Donna in Hollywoodland

Beverly Hills

Today was a day to hang out in Beverly Hills.

First, a friend and I decided we wanted to see if we could catch any celebrities a The Satellite Awards .
It was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Our first plan was to get there early for breakfast. We ate in their dining room, which was a really weird experience.
You have to talk very quietly. Its all very elegant.
And the employees did seem to be watching us closely when we first arrived. I don't know if it was because we were new customers that they were trying to see if we needed anything - or if they were watching us to make sure we didn't cause any problems.

When we first walked into the restaurant, the hostess took us to a dark table in the corner.
My friend and I looked at eachother.
"Uh, do you have something in a better lit area?"

She then took us to the room in the back with lots of windows - and more customers who were already seated.

When we finally sat at our table, my friend said "What was that all about? Why were they going to give us an awful table?"

We ordered our breakfast. My friend got Huevos Rancheros ($19) and I got the breakfast of eggs, bacon and potatoes ($25).
In all fairness for the cost of my breakfast - my coffee was included, and it was three scrambled eggs (or two super huge ones), and the bacon was some kind of gourmet turkey bacon, otherwise I would not have ordered it.

As we sat by the window that overlooked the patio area, my friend and talked - mainly about celebrities.
He said something, and I laughed.
I guess my laugh was alittle to loud for this establishment.
Three waiters all turned around and looked at me at once.
I piped down.

I noticed a blond man sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant. His back was to us.
I passed my friend a note.
"Is that Val Kilmer?" said my note.
I mean, we must be on our best behavior in a place like this.

And my friend pulled out a plastic bag with pens in it !!!
"No, you are not !" I said in a whisper. "You are not asking for autographs in here. We'll get kicked out."

My friend continued to glance in their direction.
Finally he said "To answer your question, No, its not."
Ah, no celebrity. Bummer.

Then, in the middle of breakfast, I got up to use the ladies room.
I went to ask the host for directions.
First thing he did was look at me up and down.
I felt like saying "No, these aren't expensive clothes, but we are paying for breakfast."

When I got back, my friend was trying to tell me something. But he couldn't say anything because people would hear us if we spoke above a hushed tone.
I handed him a piece of paper. He said "I'll tell you later.

Turns out the man and woman who were sitting behind me, had a computer with them. And the man was showing her pictures of himself in little speedos !
Geez, I though this was a classy joint !

For an birthday present, my friend treated me to the expensive breakfast.
That was nice. At least I didn't have to pay for it.

Actually, it was a nice enough place. If I wanted to go someplace elegant, I would come back here.
And they do have free internet access in the restaurant too.

Once we got out into the lobby, we had plenty of time to kill.
We allowed ourselves lots of time, because we thought there would be alot of press and craziness going on.
The entire Award thing was very low-key.

So we walked around and looked at all the pretty Christmas decorations in the lobby.
Every time we turned a corner, there was another helpful employee standing there - ready and willing to show us their little spot of the hotel. And then pointing us to a different section so we wouldn't miss anything.



After viewing all the pretty decorations, we were shown up the elevator to where the pool and outdoor cafe were.
Then we came back down and hung out in the gardens.



The gardens were right next to where the Award Ceremony was going to be held.
It was so out-of-the-way, and there were no other people around, that we almost didn't find it.
And it was so cold out, we couldn't stay in the garden.
We sat indoor on the couches for a while.
But then we went out by the front doors, and there were space heaters there. So thats where we stayed.

We did see Quentin Tarantino go in, and Corbin Bernson .
Then Jodie Foster arrived. My friend was so happy about that.
But from where we sat, we did not see alot of other celebrities.
And since there was no one else anywhere around, we did not want to overstep out boundaries and take pictures.

I told my friend, we should go back out into the Cold Garden, because if any celebrities were staying in the hotel, that is the way they would go to the award ceremony. They would not come through the front doors.
But the space heaters were way to comfortable, so we stayed put.

Finally we decided to go. As we turned the corner, there were about three limos - which we had not seen drive up to the front door. I said "Oh, no - they took some celebrities in through the side."
We snooped around, and sure enough - there was a side gate.
If we had been willing to be cold and sit in the garden, we would have seen more celebrities.
But we wanted to be warm - and I just don't think we made good celebrity looky-loos.

We stopped off at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
We planned to see the artwork they usually have on display.
Of course, we pick a day when they are in between exhibits, and could not get in.

Then we tried Trader Vics .
It was closed.


So we went into the Beverly Hilton . The bar area was finished being remodeled.
And all this running around was making me tired (or is it the radiation treatments or both?).

I said to my friend "Lets sit down."
He didn't want to - because there were no celebrities.
I said "I need a Sparking Mineral Water. We are sitting in the Bar!".
My sparking mineral water was $4.33, tho they did serve nuts and spicey dried peas with it.
We relaxed for about an hour.



If you want to see pictures from the day, I have them uploaded on Flickr.
Its my Beverly Hills Set .