Hollywood Blvd is shut down. The major equipment is out. They're preparing the red carpet for the Hollywood royalty.
For people that live here the lead-up to this event is pretty much a pain in the ass. The traffic around Hollywood is never as bad as it is during the Oscars.
They've really only just begin to break out the heavy equipment. You can see from this picture that they bring in a lot of equipment for this event. Lots of trucks moving in and out all day long.
Here they're hanging some sort of speakers or camera equipment above the Kodak Theatre entrance. I'm not sure what it could do there... but they must know what they're doing! They always have these wide-angle type shots of the beautiful people strolling down the red carpet, so that's probably what it is. It's hard to see in this picture, but they also put up a clear plastic roof in that area, in case it rains. I can only assume that they'll be prepared to cover the entire red carpet with the clear plastic if the weather turns bad.
This is where the stars stroll down the red carpet - right down the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. They get dropped off on the corner of Highland Ave and Hollywood Blvd, go through a big white tent, and take a stroll down the red carpet, and enter the Kodak Theatre for the award ceremony.
It's my understanding, from people that know these things, that once inside the Kodak Theatre, the stars do not actually sit up front and watch very much of the show. The place to be - the real ticket to the Oscars - is at the bar! They actually have fillers sit in the stars seats when they're not there. They escort the stars to their seats next to the stage right before their award is announced, so they can get up and accept the award and head back to the bar!
Here's a basic layout of the whole deal from Google Earth. A "secret" star bar couldn't really exist if I revealed to everyone where it was, so that arrow is for show only. Actually, I don't even know if there is a secret star bar... but I like to envision myself perched atop a secret bar stool having a couple of drinks and a couple of laughs with Keira Knightly and George Clooney.
I might try to get a few more pics right before the event when the red carpet is laid out. I'm also going to try to get a couple of pics of the circus surrounding the event while it's happening - there are police, fire trucks, swat teams, and bomb squads lined up down Hollywood Blvd. They don't show that part on TV!
TG
Labels: personal, pictures