We started our day at the Hollywood & Highland Center, also home of the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards are held.
Since I didn't have an actual piece of cake on my birthday we decided to indulge in an enormous cupcake at the Crumbs Bake Shop. All of the flavors looked amazing and after some debate we decided on the Bryant Park. It's a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate mousse and topped with vanilla butter cream frosting, white chocolate shavings and chocolate sprinkles. Amazing! Of course, Samuel wanted them all which he demonstrated by holding his mouth wide open the entire time we were in the shop. I call it his "insert cupcake here" face.
Finally, it was time to taste; which actually translated to burying his face in the frosting!
Next, we walked down the street to the Grauman Chinese Theatre to see the footprints and hand prints of Hollywood legends. Thankfully, we got there before most of the international tourist buses arrived so we could actually put our hands in the cement.
Samuel mostly just enjoyed the waterfall and statues!
We had lunch at In-N-Out Burger and then went for a drive through the Hollywood Hills so Samuel could have a nap. We cruised down Mulholland Drive and stopped at the Mulholland Scenic Overlook which has one of the best views of the Hollywood sign.
Back at the Hollywood & Highland Center we stopped for yet another Crumbs cupcake, this time the Milkshake flavor, and let Samuel tempt fate at the fountains.
We walked down the street again to The Egyptian Theatre, Grauman's lesser-known movie palace, that was home of the very first Hollywood premiere of Robin Hood in 1922. It was once more popular than the Chinese Theatre, but since it lacks the renowned celebrity hand prints of its rival, it fell into disrepair until it was deemed a Los Angeles landmark and restored to its former glory in the late 90s.
The future home of Samuel Graham's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
We planned to meet my friend Lori for dinner, so we spent the time in between touring a couple of museums. The first was the Hollywood Museum in the historic Max Factor Building. My favorite part was the bottom floor which has been restored to reflect how the Max Factor Make-up studio looked. It is an Art Deco masterpiece and I loved seeing all the old make-up and hair coloring paraphernalia displays. We also got to see costumes and props from many T.V. shows and movies, past and present.
Next, per Allen's request, we visited the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum where we also met up with Lori. Most of the exhibits were hands-on which was great for Samuel (and Allen). The both had fun pushing buttons, turning wheels and touching some very bizarre oddities.
For dinner we chased down the Nom Nom Food Truck which competed in The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network. As we watched the show we thought the sandwiches looked amazing and really wanted to try one. We couldn't let the opportunity pass us by when we finally got to Los Angeles! While we waited in line Samuel and Lori got acquainted.
The sandwiches were even better than we anticipated and the perfect end to a busy day!
