Scouted: the best locations

Plenty of baseball fans will admit that they can see the game better on TV but insist there’s no substitute for getting out to the ballpark. A hearty group of movie maniacs feels the same way about the Oscars.

Their living rooms are just not close enough to the action. So instead of tracking the red-carpet arrivals through the lens of E!, they prefer to go out to Hollywood and play spot-the- celebrity themselves.

But the Academy Awards arrivals aren’t designed to be a spectator sport. Particularly since the move to the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland, the awards show is a decidedly made-for-TV event. It’s tougher than ever to participate even tangentially now, what with heightened security concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq.

Baghdad might, in fact, have fewer street closures this weekend than Hollywood. Anyone who wants to steer north of Sunset Boulevard or south of Franklin Avenue had better have Charlize Theron in the back seat.

Even the red-carpet bleachers -- long the haven for the hoi polloi on Hollywood’s big night -- weren’t up for grabs. The 400 people who won tickets in last year’s lottery didn’t get their moment of celebrity adjacency; bleacher seating was canceled because of wartime security. They’re cashing in their rain checks this Sunday.

So where can the rest of us mere mortals gawk at Nicole Kidman? There are a few locales where the adventurous can bask, albeit distantly, in Oscar’s glow.

Taj Stundher, general manager of the Hollywood Wax Museum, a statuette’s throw east of the Kodak Theatre, has been watching the crowds gather for the last two years. “Those people who are determined are usually able to see something,” he says. “But you have to be smarter than the rest of the crowd.”

That means scoping out just the right spot. On the south side of Hollywood Boulevard, right across from Hollywood & Highland, the sidewalk will be open to pedestrians. But that means pedestrians -- as in people with moving feet. Don’t expect to loiter; the police will be shuffling people along. Don’t wear steel-tipped boots, either; there will be metal detectors at Orange Drive or Highland Avenue.

Press stands will block a lot of direct sightlines, anyway. The curb also will be lined with a 6-foot green plastic mesh fence, so it’s not ideal viewing anyway, except maybe for the Shaq-sized.

A more choice spectator spot is the east side of Highland Avenue, at the intersection with Hollywood Boulevard. Passengers, famous and not so, get deposited starting at 3 p.m. at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland. Stars will walk about 30 yards -- get those binoculars out now to inspect the jewelry -- into a security tent, and then move on to the red carpet area for interviews. The awards show starts at 5 p.m. (Arrival etiquette is that the more famous you are, the later you can arrive. So no, that’s not Johnny Depp rolling up at 3:12 p.m.)

Capt. Mike Downing of the LAPD’s Hollywood division expects several thousand of Hollywood’s most faithful to show up. But not wanting to encourage more traffic, he advises would-be visitors to stay home. “It would be great if you quoted me as saying that the best place to watch the show is in front of your television set,” he says.

If TV’s not good enough, wear comfortable shoes. “The trick is getting there early and making sure you’re not pushed out of the best standing spot,” Stundher says. He predicts people will start staking out their turf as early as 6 a.m.

And don’t even think about parking nearby. You can try south of Sunset, but get ready to hoof it a half mile at least. The Red Line metro stop right under Hollywood & Highland closes at midnight Saturday.

Those who want to experience the party atmosphere without getting caught in the crunch near the epicenter can line up farther south on Highland Avenue, where the limos -- all routed northbound -- will be streaming past. But keep in mind two words: tinted windows.

Mel’s Drive-In, in the south wing of the historic Max Factor building south of Hollywood Boulevard, has four window tables facing Highland Avenue, which could be a good vantage point to see the arriving limos -- or the backsides of 47 tourists. The diner’s open until 3 a.m., though, so you could opt for the second shift, and try to catch people leaving the Governors Ball.

Most area businesses, except those in the Hollywood & Highland complex, plan to stay open, at least until the ceremony begins and the streets empty. Hamburger Hamlet, on Hollywood west of Highland, will serve until 5 p.m. The restaurant has seven window tables that would be prime sites, except again for that pesky fence.

McDonald’s, on Hollywood east of Highland, is another potential pit stop. From that angle, however, it will be difficult to make out any details. But for die-hards who don’t get to see the faces of their favorite stars, there are some lovely black-and-white photos on the wall of Halle Berry and Leonardo DiCaprio.