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Podcast number 869 Touring Celebrity Homes and Filming Locations.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 869.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is about taking a tour, going around and looking at celebrity homes here in beautiful Los Angeles.
Let's get started.
Welcome to Hollywood Tours everybody.
I'm your tour guide for today, and I'll be showing you some of the most memorable locations in Hollywood history.
Every seat in this double-decker bus is a good one, and you'll be able to see every landmark we drive by.
Yes, I do.
When do we see the celebrities?
I want to get my picture taken with a real Hollywood star.
Well, we'll be stopping at some celebrity homes and it's possible that we'll catch a glimpse of a celebrity.
I'll also be taking you to some filming locations where classic and well-known movies were filmed on location.
Yes, but can we go to some celebrity hangouts?
I really want to meet Johnny Depp.
I'm not sure...
If I saw Johnny Depp or any celebrity walking down the street, I would just go crazy.
For sure, I'd chase them down.
This isn't a hop-on, hop-off bus, and it would be really dangerous to run out into LA traffic.
Oh, what's the little danger if I can come face to face with a real-life movie star?
We begin the dialogue with the tour guide, the person who leads a group of people as they travel around and look at things, visit places that might be interesting for someone who is not from that part of the world or from that area.
This is a case of a tour guide here in Los Angeles, here in Hollywood.
Hollywood is just one part of the city of Los Angeles.
It's not its own city.
It's just what we would call a neighborhood, a section of the city of Los Angeles, although the word really gets used to describe the entire industry, the entire business of making movies and television shows and other things here in Southern California.
The tour guide says, welcome to Hollywood Tours, everybody.
You can actually take a tour here in Los Angeles that will drive you around to famous places.
This is one of those tours.
The tour guide says I'm your tour guide for today and I'll be showing you, I'll be taking you to some of the most memorable locations in Hollywood history.
Memorable.
M-E-M-O-R-A-B-L-E is something that is easy to remember, usually because it's very exciting or very interesting.
The guide says that every seat in this double-decker bus is a good one.
A double-decker, D-E-C-K-E-R, bus is a bus that has two stories or two levels.
These are most famously found in London, in England, where you'll see the double-decker buses.
I've ridden in double-decker buses once or twice.
They're very popular for tours because you can put a lot of people in the same amount of space.
You can put people on the bottom and people on the top.
For most of the Hollywood tour buses, the top floor level of the bus is open.
That is, there's no roof over it.
So if it's a sunny day, you're going to get a lot of sun.
And if it's a rainy day, well, you probably want to go down to the first level.
The tour guide says that you'll be able to see every landmark we drive by.
A landmark...
L-A-N-D-M-A-R-K is some structure object, Location that is somehow important, that is typically connected with something special.
Perhaps it was a special historical event.
Perhaps it was a famous movie.
Maybe a famous person died here or someone was born there.
You can go and visit the houses where famous people died, may have lived.
Those could be considered landmarks.
Or you could go, to say, the capital of our country, Washington DC, and see the big monuments and memorials, the statues,
These could all be considered landmarks, especially when they're found at places where something important happened.
Someone has a question, Elvira.
Elvira says...
When do we see the celebrities?
This is a question that everyone who comes to Los Angeles wants to know the answer to.
Where are the celebrities?
A celebrity.
C-E-L-E-B-R-I-T-Y is a very famous person, usually a singer, an actor, an athlete, a podcaster.
Well,
Most of those would be celebrities.
Elvira wants to get her picture taken with.
She wants to take a picture with her standing next to a real Hollywood star.
A star is like a celebrity, usually an actor, an actress who's very popular in a movie or a television show.
The tour guide says well, we'll be stopping at some celebrity homes and it's possible that we'll catch a glimpse of a celebrity.
To catch a glimpse.
G-L-I-M-P-S-E means to get a very brief, quick look at something or someone without seeing it very well.
So you see someone walking down the street and they're walking very fast and you just get a quick glimpse of them.
You just get a glimpse of what they look like.
You don't see them very well because they go by so quickly.
The tour guide says maybe we'll catch a glimpse.
Notice the verb to catch, C-A-T-C-H, a glimpse.
You could also say, get a glimpse of something or someone.
The guide says, I'll be taking you to some filming locations.
A filming location is anywhere where they use the area for a movie or a television show.
Here in Los Angeles.
