(500) Days of Summer TOUR

(500) Days of Summer is a story of boy meets girl. You should know up front: it isn't a love story.

I love this movie. My brother loves it too. Since he has a fancy DSLR, we finally went on a mission to visit the locations in the movie.

The movie depicts Los Angeles as beautiful in a different way. It's not just glitz and glamour. There are some very architecturally beautiful buildings with great history.

Here are some photos from our walking tour. I wanted to recreate frames from the movie.

Day (35) - Tom's Apartment

Canadian Building, 432 S Main St

Day (35) - Tom's Apartment

Day (87) - Video/Record Store

(Bookstore in real life)

Day (290) - Video/Record Store

Old Bank DVD, San Fernando Building, 400 S Main St

Day (191) - Movie Theatre

Million Dollar Theatre, 307 S Broadway

Day (95) - Angels Knoll

W 4th St & Olive St

Day (260) - Angels Knoll

Day (408) - Summer's Apartment

Barclay, 706 S Normandie

Day (408) - Summer's Apartment

(This is in Koreatown, not Downtown L.A.)

Day (408) - Summer's Street

 (The movie added the buildings in the background)

Day (488) - Angels Knoll

(Escalator from Metro)

Day (488) - Angels Knoll

Day (488) - Angels Knoll

Day (488) - Tom's Bench

 

Day (500) - First day of Autumn

Bradbury Building, 304 S Broadway
(Touring isn't allowed upstairs.)

I had to wear blue for this occasion. (It's Summer's signature color. She's the only one that wears blue, with the exception of the dance scene.) My outfit was inspired by the "Bank Dance" music video on the (500) Days of Summer iTunes podcast.

This was the first time I really looked at the buildings downtown. We all had a really good time. Stuff always look prettier in movies. I was surprised to learn that (500) Days of Summer did not over exaggerate these locations. They really are beautiful.

Download the walking tour here. Check out www.laconservancy.org for more. 

Also, here's a link to additional film locations: http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/f/500DaysOfSummer.html

We exited Broadway off the 101, and parked in a lot on 4th Street and Spring. It's $5 flat rate on weekends. It's pretty much equidistant to Tom's apartment, the movie theatre and Bradbury Building, and Angel's Knoll.

It was overcast when we went. This was fortunate because if the sun had been out, we would have been really hot and tired from the walk.

If you go, I suggest going early. We started at 10am. Wear comfortable shoes. Bring a friend. Take pictures. Enjoy!

(Cinq Cents) Jours D'Été

Here are a few more sights from my tour. I don't have matching screen shots from the movie, but enjoy!

Angel's Flight
- It's an alternative to the stairs, but it takes you above the park.
- 25 cents one way, 5 trips for $1
- If you buy a round-trip ticket for 50 cents, you get a souvenir ticket.

California Plaza

Angels Knoll

The Bradbury Building

- My favorite building! It's so pretty!!

- There's a Subway next door, so it smells like sandwiches inside.

- Touring isn't allowed upstairs.

- There's a statue of Charlie Chaplin on a bench.

Grand Central Market

- It costs 25 cents to use the bathroom.

Million Dollar Theatre

- It was closed for a private party. There were fashion events in L.A. this weekend.

Tunnel

- This isn't the tunnel Tom and Summer drove through. That's on 2nd Street. This is 3rd Street.

Barclay Hotel

- The lobby was used as the hangout spot for Tom and his buddies.

- Loitering isn't allowed in the lobby.

The San Fernando Building

- I had to feature this because I am a valley girl.

Summer's Neighborhood

- The whole street had beautiful exteriors.

- There was some sort of block party going on. Just activities and booths, no food.

Learn more here and here!

I hope this blog post inspires you to explore Downtown Los Angeles and watch (500) Days of Summer.

The Facebook Movie

Last weekend, I saw "The Social Network." I thought the movie was really good! It was a bit exhausting because they talk so fast and so much!

Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Armie Hammer gave phenomenal performances! I would not be surprised if they get Oscar noms.


Justin Timberlake did well too. I didn't like Sean Parker until I saw he had an epi-pen and an inhaler. Haha, so cute.

I give mad props to Armie Hammer. I did not realize he played both of the 'Winklevi' twins.

It was cool seeing Brenda Song and Malese Jow on screen.

Bill Gates made a cameo. I didn't recognize him. Yet, I was able to recognize Stan Lee on last week's episode of Nikita. I'm a shameful business major.


