ESL 044 - Hollywood Stars and Tourists

Tourists from around the world visit Hollywood. Buses take them past the Hollywood sign. At Grauman's Chinese Theater, they press their hands into the imprints of movie stars who long ago pressed their hands into wet cement. Tourists pause at the gold stars in the sidewalks with the movie stars' names on them.

Buses drive past movie stars' houses. Tourists hope to see a star chatting with friends or tanning by the pool. Unfortunately, most of the houses are behind high hedges or down long winding driveways; tourists are lucky to even see a chimney.

And finally, tourists take pictures everywhere and with everyone. A popular picture opportunity in Hollywood is with movie characters like Chewbacca from "Star Wars."

However, Chewbacca might not be so popular anymore. Last week, outside Grauman's, Chewbacca gave two young female tourists a hard time. He kept trying to hug them as they took pictures of each other. The tour bus driver yelled at Chewbacca to leave the ladies alone. Chewbacca took off his headpiece, walked over to the driver, and head-butted him. The driver fell to the sidewalk. Someone called 911, and the cops came and arrested Chewbacca.

Chewbacca was not apologetic. "Women come to America looking for Prince Charming, and here I am!" he shouted to all. "I hope they leave him in jail," said a tourist, who saw the whole incident. "That guy's an idiot."