One Day Los Angeles Driving Tour

Start your morning with breakfast at Mel's Drive-In, one block east on Highland just south of Hollywood Blvd., or grab a bagel at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf across from the hotel, then cross the street to compare your hand and footprints to your favorite stars in the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Not much in the Hollywood & Highland shopping center next door will be open before 10 or 11 a.m., but walk across the front of the complex past the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are held to the staircase leading up to the Babylon Courtyard. Don't forget to look down at the Hollywood Walk of Fame as you're walking to see if your favorite entertainers' stars are on this block.

You can take the escalator up to the Babylon Courtyard, but then you won't get a chance to admire how the architects managed to frame a view of the Hollywood Sign as you ascend the center of the staircase. The Courtyard itself looks like a Hollywood set with giant elephant sculptures perched high above the three-level ring of shops. Make your way up to the viewing bridges at the back of the courtyard via stairways or escalators on either side for your photo opportunity with the Hollywood Sign and Hollywood Hills as backdrop. You can also see the Hollywood Methodist Church with its red ribbon painted on the tower. In the 1943 movie War of the Worlds; terrified citizens took refuge in this church from attacking aliens.