Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 3

Universal Studios

      The theme park at Universal Studios has always been strongly linked to the movie studio, it is the entertainment capital of Los Angeles . The theme park has an interesting history but i don't want to spend much time on things people can find on the park's website.  The organic analogy cant be applied to Los Angeles because it does not have a center that organizes the city. So the closes thing to a cultural center I could think of is Universal Studios City Walk and the theme park.
      Universal Studios is a great place to go and hang out and to people watch. Even though there are limited number of things to do, the Studio Tour is the number one main attraction. The Tour is the signature attraction at the park, and goes into a working movie studio, with various film sets on the lot. In recent years, guests have sat in multi-car trams for the duration of the ride. The Studio Tour lasts about 45-50 minutes and is led by a live tour guide who can be seen throughout the tram on video screens. It travels through the Front Lot, Backlot and various attractions, passing sets and props from movies along the way.The tour has always been at the heart of Universal.             

          Universal Studios is a world of its own. It has its own city with its own zip code, hospital, fire department, bank, sheriff's department, and post office. The bank isn't a public one but a private one. It's only open to those who work for Universal Studios.

           I took a car trip there last weekend and it is approximately 17 miles away from UCLA.  People  come from all over the world to be part of the "movie magic" of what is Universal Studios: China, India, Russia, South America and many other countless countries . Based on my experience, on an average day  there are usually about 3 tour groups that I assume are tourists from Asia that consist of about 40 people. The last time that I was there, when ordering my food, I saw this one gentleman ordering about 40 orders of an entree for his Mandarin speaking tour group for their lunch.There are usually smaller groups about 5-10 people (usually families) from European counties. I mostly hear them speak in languages that belong to Slavic language family. The lines there are pretty decent in wait time and it gives people just enough time to assess their neighbors in the line and try to guess where they came from. Are they South California residents or tourists. The average wait time that I've noticed is about 30 minutes, but for the new Transformers: The Ride 3D the average wait time is about 80-120 minutes.
       
         Not only is Universal Studios about the theme park but it's also about Universal CityWalk. Universal CityWalk is similar to a town square where there are many places to dine, shop, and watch a movie. You can think of CityWalk as a center of the valley in the middle of North Hollywood, Studio City, Universal City, Hollywood, Valley Village, Burbank, and Valley Glen. It's not only about the residents of those cities, but also about tourists who come to experience the American culture and diversity. It is so cute to watch little kids dance to the beat of the drums of American pop music in front of the brand new 5 Towers cineplex.
                           5 Towers at Universal CityWalk