Jaunted

Tags: Virgin America / Airline News / David Cush / Party Reports / Sunset Strip / → All Tags

Virgin Invades The Old Riot Hyatt for the Sunset Strip Music Festival

Where there's a party, there's usually a Virgin America logo.

We're used to attending all sorts of parties for Virgin America whenever they launch a new route or service but on Friday night, we were able to catch Virgin America and its sister airline, V Australia celebrate something different--the kickoff of The Sunset Strip Music Festival at the old Riot Hyatt aka The Andaz West Hollywood.

Celebs that showed up and worked the red carpet for the start of the three-day rock event on the Strip included Chris Cornell; legendary music producer Lou Adler (yes, father to Cisco); The Donnas; Caridee English; Taryn Manning;the Swedish "sleaze rock" band Vains of Jenna and Kristen Bauer from True Blood.

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Tags: Travel Snapshots / Los Angeles / Bridget's Sexiest Beaches / → All Tags

A Mammoth Mammary Billboard In Hollywood For 'Bridget's Sexiest Beaches'

Lording over Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles are, not surprisingly, giant orbs of breasts, supposedly belonging to our favorite beach bunny, Bridget Marquardt.

In what is obviously a ploy to attract the attention of tourists along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Bridget's boobies advertise her first season of "Bridget's Sexiest Beaches," which actually concluded about one week ago. Shouldn't they do the proper LA thing and get some new breasts up there to—you know— freshen things up?

By the way, the meaning of the jeweled Travel Channel logo necklace isn't lost on us; they're trying to remind us that yes, Bridget was one of Hef's girlfriends and yes, up until recently that necklace would have been the Playboy bunny. Nonetheless, Bridget never got a ginormous billboard of her assets in Hollywood when she was cozying up with Hef; here's to literally bigger and better things for Bridget.

Related Stories:
· Jaunted's Seven Minutes in Heaven With Bridget Marquardt [Jaunted]
· Bridget's Sexiest Beaches Episode Recaps [Jaunted]

Tags: Thanatourism / Hollywood / Music Travel / Death / → All Tags

Come and See Jim Morrison's Former Garage Door in LA

Tourism of sites related to death, or Thanatourism, is a curious and constantly popular pursuit around the world. Perhaps you've been a thanatourist without realizing it; visiting a Holocaust camp and even Hollywood star maps pinpointed with death locations definitely count. One such new offering also falls underneath the Thantourism banner, and it just happens to be tours of Jim Morrison's last US residence, an apartment in West Hollywood.

For $10 per person, diehard Doors fans can take a self-guided tour of the 6-unit villa estate built in 1932, complete with a brochure of anecdotes from when Jim lived there. Please contain your excitement; the tour only gets better!

Listen to The Doors music played in the courtyard area, "almost as if they were playing in concert there for you once again," and don't forget to pass by a bust of the man himself and snap pictures of "other interesting items such as Jim's former garage door."

If that hasn't yet completely filled you with the presence of Morrison's ghost, then how about buying a "ziplock baggie of dirt" from the property with signed certificate of authenticity? It's $10 as well, but available in limited quantities, so get on that before you miss out on a "shrewd memorabilia investment opportunity."

For more information on the "tour" or to buy things from inside of Jim's old place, check out the building's MySpace page.

Related Stories:
· Cheri Woods Rentals [MySpace]
· Death Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photos: Cheriwoods Rentals]

Tags: Where Is / Celeb Travel / Britney Spears / Justin Timberlake / → All Tags

The Restaurant Where Britney and Justin Met Monday Night?

This town ain't big enough for the both of them: Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake got way more than they ordered when they both found themselves at Yatai Asian Tapas Bar in West Hollywood for late dinners on Monday.

Timberlake was having dinner with his current sweetheart Jessica Biel around 10 pm when his former flame arrived--with her mom! That's gotta hurt. US Magazine's all-important anonymous witness said Justin and Jessica avoided the Spears party, who stayed about 30 minutes and then left.

Yatai, the Japanese word for street food stands serving ramen, dumplings and assorted fried meats, is to be distinguished from yattai!, an exclamation meaning "All right!" or "We did it!" popularized by this video.

