Visiting Old Hollywood

Growing up, it was no secret that I loved acting, Hollywood, and Marilyn Monroe. Just ask my college friends... my entire bathroom was Hollywood/Marilyn themed. I swear, my previous life was during the Old Hollywood glamour days. I'm absolutely sure of it. So, whenever I'm in Los Angeles, Grauman's Chinese Theatre (recently renamed to TCL Chinese Theatre) is a must!

Grauman's (it'll always be Grauman's to me) is home to nearly 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints, and autographs, hosted many movie premieres, as well as the Academy Awards back in the 1940s. (And, yes, I did do a project on this Theatre back in college. Just in case you were wondering.)

While the majority of visitors are bombarding the most recent additions, (this time it was Harry Potter and Twilight. Seriously?) I spend my time over where the classic Hollywood stars are, starting with my girl, Marilyn.

One: 2006 | Two: 2013

I find it quite funny that this was for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes :)

Then, I had to go visit some of my other old friends!

Cary Grant was such a dreamboat and I'll never forget my mom's love of Doris Day. Growing up, I remember her always singing Que Sera Sera to me, a song that's so special to me today :)

There's always something so magical in the air when you're in Hollywood. Again, maybe it's just all that deja vu from my past lifetime, but it's such a special place for me to visit. Knowing all the history there. All the dreams. All the monumental moments. How wonderful it would be to take a step back into time and walk Hollywood Blvd in the early 1950s...

Have you been to Grauman's before? Who's your favorite person to go visit?

Old Hollywood Dreamboats

It's the start of a new week! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Super Bowl weekend! Mine was great until, um, my car went missing. My life should be a movie. Long story short - I have my car back safe and sound now.

So, speaking of movies, I've always loved a good classic film. You know, one of those old, dreamy, black & white films you can find playing on Turner Classic Movies. As I've mentioned before, I've always loved Marilyn Monroe and have been intrigued by the glamour of Old Hollywood. However, I also started to develop a true appreciation for those Old Hollywood films when I started to study them in depth in college.

In one of the film classes I took, we started off the year by screening Citizen Kane {said to be THE greatest American film of all time!} After that, we started to study the films of Alfred Hitchcock. I could go on and on about his work because some of his movies are my favorite films {Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Rear Window, The Birds, etc.} but all I'll say is that he was a genius.

Anyway, as I studied those films and others, I also studied the talent being placed in the roles. I studied their acting styles and demeanor. As many people do, I really respected so many of those actors and actresses for the bar they set for onscreen acting today. And, as many people did back then, I started to develop little, old-timey, celebrity crushes on some of those oh-so-handsome Hollywood men.

So, today I figured we'd talk about some of those dreamboats :) Here are a few of my favorites:
Let's start out with one of my favorite actors.

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Cary Grant
If you haven't seen him in a movie, you should {North by Northwest is a good one.} And pay attention to the way he walks. He's so smooth...

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Jimmy Stewart

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James Dean, but of course.

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Henry Fonda.

Last but not least, and the inspiration for this post:

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Robert Redford and Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Another GREAT film, and with these two studly guys, why would you NOT watch it? Seriously, total dreamboats.

Here is Paul Newman again in case you don't believe me:

Mmmhmmm. Told ya.

I was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the other day and had to ask my mom if Robert and Paul were the "dreamboats" of her time. "Oh, yeah" was her response. There have been times when she and I have gone through pictures of the Old Hollywood actors and she'll say, "Oh, everyone loved him" and "She was the bad girl back then" haha, it's pretty cute :)

Another fun thing - finding out what Hollywood starlets you resemble! Perhaps that should be a future post?

So, now I'm curious to know - who are your Old Hollywood Dreamboats?

P.S. Check back here tomorrow for a special announcement!!