Itinerary: Hooray for Hollywood

Hollywood. It’s back from the dead. Attendees at this year’s AFI Fest might actually get a taste of the neighborhood’s old glamour.

AFI Fest, headquartered at the Egyptian Theater, sells tickets to individual events and festival passes. If you play your cards right, you can hang with celebs and international filmmakers at the festival. Last year, Martin Landau and Ed Norton were around--the old and the new. So Hollywood.

But the neighborhood itself is struggling with the old and new. Large building complexes are going up, to the consternation of preservationists. Still, new buildings are like new movies; there’s got to be room for both.

Friday

Festival screenings (tickets and information [323] 520-2000) start at 11 a.m. The spate of international films include tasty foreign flicks that may never play L.A. again (see Screening Room, Page 36). The Egyptian Theater courtyard (6712 Hollywood Blvd.) is open to the public. Not only is it a great place to see and be seen, but the beautiful remodeling job makes it easier to envision yourself at the first movie premiere, “Robin Hood,” starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

Everybody should eat at Musso & Frank Grill (6667 Hollywood Blvd.) at least once. Whether you return to the legendary movie biz hangout will depend (a) on your sense of movie nostalgia, (b) on your love of white bread with the crusts removed and (c) on whether your dining companion is a producer over 60 or not. Only kidding. Musso’s bar scene is lively and will be a magnet for AFI fest attendees. Eat where They ate.

Saturday

Start the morning with a visit to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum (7021 Hollywood Blvd. [323] 465-7900), where an exhibit by photojournalist Murray Garrett will be on view daily (except Wednesdays) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Garrett’s photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and other screen gems are from his new book, “Hollywood Candid: A Photographer Remembers.”

“Songcatcher” screens at the Egyptian at 4 p.m. If you take the kids, they’ll learn something. Set in 1906, the movie follows a female musicologist into the Appalachian backwoods to chronicle the roots of early American folk music. Pat Carroll shines in an unlikely turn as an illiterate mountain woman whose songs are her only legacy. Janet McTeer and Aidan Quinn also star.

If it’s clear on Saturday night, head up to Yamashiro (1999 N. Sycamore Ave. [323] 466-5125) for a sunset drink with an unparalleled view of the city. This replica of a Japanese palace was built in 1911 and stays just this side of kitsch. Scenes from “Sayonara” were shot here.

Finish Saturday with dinner and a show at the Knitting Factory Hollywood (7021 Hollywood Blvd. [323] 463-0204). Both the decor and the food are modern at this latest addition to Hollywood night life.

Sunday

Take a Sunday drive around Hollywood and dig the buildings without the hassle of heavy traffic. Hollywood Boulevard has many fine examples of Art Deco, streamline moderne and kinky residential architecture.

Drive north on Whitley Avenue from Hollywood Boulevard and see how Bette Davis, Rudolph Valentino, William Faulkner and Carmen Miranda used to live. Finish with lunch at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (7000 Hollywood Blvd. [323] 466-7000). The grand, reportedly haunted hotel has been stripped down to its beautiful bare original self.