Related Stories:
· Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake Have Run-In at Restaurant [USMagazine.com]
· Yatai in Fukoka [Japan Visitor Blog]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo from 5,000 years ago: Virgin Media]

Tags: New Year's Eve / Travis Barker / DJ AM / Celeb Travel / → All Tags

Together Again And Happier Than Ever

They've come a long way since their September crash, but Travis Barker and DJ AM seem to have developed a special power from it: On New Year's Eve, they will be... in ten cities at once!

Okay, not really, but their Los Angeles concert will be broadcast to nine other American cities as part of New Year's Nation, a series of parties linked by a common sound system. From Atlanta to Seattle, a ticket to New Year's Nation gets you an open bar, champagne at midnight and access to the cheers of other cities, but Barker and Mr. AM will be performing in LA, so we suggest you go there. After all, the dudes are practically invincible now.

Related Stories:
· DJ AM and Travis Barker Plan New Year's Eve Reunion [Bitten and Bound]
· Join the Party That Connects the Nation [Newyearsnation.com]
· New Year's Eve coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of DJ AM in a 2006 appearance: mcaphoto]

Tags: Milkshakes / Celeb Travel / Miley Cyrus / Paris Hilton / Britney Spears / Lindsay Lohan / Barack Obama / → All Tags

Shake It Like A Paparazzi Picture

There are plenty of things that get the "only in Hollywood" tag, but new LA milkshake shop Millions of Mikshakes really couldn't exist anywhere else.

Here's what happened: A London-born entrepreneur named Sheeraz Hasan moved to LA and lived out the modern American dream, getting rich off of celeb-stalking projects like Tinseltown TV and Hollywood.tv. But it turns out that all Hasan ever really wanted to do was make milkshakes.

So he opens up MoM, names his creamy creations for tabloid celebs--and then has said celebs (or sometimes, just celeb impersonators) come by to try out their namesakes, creating a media frenzy around the shop and making Hasan more millions.

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Tags: The Hills / Television Travel / TV Travel / Live Music / → All Tags

Spotting "The Hills" at the Viper Room

We aren't quite sure how we ended up at the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard last night. It could have been the lone margarita we had with dinner, or it could have been the fact that we're slowly approaching 30. But since we had never even been to River Phoenix's deathspot in the 5 years we have lived in Los Angeles, we decided it was time.

Our friend invited us to see this band, The Ruse, who went on last night at about 10pm. As we were waiting for the show to start, we noticed at least two cameras set up in the corners of the room and two more people walking around with monitors. We just assumed it was for a music video.

But no. Just before the music started, a man with an earpiece escorted two people to the front of the audience: Audrina and her maybe-boyfriend Justin Bobby from The Hills.

Audrina looked pretty in a short dress, black strappy heels, a low pony-tail and a cropped black leather jacket that matched one that Justin Bobby was wearing.

Justin Bobby is the weirdest person ever but there's something not quite authentic to his weirdness. And Audrina, while she looked much prettier in person, is still sort of a robot who robotically nodded to the music but for the most part looked like she wanted to leave.

As for whether they are on or off, we couldn't tell. They leaned into each other a few times to talk but since it was pretty darn loud, we doubt they even heard each other. It was about then that we realized we're probably too old to be seen in the background on an MTV reality show, so we headed for the exit.

Related Stories:
· The Viper Room [CitySearch]
· 'The Hills' skip dinner and get dessert at W Westwood [HotelChatter]

[Photo: MTV]

Tags: Restaurants / Restuarant Reviews / Ketchup / Dolce Group / Hot-Restaurants-In-LA / → All Tags

Ketchup on Sunset Review

Restaurants in LA Map

Last week, we hit up Sunset Boulevard to try out Ketchup, the latest hip restaurant from the guys at Dolce Group.

These guys are the proprietors behind other celeb-spotting spots like Dolce, Geisha House and the nightclub Les Deux. So we had a good grasp on what kind of crowd we would find sitting in Ketchup.

READ OUR KETCHUP REVIEW

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Tags: Food / Sushi Restaurants / Los Angeles / → All Tags

Blowfish Sushi Serving Asian Fusion But No Blowfish

When a friend took us to dinner last night at Blowfish Sushi we honestly thought it was just another cleverly-named sushi joint in a strip mall in Hollywood. But when we told our other friends that we were checking out Blowfish Sushi, they said, "Oooh, that place is supposed to be cool."

