<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Baze:
Don't know if it is still there, but a few years ago there was a restaurant accross 101 from Universal studios called Machellis (I think). Great Italian restaurant and the waiters/waitresses sing. Encourange the patrons to join in. Was a lot of fun. Hope it is still there.</font>
I was there in October and can confirm that Machellis is still there. It is apparently pretty popular as someone on the plane told us about it. However, it is a real, small local type resturaunt, not a touristy chain type place. Just perfect IMHO. It's on the back side, bottom of the hill.
The Hilton is in a great location for Universal Studios of course, but also easy access to Hollywood and Beverly hills.
I hate to admidt this, but my wife and I had a day to kill so we spent the day driving all over. We drove on Muholland Dr (sp?) across the entire mountain, up and down the Blvd, and through Beverly Hills etc. Yes, we even bought one of those star maps and hunted a few of them down. Don't laugh, it was actually very fun and a great scenic self tour. That map took us to places I would never have otherwise gone. Check out Speilburg's house (aka: the Fortress).