starline tours of hollywood

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Welcome to Starline Tours of Hollywood, L.A.’s oldest and most respected  choice in sightseeing and the original Celebrity Homes tours.

Located in the heart of Hollywood, Starline Tours is the largest tour company in Los Angeles, offering a full range of tours. We have been featured on hit shows like Ellen, American Idol, the Muppet Movies, Iron Man 3, NBC’s Today Show and showcased on the Travel Channel. We’ve also been written about in the LA Times, USA Today and other reputable newspapers and travel magazines from around the world.

Starline originated as the Movie Stars Homes Tour when Mr. Sid Grauman, creator of the famous Chinese Theatre, gave his chauffeur (Bud Delp) the idea of driving people around Hollywood to see the homes of celebrities, back in 1935. We are still the leader in this tour today.

For movie enthusiasts, we have the LA Fit Locations Tour.

Starline’s City Sightseeing Los Angeles covers over 100 miles of route, with guided narration in nine different languages, making it the largest Hop-on Hop-off service in the world!

Also included in our tour portfolio, are our LA CIty Tours, Walking Tours and, Night Tour.

In addition, we have a large fleet of deluxe highway coaches available for charter to local clubs and organizations as well as groups from all over the world.

Founded in 1935, Bud Delp started the Movie Stars Homes with three limousines and drove star struck tourists around Los Angeles to see celebrity homes. In the mid 60’s, our President and owner Vahid Sapir, who was at the time an exchange student from Iran with an entrepreneurial spirit, became Bud’s protégé. By the end of the decade, he took out a $50,000 loan, bought the company from Bud and built Starline to what it is today – a thriving tour company with a large fleet of open-top vans, closed-top double-decker buses and open air trolleys offering a variety of tours given by our fun, up-to-the-minute informed drivers.

As part of Hollywood history with 80 years of experience in the tour industry and the largest number of celebrity encounters of any tour company, Starline Tours is the #1 choice for your Los Angeles sightseeing adventure.

+1 (323) 463-3333 [email protected]

6801 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90028

Copyright © Starline Tours 2024

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Santa Maria Boomers + Los Angeles Hop On Hop Off Combo

Boomers Los Angeles + Los Angeles Hop On Hop Off Combo

Boomers Irvine + Los Angeles Hop On Hop Off Combo Ticket

Hollywood Madame Tussauds + Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour Los Angeles Combo

Marina del Rey Dinner Cruise + Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour

Newport Beach Dinner Cruise + Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour

Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour + Warner Bros. Studio

Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour + Medieval Times Dinner

Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour + Big Bus Tours Los Angeles

Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour + Aquarium of the Pacific

Discover LA’s top sights with Starline’s Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour. Cruise through iconic neighborhoods, from Hollywood to sun-kissed beaches, as you take in panoramic views from the open-top, double decker bus. With three interconnecting routes and pre-recorded narration, this Los Angeles tour is perfect for first-time visitors. 1 or more people

Good To Know

• LA Tour ticket valid for all routes.
• Narrated audio tour available in 9 languages.
• The easiest way to see the best of LA.
• Hop on and hop off at your convenience.
• Open-air buses are ideal for picture taking.

Description

Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour Reviews

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Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour is located at Starline Tours • 6801 Hollywood Blvd. • Los Angeles , CA 90028

Nearby Things to Do

• Hollywood Celebrity Homes Tour from Los Angeles
• Madame Tussauds Hollywood
• The Los Angeles Sightseeing Pass
• Go Los Angeles All-Inclusive Pass
• Go Los Angeles Explorer Pass

Nearby Hotels & Lodging

• Hilton Garden Inn Los Angeles/Hollywood
• Tilt Hotel Universal/Hollywood, Ascend Hotel Collection
• Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City
• Sheraton Universal Hotel
• BLVD Hotel & Studios

Frequently Asked Questions about Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour

Is the ticket valid for all of the routes.

Yes, the tickets are valid for all three tour routes: Red (Hollywood), yellow (Beverly Hills and Santa Monica), and purple (Downtown LA).

Is the tour narrated, and in which languages?

Tours are fully narrated, pointing out the places of interest and the history of the city. The narration is triggered by GPS and is pre-recorded in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, German, French and Italian.

What are the hop-on hop-off routes and duration of the tours?

There are three interconnecting routes and two connector routes stretching from the Beach to Downtown Los Angeles: - Red Route (2 hours) includes Hollywood Blvd, Chinese Theatre, Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive, West Hollywood, LACMA, La Brea Tar Pits, Farmers Market, Melrose Ave. and more. - Yellow Route (2 hours) includes 3rd St Promenade, Santa Monica Pier, Montana Ave., Brentwood, Westwood, UCLA, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Century City, Westside Pavilion and more. - Purple Route (2 hours and 15 minutes) includes Olvera St., Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Jewelry District, Bradbury Building, Fashion District, LA Live, Staples Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cathedral of Our Lady and more.

What types of buses are used for the hop-on hop-off tour?

The buses for the Red, Yellow and Purple routes are open-top double-decker buses, allowing you to see the city from a unique perspective.

What are the hours of operation?

They operate seven days a week from 10:30 am to as late as 7:30 pm, depending on the season.