Indeed, it's not just another strip mall sushi joint. But those looking for a traditional sushi dinner won't find that here either. Blowfish Sushi is more an Asian fusion restaurant which is pleasing for those who can't (or won't) eat raw fish. It's also a small chain with spots in San Jose, San Francisco, and Auckland, New Zealand.

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Tags: Celeb Travel / Justin Timberlake / Cameron Diaz / Hollywood / → All Tags

JustinTimberlake and Cameron Diaz Reunite At Private Bar

Some nights out require a more intimate setting -- whether you're trying to romance a shy new flame or planning on getting back together with an ex. That must have been what Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz were thinking last week when they met at the exclusive Whiskey Bar in West Hollywood's Sunset Marquis Hotel.

According to People magazine, Justin was having dinner with Martin Scorsese -- whose Irish mobsters in "The Departed" might have found the bar more amenable to doing business than the Indian grocery stores and porn theatres they used -- and slipped away with Cameron sometime after 1 a.m., after which they left the bar together.

Bar entry is restricted to hotel guests and assorted other A-listers, but if you book now you can stay Easter weekend (April 6-8) starting at $250 per night for a "junior suite." Ex-boy-band member not included.

Related Stories:
· Justin & Cameron's Late-Night Reunion [People]

Tags: Los-Angeles-Parking-Guide / Parking / Jaunted Parking Guides / Los Angeles / Tips / → All Tags

Money for the Parking Meter in West Hollywood Goes High Tech

A while back Hertz banned us from renting their cars because of excessive parking tickets, no joke.  We are fighting back by trying to help give visitors a clear view of the entire parking scene in a particular locale.  We have put together our guide to parking in LA, and an accompanying map. On the map, we have plotted six LA public parking spots where we have had the most luck. Send along LA parking tips, tricks, and advice and comment here so other folks don't rack up steep parking fines, or worse yet, get towed.

The tips are still rolling in after we released our Los Angeles parking guide into the wilds of the internet earlier this week. While we didn't cover West Hollywood on our map, a tipster lets us know that should you venture here, the city offers visitors and residents a debit (prepay) parking system, called Cash Key that is designed for use in parking meters. From the city's website:

Cash Keys are pre-programmed between $10.00 - $100.00 in increments of $10.00. When you fully insert the Cash Key, it displays the value remaining on the key. Since the meter cannot display decimal points, the screen indicates the current dollar amount rounded down to the nearest dollar. The meter then deducts $.25 from the programmed amount and adds that amount of time on the meter. To register an additional time on the meter, just re-insert the Cash Key.

The only catch is that when you purchase a cash key you are charged a $10 deposit fee in addition to the amount you put on your card. Of course, you get that fee back when you are finished with your card. So if you plan on driving around WeHo for a few days or months, this should save you from having to dig up quarters out of the seat of your rental car.

But if you're in West Hollywood for a quick stay, then consider this parking garage on Santa Monica and West Flores. The price is about $12 for 24 hours, meaning you can park your car overnight for a reasonable fee. It certainly beats the $30+ valet fee at area hotels and of course, that $35 parking ticket from the City of West Hollywood.

[Photo: Rock Insider]

Related Stories:
· Jaunted Parking Guide: Where To Park In Los Angeles [Jaunted]
· Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills [HotelChatter]

Tags: Adult Entertainment / Celeb Travel / → All Tags

Jude Law's Guide To LA Strip Clubs

According to the NY Post, Jude Law likes his Body Shop:

Newly single Jude Law - who broke up with molten-hot Sienna Miller last week - has been spotted around the Marmont making time with a stripper he met at the nearby Body Shop, the Sunset Strip mammary mecca famously name-checked in Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls." But our spy sniffs that Law's latest squeeze is a far cry from the beautiful Miller: "He's been going to the Body Shop strip club every night and hanging out with this nasty young brunette - she is really beat looking."

To add insult to injury, Gridskipper adds:

The Sunset Strip's Body Shop -- it is one giant money vacuum disguised as gentlemen's entertainment.

Poor Jude, he can't even end up at the good strip club in LA.  

Related Stories:
· Jude Law At The Body Shop [NY Post]
· Body Shop Reviews [CitySearch]