Hooray for Hollybot!

Traveling Monkbot Journeys to Hollywood

Text and Photos by Mind Doc
Photography Assistant: Mr. Doc

I was just about to send Monkbot on his merry way, when I realized that I was scheduled to work at a clinic that is near Hollywood later in the week. I was struck by the Monkbot potential in this visit. Shelley gave permission for me to take the little feller for a ride and so off we went to Hollywood. Before the Hollywood visit, I was at another clinic and found this great view.



I do not know much about the dinosaurs, but I seem to remember at least one of them being in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. The thematic requirement fulfilled, Monkbot poses in the freezing wind just long enough to get the shot, but avoid getting eaten. The website says, “From the interstate highway, the uncommon view of two giant dinosaurs, on an arid plain surrounded by mountains, is an irresistible magnet. But tourists are not the only ones compelled to stop. Well within L.A.'s convenient day-drive sphere, the Cabazon dinos became media darlings in the 1980s, appearing in everything from Coke commercials to rock videos to the film "Pee Wee's Big Adventure." They were built by Claude Bell, who ran the Wheel Inn on I-10. Claude took 11 years to build Dinny, a giant apatosaurus and arguably the largest dinosaur in America.”

I like that there is a giant slide built into the T-Rex’s tail, a fact that I did not know.

After work, I go to Hollywood, which is a short drive away. Mr. Doc volunteers to help out with the photos, as my previous photo-partner is in Scotland. The first stop is the famed Hollywood sign.



This was a remarkably tough shot to get. Too far away and there were scads of telephone wires and lethal traffic (the best shots were from the middle of busy streets). Too close and there were damned trees and hills. A helpful dog-walker suggested a vantage point and voila!

If there is one landmark that says "Hollywood" to the world - literally! - it is the famous Hollywood Sign, perched high atop Mount Lee, the tallest peak in L.A. The sign measures 450 feet long, its mammoth letters are 45 feet high, and it's visible from all parts of Hollywood. Erected in 1923 as an advertising sign for a real estate development in Beachwood Canyon, the sign originally read "Hollywoodland." The last four letters were removed in 1945, after Hollywood had become the world's movie capital, and the sign had already become a well-known landmark. (In fact, it's been officially declared "Los Angeles Cultural-Historical Monument #111.")

Who knew that they have a webcam?

We figure we have enough time to get another couple of shots. The next stop is the Kodak Theater, where the American Idol finale was held. It is situated right next to Mann’s Chinese Theater and is on the Walk of Fame.



Finally, we stop at the CBS Studios, where the American Idol television show was taped. Imagine a long queue of people waving Soul Patrol and Taylor Hicks signs, laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. We are shooed off – sheesh! No pictures are allowed to be taken on the property, by edict of the gate guard. I believe him to be a fascist. I back off to the driveway. The gate guard looks at me suspiciously, and I wonder nervously if they have tazers in the guard shack. I retreat to the van. We quickly get the shot, with little or no finesse. (insert whispered conversation consisting of “hurry! Just get it out of the window! I am, I am!”)



So, Monkbot is off to his next destination, antenna and visor intact. Not even scratched. The bubble wrap is looking a little tattered, though. Fond regards from this faction of the Monkbot Division.

Signing off!!

Woo Hooo!!! Five thousand Monkbot points to Rowan, Mind Doc, and Mr. Doc for all their hard work and sacrifice! This was a GREAT installment of Traveling Monkbot!

FYI...Traveling Monkbot has ALREADY reached his new foster home. Who has him? What will happen?

To be continued...

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