Hollywood, Hollywood

Throughout the world, Hollywood is synonymous with cinema (so much so that the Indians have given the name Bollywood to their musical film industry!) But what exactly is Hollywood?

Hollywood is a district of Los Angeles where the main studios were concentrated from the 1910s onwards. It was an emerging industry at the time, but one with great potential, and one that was to become one of the country's leading industries. The 14-metre-high letters forming the word HOLLYWOODLAND on Mount Lee, overlooking Los Angeles, were planted there in 1923. During restoration work in 1949, the last four letters were removed to match the name of the district they were intended to name: HOLLYWOOD!

Today, tours are organised to get you up close and personal to the gigantic scale that you can barely imagine from the valley.

With the rise in rents and land prices (California is the most expensive state in the USA), the studios decided to move out of the city while seeking to expand in terms of surface area. Today, only Paramount, which thought big from the start, retains its film studios and staff on the original site, in the Hollywood district.

And Hollywood is now taken to mean the entire US film industry in general.

Originally, the studios were located in New York. But lack of space and harsh winters prompted producers to look for new horizons. The appeal of the West Coast was strong, because it would be possible to shoot on natural sets: the weather was always fine, labour was cheap, there was plenty of space and, above all, deserts (westerns need them!) and no unions. In short, paradise. An Eldorado within an Eldorado!

The major studios all set up shop there fairly quickly, as competition dictated. First came the Warner brothers, Polish Jewish emigrants who had fled an increasingly anti-Semitic Europe. They invented the cinema.

Paramount Studios, inseparable from the history of American cinema because it had the biggest silent stars under contract: Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbank J. . The same studios that later produced Francis Coppola and his "Godfather" trilogy, as well as "Apocalypse Now". James Cameron, who invented "Terminator" and "Avatar", not forgetting his box-office record "Titanic", or Tom Cruise (the "Mission Impossible" saga). And of course Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and their "Indiana Jones"!

For their part, Universal Studios made their mark with the 1975 release of Jaws, by the gifted Spielberg. Spielberg again! A revolution at the time. You can visit the film's sets here.

And let's not forget Japan's Sony Pictures ("Spiderman", "Men in Black"), which owns Columbia Pictures, founded in 1924.

A visit to Universal Studios is a must. And why is that? Because it's a visit like no other: a theme park inside the legendary film studios. Of course, the recipe devised by Walt Disney is the order of the day, since the idea is to immerse yourself in the world of the films while playing games.

If you want to take a 'tour' of the studios, in addition to the attractions, you'll need to plan ahead and reserve your place. You will be taken in small groups and the tour will be guided and commented in English.

The place is huge. You'll discover the world of Harry Potter as much as that of Desperate Housewives, the eerie house where Norman Bates stabbed Janet Leigh through her shower curtain, in an anthological scene! And get a taste of the apocalypse in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds setting.

Not only that, but you'll be able to ride rollercoasters and countless other rides, feel Shrek's belly, go to the restaurant and be frightened by a shark that shows up right where you expect it, in one of the Jaws sets.

Steven Spielberg's genius was to adapt a 1974 novel that was already a perfect invention in its own right, and in which the filmmaker saw all its cinematic potential: Peter Benchley's Jaws (known in France as Jaws ). Spielberg was quick off the mark, acquiring the rights as soon as the book was published and releasing the film the following year! Since this global shock, nobody goes swimming with the same relaxed attitude as before the film came out! Except, perhaps, at the pool...

50 years on, the craze is still alive and well, and Universal Studios has left the setting and its water feature untouched. That said, the world ofHarry Potter seems to have stolen the show.

This park has also taken up the challenge of letting you experience the magic of their special effects! We won't tell you any more to keep the magic alive once you're there. One thing's for sure: you'll be blown away!

Finally, note that this theme park is not located in Hollywood, where only Paramount now has its premises and studios. You'll have to go to the San Fernando Valley, on the inner outskirts of Los Angeles. And don't forget: the less time you spend in the site's shopping arcade and restaurants, the more you'll enjoy the attractions!

In Los Angeles, Hollywood Boulevard is a tourist attraction in itself. After all, this is where Richard Gere met Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, and where the Walk of Fame spreads, all those stars embedded in the pavement symbolising the stars who have made Hollywood what it is today.

In Hollywood, Grauman's Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, perpendicular to the Walk of Fame. It is a famous theatre turned cinema, classified as a "historic and cultural monument", dating back to 1927. Spacious and spectacular, this is where the Oscars are held.

