I was a Celeb for 40 Minutes. (Mann's Chinese Theatre)

Member Name: katygriff

Product:	Mann's Chinese Theatre
Date:	21/10/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything

Disadvantages: Nothing

When we were in Los Angeles Graumans Chinese Theatre was one of the sights that I most wanted to see. Being a massive film fan I was interested to see where the premieres happen . The Chinese theatre is in the middle of Hollywood and honestly it was beautiful outside and in so I loved it. Here is why.

Location
The Chinese theatre is located right in the middle of Hollywood and in one of the most touristy areas as it is right near the Hollywood walk of fame and it also houses the handprints and footprints of celebrities. It is literally in the centre by all of the shops and a massive road in between.

To get to the theatre is pretty easy. We stayed in a Hotel within a 5 minute walking distance away and there are plenty of Hotels nearby. Also because of the road it means it's very easy to drive right by it and stop off. Taxis and tour guides park on the road right by it to let you get off and see it and then if you drove I am not sure where you would park but I am sure there is somewhere. Because Hollywood is such a popular and busy place though I would recommend getting there anyway but driving.

There is also a subway nearby.

So what is it?
Graumans Chinese theatre is the exclusive place to show LA film premieres. If you are extremely lucky you can catch celebrities as the night before we got there the premiere of the Proposal was on so people saw Sandra Bullock. It is also a theatre so you can go in and watch films there for about $10 each.

From the Outside
When you walk up to the theatre the first thing I noticed was how extravagant it was. It is a huge building with a massive Chinese style roof. There are also dragon statues around the theatre and it has 3 distinct parts to the building. In short it looks amazing. The majority of the building is cream and then there is a vivid reddy orange every now and again. It basically looks very elegant and extremely inviting.


Then outside you have handprints and footprints of all of the celebrities so as you can imagine this is a very popular tourist destination. There are so many of them and I am sure the guy told us there were over 200 so that is quite a few to get around. They are amazing with some from people like Marilyn Monroe and Arnold Schwarzenegger to people like the Harry Potter actors so something there for everybody.

There is a small gift shop for the theatre which sells keyrings and postcards and other theatre merchandise. It is only a very small shop but is worth a look. From the outside you will also see that there is a small ticket booth which sells LA tours so you can literally get everything touristy around LA here.

So when you have finished staring at the pure fantasticness of the building, you will notice that there are huge doors inviting you in but wait there, you can only go in these doors with a ticket for the tour so on the left side of the building there is a small ticket office where you can buy tour tickets. They cost $12.50 each and are well worth it.

Inside and the Tour
So we took the tour option as it was something I really wanted to do. You have to wear these headphones due to the noise of all of the people outside and also in case there is a film on inside. So you walk through the front doors and come into the lobby which has so many authentic Chinese statues and lights. It is amazing! Part of it even has brick as they wanted the theatre to look like you were still outside so it looks great.

Then you will be taken a tour of the actual cinema which is where all of the premieres are shown and it has the biggest screen in the country. It is huge!!! Then the seats are not amazing but you can tell they have been cared for and I had to sit in quite a few to make sure I would have sat on one a celebrity would have. You can buy tickets which I have mentioned above and come and watch a film here. They were showing Terminator Salvation when we were there and the sound was amazing.

Then you will be taken to see where you would buy tickets and even this looks great. So posh but just like any other cinema and you just have to sit there and imagine all of the celebrities that have been in there.

My favourite bit of the tour though was when they took us up to the VIP area which has luscious red seats and great views of Hollywood. But the best bit you ask - you get to bang the gong! There is a the film is beginning gong and when you bang it it is very loud. I loved it.

So inside is quite like any other cinema but the details in the Chinese theme are fantastic and it all looks so exquisite, that is seriously the best word for it. You can tell why they do premieres here. The tour lasts around 40 minutes and is really worth it as they go into so much detail.

Anything else
What I do have to tell you is even better than anything else. They are one of the first theatres in the world to try new seats that actually move with the movie. We sat in them to test them out and they are amazing but the tickets were about $20. If we had more time in Hollywood I am sure we would have tried them for a full film.


So in conclusion I have to say that Graumans Chinese Theatre is amazing! It was well worth the visit and because it is by a load of other attractions then you will definitely see it if you visit Hollywood. The tour was great and it is such a beautiful place. I would recommend to everybody and plus I didn't see any celebrities but you may do when you go.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Summary: Amazing Beautiful Theatre