Andrew Garfield. I yearned for more scenes with him. He is so hot!!!! I really loved Eduardo Saverin. He got screwed over. Oh goodness me, Andrew Garfield is British-American and has an accent in real life. He's going to be the new Peter Parker. He is so hot!

The Social Network is a movie, so a lot of it was exaggerated or altered for entertainment. I had to look up what was real and what wasn't. I'm glad the chicken thing isn't quite true.

Reasons why I love facebook:
- the former exclusivity to college students [I had to wait until I got a ".edu" email address to sign up!]
- you can tag yourself and friends in pictures
- wall-to-wall feature
- simplicity in the uniform design
- "it's free, and always will be"

In the movie, I think they should have mentioned how they revolutionized birthday greetings.

On that note, when some people greeted me a happy birthday on facebook, some asked why I hadn't mentioned it when I saw them in person. It's because I knew facebook would let them know!

Still a possibility?

It's official

Finally, a formal announcement.
At least, as formal as Twitter can be.

Asher Book is no longer with the group... if there still is a group

Au revoir, V Factory.

It was fun.

A Year Without Rain

Alex and Mason show their love as people been dong it for years: by slow-dancing to a pop song. It was cute! I noticed Wizards of Waverly Place has a bunch of one-hour specials. Nickelodeon would call them "movies"

After watching "Wizards Unleashed," I really to check out Selena & The Scene's new album.

I liked it. It continues Naturally's electro-ish/dance vibe.

She says "air-con" in Summer's Not Hot. That cracked me up. I thought only filipinos said that xD

I also hear more of the Scene in this album, though their name is really tiny on the album cover.

Hey Soul Sister

You know it's a good concert when you can enjoy it without knowing most of the songs and the lead singer's name. My mom really wanted to watch Train live after seeing a concert on Palladia. They have been a band for 15 years. I'm actually familiar with a bunch of their songs because they're played on the radio.

I parked in a neighborhood downhill and saved $20, and got a free workout xD. The hike up wasn't bad. The houses are really pretty (and look really expensive!). I don't think I have been to Griffith Park since grade school. People were hanging out outside having picnics.

Inside the Greek's front plaza, there were a couple of cool preshow activities: Food and merch stands, of course. A band played a few songs on a small stage set up. My 104.3 gave away Dane Cook and Dodgers tickets. There was a coloring booth and you could get a free concert tee with a Sunday New York Times Subscription. My favorite were the FREE face paintings and henna tattoos! Check out what my mom and I got:

It wasn't until after that I realized what my tattoo looked like. What can I say? I love stars and dragonflies.

We caught the end of the opening act, Needtobreathe. Our seats were on the aisle next to the railing of the South Terrace. Pretty awesome, especially considering they were FREE.

The lights dimmed and the sound of train tracks and "choo choo" came on. There was Train.
(Note: When I say "He," I am referring to the lead singer)


They released beach balls into the audience during Meet Virginia.


They countrified She's on Fire. He wore a cowboy hat and they sped up the song-- it was really fast! 7 girls from the front row got to go up on stage. They got shirts and became known as the "Train-ettes." He told them to sing "She's on fire" with him while the audience sang the rest. He said most of us probably didn't know the words to the song, so he told us to just sing whatever words we wanted. Haha.

During Ordinary, clips from Spiderman 2 played on the screen. He wore the blue tour shirt with the Superman design. After, the took it off and threw it to the audience.They gave away a lot of guitar picks throughout the night.

Before he sang If It's Love, he asked us to have our cell phones ready. We all held them up when he sang, "Hold your cell phones up in the air" He took a picture and tweeted it.

He changed into a white shirt to sing Marry Me. He said he wanted to come out and say hi to everyone. I didn't know he was serious. He jumped off stage and walked around the entire venue. People with aisle seats totally had it made. It was super awesome! At this point, I realized I didn't know his name! Haha! It's Patrick. Yeah, I could totally love you. I think I do after this.

Our "first dance" song was Hey Soul Sister.

They sang Drops of Jupiter, Dream On, and This Ain't Goodbye for their encore.

They all performed really well. The sound was great. Pat was really energetic and funny. He wore shirts that said "Hollywood Girl" and "Stay Cali," which grants extra points. There wasn't a dull moment.

P.S. The Greek wasn't really strict. I could have brought in my own water and food. They didn't check bags. Flash photography and video recording were prohibited, but a bunch of people, including myself, did it anyway. There was no cell phone service.