There are filming locations everywhere and And they use different parts of the city to make movies and television shows, including my neighborhood where I live.
You will often see a film crew, a group of people making a movie.
You know they're there because they're blocking the streets and you can't drive around there.
And I really hate that.
But...
It's part of living in this city, living in Los Angeles.
Other parts of the city have filming locations more frequently.
Downtown Los Angeles is often, parts of it are often closed because they are filming.
The tour guide says that they're going to go where some classic and well-known movies were filmed on location.
The expression on location means they were filmed right there.
They weren't filmed back in what we call a studio S-T-U-D-I-O, which is a place where you would normally make a movie or a television show.
That's inside a large building.
They would actually, when you film on location...
They will go to the place that is in the script, that is in the story or that represents some place in the story.
So they'll go to a real house or they'll go to a street and they will film there, not inside of a studio.
Elvira says, yes, but can we go to some celebrity hangouts?
A hangout.
H-A-N-G-O-U-T is a place where you spend a lot of time in a casual, informal way.
Just having fun, not working.
Just enjoying yourself.
It can also be a verb, to hang out.
I'm going to hang out with my friends.
That means I'm going to go spend time with my friends.
As a noun, a hangout is a place where people go to have fun.
Elvira wants to go to some celebrity hangouts.
Are there celebrity hangouts?
Yes, they are.
There are restaurants and hotels and bars where lots of celebrities go.
Not me, but a lot of celebrities do.
I've seen celebrities here in Los Angeles many times, but usually at the grocery store or at the pharmacy or at the post office.
Not very exciting places.
Elvira says that she really wants to meet one celebrity, Johnny Depp.
Johnny Depp, you may know, is a famous actor, probably most famous for his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean.
Those movies.
The tour guide says that he's not sure.
Elvira interrupts, stops him from speaking and says If I saw Johnny Depp or any celebrity walking down the street, I would just go crazy.
She would be so happy.
She would go crazy, go wild.
For sure, meaning I'm absolutely sure.
To chase someone down means to follow someone who is moving away from you until you reach them, until you catch them.
Maybe they're trying to escape from you.
Maybe they don't know that you are behind them.
Elvira would chase down any celebrities she saw walking down on the street.
I do not recommend that.
However, here in Los Angeles, you could have the police at your hotel door soon after.
The tour guide says this isn't a hop-on, hop-off bus.
To hop on means to get on a bus.
To hop off means to get off the bus.
A hop on, hop off bus however, is a special kind of tour bus that many cities have, where you pay one amount of money for the whole day typically, And that bus will go around in a circle to a lot of different famous places that tourists will want to see.
And you can get on the bus.
It will take you to another place and then you can get off, visit that place, go back, get on the bus again.
That's a hop-on, hop-off bus.
The tour guide says it would be really dangerous, not safe, to run out into L.A. traffic.
To run out would mean to walk out where the cars are.
L.A. is, of course, Los Angeles, and traffic refers to the cars going back and forth on the street.
Elvira says oh, what's a little danger to If I can come face to face with a real life movie star.
What's a little danger means it's not important if it's unsafe, if it's dangerous.
Because the reward, the benefit would be so great.
I would come face to face, meaning I would meet someone personally, that person standing right in front of me.
With a real-life celebrity.
Real life means real, actual.
It's just a way of emphasizing when someone says real life.
They mean real, someone who is actually that thing.
In this case, a movie star.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Welcome to Hollywood Tours, everybody.
I'm your tour guide for today, and I'll be showing you some of the most memorable locations in Hollywood history.
Every seat in this double-decker bus is a good one, and you'll be able to see every landmark we drive by.
Do you have a question?
Yes, I do.
When do we see the celebrities?
I want to get my picture taken with a real Hollywood star.
Well, we'll be stopping at some celebrity homes and it's possible that we'll catch a glimpse of a celebrity.
I'll also be taking you to some filming locations where classic and well-known movies were filmed on location.
Yes, but can we go to some celebrity hangouts?
I really want to meet Johnny Depp.
I'm not sure.
If I saw Johnny Depp or any celebrity walking down the street, I would just go crazy.
For sure, I'd chase them down.
This isn't a hop-on, hop-off bus, and it would be really dangerous to run out into LA traffic.
Oh, what's a little danger if I can come face-to-face with a real-life movie star?
The most famous celebrity here at ESL Podcast is, of course, our scriptwriter, the wonderful Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
