In 1910, legendary director DW Griffith wrestled a Ford model T along a dusty maze of dirt roads from his provisional studio in a Los Angeles hotel to an orange grove at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains to scout locations for the movie In Old California. He found the perfect spot in the sleepy little village of Hollywood (the origin of the name has been traced to the native California Holly that covers the hillsides with clusters of bright red berries each winter), bought a ranch, built a bungalow for interior photography and more or less invented the filmmaking capital of the world. Although most of the major studios have long since relocated to larger tracts in neighbouring communities such as Burbank and the Westside, Paramount, with its distinctive gates (most memorably depicted in Sunset Boulevard) remains on Melrose Avenue, where it has absorbed the old RKO studio. For the best tour of a working studio, check out its website (www.paramount.com). Advance reservations are required. Of course, the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard is strewn with stars celebrating the directors, writers and, well, stars, whose collective contributions to film, music and television comprise the history of much of modern media. A few traces of Old Hollywood still remain, among them Musso and Frank Grill at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard which has been around for so long that Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin are rumoured to have raced there on horseback. History does not record who won, but undoubtedly the loser paid for a round of the fabulous martinis still poured there. Just up the street is Grauman’s Chinese Theater, which opened in 1927, and where towering, lotus-shaped fountains and intricate tile work flank the footprints of Hollywood’s elite. Across the street is the Roosevelt, one of Hollywood’s legendary hotels and now restored as one of its hippest hangouts. Just down the street is the El Capitan, now owned by Disney and another great movie palace that has been lovingly restored. At Hollywood and Highland, the fairly new Kodak theatre complex, home of the Academy Awards, is a great place to shop for Hollywood memorabilia or catch the latest flick. A few blocks into the hills is the justly famed Hollywood Bowl if you are in town on a summer night, call for tickets for whatever is playing and take a picnic basket for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Across Highland from the Bowl is the Ford Amphitheater, one of the premier venues for live theatre this side of the Hudson River. Nearby, back down on Hollywood Blvd, is the Pantages Theater (www.pantages-theatre.com), where the latest live musicals are staged months before they appear on Broadway. Right next door is a tiny little bar called the Frolic Room (www.bobsfrolicroom.com) that is famed for its Al Hirschfield mural dating back to the late 1940s, which depicts pretty much the entire panoply of Hollywood stars from that heady era. Have a drink and see how many you can identify. For a true taste of working Hollywood, try the Cat and the Fiddle restaurant and pub (www.thecatandfiddle.com) a couple of blocks south, at 6530 Sunset Boulevard, where you can sit around a tiled fountain among moviemaking’s working class of grips, stuntmen, extras and many of the other ‘little people’ who are the industry’s backbone.
They also serve the best fish and chips this side of Liverpool.