Are hop-on hop-off tours child friendly?

Yes, children will enjoy the fun of the open-air double decker buses.

Are the buses wheelchair accessible?

All Starline City Sightseeing hop-on hop-off buses are wheelchair accessible.

Are strollers allowed on the buses?

Yes, strollers are permitted as long as they are collapsible and can be placed in the area of wheelchairs.

What happens if it rains?

If there is a significant period of rain on your tour during the time of ticket usage, customers may request one 24-hour extension for your unlimited ticket. No refunds or substitutes.

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Call and Book Your Next Trip Today!

1-800-590-8125.

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Starline Tours

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The Original Celebrity Homes Tour

Los Angeles: City Sightseeing Hop-On Hop-Off Tour

Los Angeles Private Custom Tour

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

STARLINE TOURS (Los Angeles) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

StarLine Tours of Hollywood

Notice: LAtourist will be compensated if you purchase tickets or tours through the following links.

StarLine Tours

StarLine Tours ( book online ) is the most popular guided tour company for Los Angeles and Hollywood. They've been doing it for more than 75 years! They have all of the traditional tours plus some that you can only find at StarLine.

The first advantage of StarLine Tours is that most of their tours originate from a major tourist attraction - Hollywood and highland. While waiting for your tour, you can explore browse stores, get something to eat, wander through the courtyard of the Chinese Theatre, and check out nearby stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The fun starts before the tour even begins! When you're finished looking at cement imprints, you are only steps away from Hollywood and Highland shopping district. Before or after the tour, you can browse shops or get something to eat. From there you have access to the heart of the Hollywood tourist district, including Madame Tussauds, the Walk of Fame (stars on the sidewalk), the novelty museums and more!

USA: 888-878-6079 or International: +1-619-546-8286

Some Featured StarLine Tours

(Most tours originate from Hollywood and Highland, and many include hotel transportation.)

The Grand Tour of Los Angeles - If you're looking for a traditional guided tour of many of the places that define L.A., then you'll want to take StarLine Tour's Grand Tour of Los Angeles. There are plenty of interesting attractions on this tour! You will visit Hollywood Boulevard, the Sunset Strip, Beverly Center, downtown Los Angeles, Rodeo Drive, Farmers Market, the Grove and others. This tour lets you "sample" some of the attractions on 15-20 minute stopovers. You'll see for yourself which attractions look interesting enough to return. When you get home people will ask, "did you see the so-and-so?" and whatever it is, you'll be able to say you saw it!

Tour: The Grand Tour of Los Angeles Departs: 9:30 AM daily (hotel pickup schedule varies) Duration: 5.5 hours Location: Starts at StarLine Terminal. Hotel pickup is provided for most local hotels.

Tour Combo: The Grand Tour of Los Angeles (above) -and- Movie Stars Homes Tour (below) - Seven and a half hours of sightseeing in L.A., Hollywood, Beverly Hills, the Sunset Strip PLUS over 40 current and former homes of movie stars!

Movie Stars Homes Tour - You won't believe how much fun you will have on this tour! You might not actually see Tom Cruise or Angelina Jolie, but imagine the thrill of seeing their neighborhoods, the streets that they drive on and the house that they call home. This tour is about a million times better than buying a worthless "map of the movie star homes" and driving around in a rented car looking for those locations. Those maps aren't even accurate! On the StarLine Movie Stars Homes Tour you'll be driven by a professional who already knows where to go. They'll give you the scoop on the REAL homes of the stars. Some homes you might see: Michael Jackson, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Cruise, Lucille Ball, Orlando Bloom, Courtney Cox, Elvis Presley, Christina Aguilera, Doctor Phil, Aaron Spelling mansion.

Tour: Movie Stars Homes Tour Departs: Daily every half hour, 9:30 AM until sundown Duration: 2 hours Location: Starts at StarLine Terminal. Hotel pickup is provided for most local hotels.

Book online or call 888-878-6079

• Hollywood Route: Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood's RockWalk, Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Center, Museum Row on Miracle Mile (LACMA, Auto Museum, La Brea Tar Pits), The Grove and Farmers Market, Pink's Hot Dogs on Melrose Avenue, and other stops.
• Santa Monica Route: Santa Monica Pier, Third Street Promenade, Westwood Memorial (Marilyn Monroe), many more!

You can easily spend an entire day on the Hop-on, Hop-off Double Decker Bus. It will take 3 to 4 hours (depending on traffic) to ride the entire circuit even if you don't get off at any of the stops.

Starline Tours

Category: Entertainment & Venues

6231 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, CA 90028 (800) 959-3131

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"Welcome to StarLine Tours the Original Hollywood Tour since 1935! Home of Los Angeles City Sightseeing, Hop-On, Hop-Off bus. We are open & safe."

