81st Annual Academy Awards

I live just two blocks from the Kodak Theatre, so I was determined this year to take advantage of all the Oscar festivities. For two weeks leading up to the Oscars maintenance crews and security worked around the clock setting up bleachers, carpet, flowers, tents, and curtains transforming Hollywood Blvd into glamour central. It is so fascinating watching TV, and knowing that the stars are literally just walking along the street, and there just happens to be carpet on the street. The Kodak Theatre is part of a massive mall, but they closed the entire mall for the whole day and also shut down the entire block.

Since this was the "Oscars" it should obviously be my doggy, Oscar's day too.

He got the Oscar for Best Dog

This is the corner of Cherokee and Hollywood right by my building, and apparently this limo got a little bit lost. It slowly backed up, and probably took at least fifteen minutes to get around the neighborhood to the Kodak.

You can see the red tent at the end of the block.
This is the only press we agreed to.
Security was tight, so we were half a block away as the stars arrived. These guys were committed to catching a glimpse of the action.

But this was our view. We could hear the occasional cheers and could only guess who was arriving. Kate? Brad? Mickey?

We continued to stroll along the street and stopped in front of the Pig and Whistle just in time to see that Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor. This was my favorite moment of the night because an Elvis impersonator was playing the ukulele during the acceptance speech, and a Joker impersonator was telling him to "shut the 'F' up." It was perfect timing.

Even though the stars were already inside, the hubbub continued outside.

No autographs please!