Less well known, but just as interesting, is the Pantages Theatre. Dating back to the Roaring Twenties, it was built by the famous RKO studios in 1930, in pure Art Deco style for the architecture and Art Nouveau for the decor (notably the sumptuous ceiling). Part of the video for Michael Jackson's 'You are not alone' was filmed here.

You can find it at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Not far away, still on Hollywood Blvd, stop off at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. It's sure to be the only chance you'll ever get to see Johnny Depp!

If Hollywood invented the magic of cinema that made us all dream, it also spawned cinema on an industrial scale. Eager always to please, to earn ever more, the entertainment system also invented guided tours of film studios, where spaces were created for visitors to immerse themselves in the world of their heroes. But it has to be said that in the USA, even the White House can be visited!

Taking the idea to the extreme, Disney Studios have adapted the principle of the European theme park to their world of cartoons. And Universal followed suit, as we saw above.

So if you're looking for fun in theme parks, head to Disneyland Park or Universal Studios. If you want to go behind the scenes of your favourite films or TV series: Paramount Studios, Warner Bros Studios, Sony Pictures or Universal Studios.

Of course, choose the studio you want to visit according to the productions you're a fan of. For example, Batman and Friends is Warner. But Harry Potter is Universal!

Paramount Studios

Paramount Studios is in the heart of Hollywood! So it's easy to find, at 5515 Melrose Av. Unlike its rival Universal, Paramount has chosen to focus on the history of cinema. The tour is full of anecdotes.

Paramount lived through the golden age of American cinema, notably by producing the films of Cecil B. DeMille, the Spielberg of the time. Then in the 80s, the now mythical ' Indiana Jones ' by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. And more recently, J.J. Abrams' 'Star Trek', 'Tranformers' and, most recently, 'Dungeons & Dragons, The Honour of Thieves'.

There are three options to suit all tastes and interests. These are guided tours with commentary in English. The standard package, which is the least expensive, is the Studio Tour. You'll set off in a group of 8 to discover the studio, its secrets and its sets. If you're not fluent in English, you'll miss out on some juicy anecdotes, but you should know that they're all told in French on the Paramount Channel, which plays them over and over again in France. And you can't help but make the connection between the sets and your favourite films. We'll explain the basics of cinema techniques. And you'll make a highly instructive stop in the warehouse, which houses all the props used in the studio's films. The tour ends at the boutique.

The VIP Tour lasts twice as long. More immersion, more anecdotes, more objects to discover. You'll hear about special effects, costumes and staging. You'll visit the workshops, the Paramount museum with costumes from the golden age and the building where the reels of these cinematic gems are stored.

TheAfter Dark Tour is a variant of the first, but at night. It'll be dark and you'll light up your visit with the torch you're given at the entrance. Among other delights (you'll be treated to a glass of champagne at the end), you'll be taken to the cemetery alongside the Paramount, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where some of the greatest figures of the 7th art are buried, including Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, directors John Huston and Tony Scott, and actress Anne Heche in 2022, as well as celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin's mother and our own Joe Dassin.

Warner Bros Studios

Another studio, another cinema and a new atmosphere. When Warner bought DC Comics a few years ago, it also became the owner of the rights to the publisher's comic book characters: Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

Not forgetting Flash, which comes out in cinemas this summer. So, during your visit, you'll see Batman's famous car, which the whole world discovered in the cartoon soap opera of the 70s, the one seen in Tim Burton's films, and then the one in Christopher Nolan's films.

You'll also be able to wander the streets of Gotham City, the sprawling, modern yet decrepit city invented by Batman creator Bob Kane, based on an imaginary mix of post-war Chicago and New York. The world of the TV series Gotham, Batgirl and Stargirl will also be on display in the form of sets, props and characters as you visit.

Change of scenery! The whole world converges here to immerse itself in the world of the series"Friends", and more particularly in "Central Perk", the cosy bar where this group of friends is used to meeting up. You can pose for a photo on the sofa that serves as their HQ!

To find out more, click here.

In Los Angeles, Hollywood is also, of course, Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox, but you can't visit them. Disney, on the other hand, has its own theme park here. Sometimes, a character is shared by two studios, as in the case of Indiana Jones, originally produced by Paramount, but whose rights now belong to Disney. So you'll see the famous character in both places.

The character of Spiderman, on the other hand, which you will see at Sony, which holds the film rights, is the property of Marvel, which has been owned by Disney since 2009.