The Streets of Hollywood Blvd. After Dark

You've heard about the glamour of Hollywood, eh? The stars, the parties, the Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, the shopping... but what happens after hours? Do the streets empty? Does everyone go home only for Hollywood Blvd to bustle again the next morning? No way. Here's what happens after hours:

It's dangerous and I shouldn't have been on Hollywood Blvd. at 3:00am, but I wanted to go geocaching with my best buds, and so we went. At first, everything was ok. It was about midnight and we were slowly finding all the clues, but there were just a couple that constantly eluded us... Determined and knowing that we would all go to our separate states soon, we searched into the morning hours. As time went on, the town of stars changed into a clubbing town: to be expected. But soon, the streets started filling up with rough-looking characters who yelled almost constantly. Police sirens could be heard every 5-10 min or so. More than once, fist fights broke out, one going into the street and stopping what little traffic there was; policemen came and broke it up.

Homeless people could be seen wrapped in blankets at the doorsteps of many businesses. A man appeared who picked fights for extraneous reasons and bothered several people around us. I was so scared as he walked in the same direction as us, not far behind. No matter how fast we walked, he never seemed to get farther away and I could hear his insults behind me. I was so glad to be between my two male friends, one tall and one very fit. At one point, I hid behind them as the rude man passed.

Hollywood Blvd becomes so dirty at night: piles of advertisements for clubs fill the sidewalks in front of many businesses, which make the ground slippery and hard to cross. The smell of fresh onion hot dogs fill the air every couple blocks. I never had one, but the smell is so thick that every time you pass a cart, you can almost taste one.

In the end, we never did finish that geocache; we quickly headed home. What a contrast between the Hollywood Blvd of the day and that of the night...