Hours Operates 7 days a week. Tour hours vary throughout the year. For the most up-to-date tour hours, call +1-800-959-3131

visit website

Nearby Dining

• Everbowl 6250 Hollywood Blvd (171 feet S)
• Hollywood Burger 6250 Hollywood Blvd (171 feet S)
• RDEN Bar & Restaurant 6280 Hollywood Blvd (225 feet SW)
• Birdcage Hollywood 6263 Hollywood Blvd (245 feet W)

Nearby Destination Retail

• Funko 6201 Hollywood Blvd (274 feet E)
• Lost & Found 6320 Yucca St (900 feet NW)
• Drip LA 6376 Hollywood Blvd (0.2 miles W)
• Hollywood Heritage 6411c Hollywood Blvd (0.3 miles W)
• Sneakers LA 6519 Hollywood Blvd (0.3 miles W)

Nearby Entertainment & Venues

• Hollywood Pantages Theatre 6233 Hollywood Blvd (12 feet W)
• Avalon 1735 Vine St (550 feet NW)
• The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre 1615 Vine St (663 feet SW)
• The Fonda Theater 6126 Hollywood Blvd (688 feet E)

New Star Tours Scenes Featuring Ahsoka, Andor, and The Mandalorian Debut at Disney's Hollywood Studios

T he new sequences for Star Tours – The Adventure Continues featuring Ahsoka Tano, “Andor,” and “The Mandalorian” have made their debut at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

New Star Tours Scenes

The exterior of the ride is unchanged, save for two new banners on either side of the entrance.

The banners include art from the new attraction poster revealed by Disney Parks earlier this week. The poster features imagery of the planet Seatos and Purrgil — whales that have appeared in episodes of “Ahsoka” and one episode of “The Mandalorian.” Ahsoka’s T-6 Jedi shuttle also flies in the background.

We grabbed our 3D glasses and boarded the Starspeeder 1000, ready for the newest Star Tours adventures.

While on our ride, we escaped to Kashyyyk and then received a transmission from The Mandalorian and Grogu. Mando told us he was sending over coordinates because our help was needed, and then Grogu ate and spat out a frog floating in front of passengers — the main 3D gag for our ride.

Next, we traveled to Seatos, where we saw Purrgil and Ahsoka asking for our help in a dogfight. We eventually take the enemy down and R2-D2 makes the StarSpeeder do an inversion before flying us back to the hangar.

Other new additions include transmissions from Ahsoka and Cassian Andor.

Reportedly, all tours are currently visiting Seatos. The opening, first planet, and transmissions are randomized. One version of the opening features Ahsoka’s T-6 Jedi Shuttle.

Check out our ride POV of all the new Seatos planet sequence, the new T-6 Jedi shuttle opening, and all three new transmissions:

These new scenes will also be available at Disneyland’s version of the attraction as part of their “Star Wars” Season of the Force event , which begins April 5.

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on  Twitter ,  Facebook , and  Instagram .

The post New Star Tours Scenes Featuring Ahsoka, Andor, and The Mandalorian Debut at Disney’s Hollywood Studios appeared first on WDW News Today .

2018 Primetime Emmy & James Beard Award Winner

In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

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Universal Studios Hollywood celebrates 60 years with this new Studio Tour experience

Universal Studios Hollywood reissues iconic Glamor Trams as the world-renowned Studio Tour celebrates a milestone 60 years. (Photo credit: Victoria Wall Harris/Universal Studios Hollywood)

LOS ANGELES - Universal Studios Hollywood celebrates the Studio Tour's 60th anniversary this season with a new, "experiential" addition to their popular Los Angeles back lot tours. 

While guests are normally confined to keeping their arms and legs inside their vehicle during the tour, beginning April 26, Universal Studios Hollywood is flipping the script. The park invites guests to get off the tram to pose for photo opportunities in front of some legendary movie scenes, like Universal's "King Kong" and "Jaws" sets.

For a photo opportunity like never before, the anniversary event will also feature the first-ever original replica of the Hollywood Sign situated along the iconic back lot for guests to get up close to the iconic landmark.

Universal Studios Hollywood reissues iconic Glamor Trams as world-renowned Studio Tour celebrates a milestone 60 years. (Photo credit Victoria Wall Harris/Universal Studios Hollywood)

Other notable attractions include the renovated debut of Universal's "Earthquake – The Big One," which features a realistic 8.3-magnitude quake, and a large Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur display. The 60th-anniversary elements offer guests new ways to immerse themselves in Hollywood's most iconic scenes – and take the photos to prove it.

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"The Studio Tour is a crown jewel in our theme park portfolio and a beloved attraction for millions of guests," said Universal Studios Hollywood Executive Vice President and General Manager Scott Strobl. "We are thrilled and honored to share our enthusiasm for its historic relevance with guests both new to the experience as well as those who have journeyed with us along the way."

As part of the Studio Tour 60th anniversary celebration, Universal Studios Hollywood offers a selection of specially created, highly themed food and beverages, available from April 26-August 11, 2024. (Photo credit Victoria Wall Harris/Universal Studios Hollywood)

The anniversary celebration also includes new eatery options, including BBQ brisket sandwiches and BBQ chicken sandwiches from Hollywood & Dine, burgers and chili dogs from Mel's Diner, ice cream from Studio Scoops and cookie sandwiches from City Snack Shop.

Universal Studios Hollywood's 60th anniversary event runs from April 26 through August 11, 2024. Click here for more information and for tickets .