach
Dogtown Hotdogs
Malibu Beach and Coke
Beverly Hills
Rodeo Drive
Santa Monica
Santa Monica Police Car
Malibu Beach
Rodeo Drive
End of Route 66
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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