Dearly Departed Tours

Overall this tour is interesting, particularly for LA locals who don't even know the history they drive past on a daily basis! Our tour guide was entertaining and obviously passionate about his job, which is always a pleasure to witness. My biggest complaint would be that he also seemed passionate about the brakes and driving around LA for 3 hours in a small bus left me quesy at every stop. If you get car sick beware, and consider sitting upfront because it is a lot of stop and go.

Whatever you do if you go to Los Angeles, TAKE THIS TOUR. This was the 2nd time I took it and it is WONDERFUL! It is so fun, informative, macabre, everything and then some. You see all the places where the famous lives ended and and other famous places. It is so neat to see it in person and you go to so many places its hard to remember them all. You would be hard pressed to go to all the places they take you on the tour by yourself. The tour guide is wonderful, funny and knows EVERYTHING about hollywood. Dont walk, RUN!

1. More air conditioning for the couple behind the driver 2. 75% of the attractions were on the left side of the van and we sat on the right side 3. Visability could have been better; too bad the windows weren't larger 4. I would have liked to take home some of the pictures that were in the binders instead of the police report. All in all we loved the tour. Our driver was fantastic. We highly recommend it.

the tour itself was most enjoyable and informative. the guide was amusing and knowledgeable The but however relates to the mini-bus. I had the misfortune to have a seat with a wide bolster next to me and my view was markedly restricted. A mode of transport without such hindrances would be a real plus.

I have always been interested in crime and Hollywood, so this tour was of great interest to me. I did feel there were some infamous crime scenes and locations that were left out, but overall it was a good time. I would recommend the tour. I plan to take the Manson tour the next time I am in LA.

This is the only "star homes" type of tour I could have taken, since it's coming from a twisted and satirical (but also somewhat loving) point of view. The tour visits the sites of about 100 celebrity deaths and mishaps in 3 1/2 hours. The tour guide, who is also the driver, is extremely well informed and appropriately ironic, although simultaneously fascinated by and protective of the Hollywood culture. Theme music and snippets of court testimony, 911 calls, interviews, etc are piped into the van throughout the tour. All of the highlights and lowlights are hit in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The van accommodates a maximum of 13 people, so the group is intimate and the experience is personal. I will definitely try to go on the Helter Skelter Tour (all Manson Family murders) the next time I'm in LA!

It was fun. Well organized and executed.

It was sort of hard for me to make the decision to take this tour because I wasn't sure if it was respectful to the dead. Also I was afraid other people on the tour would be Manson admirers. But in the end I'm glad I went. The only reason I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 is that I think people who are very sensitive should be cautious when choosing this tour. It affected me differently than I thought it would. I knew I would be emotional when seeing some of the sites, especially the murder houses. But my reaction was way past what I thought it would be. The hardest part for me was when we pulled up across the street from the LaBianca house. If you've read or seen a lot about this case, it just smacks you in the face to be right there, looking at it. I was shaking and crying. I'm shaking as I write this. We were lucky to have no Manson admirers on the tour, but what if there had been someone like that?? I may have ended up in a fist fight. I thought of leaving the tour when we took a break halfway through. I was afraid of seeing the Tate house. That site actually didn't affect me as much, though, because you are not as close to it when you view it. Also it's not the same home, so all the pictures you've seen are not popping into your head. I am grateful to our guide for having absolutely no fear and taking the bus into difficult to navigate streets, where some people hate him and hate the tour. I was very nervous about people coming out to yell at us or worse, because I wasn't even sure if I should be there (no haters appeared). I think I'm still not sure if it's too disrespectful to the dead. The reason I'm glad I went is because it's the only way to really, well, get smacked in the face by it. To realize that all that stuff you've read about did go down. It's not just a horror story - these were real people. So in a way I feel like I do have respect for the dead, because I wanted to see them as people and not just crime scene photos. Also $5 of each ticket is given to the Tate family's foundation.

really enjoyed the tour who know so much stuff happened down"normal looking" streets richard was really informative and quite knowlegable about Hollywood . Went out of his way to make sure we got a great experiance . Looking forward on taking the helter skelter tour soon .Kudos to Scott and crew-- cp ontario ca

The guide had an excellent personality and very informed on the facts. He made the trip very interesting.

Really enjoyed our tour with Brian Donnelly. He is so knowledgeable about the area. His head is filled with an endless amount of facts and trivia-which I love. Also love his sense of humor. Never a boring moment. The only problem is I wish it was longer!! I could have driven around all day with Brian telling interesting stories and facts about L. A. and its tragic history. Additionally Dearly Departed Tour's office contains some great memorabilia that must be checked out. All staff was very friendly and helpful. Definitely doing another Dearly Departed Tour when I visit my friends in L.A. again.

Scott made the day fun. Great sense of humor.

Scott is very entertaining and well versed in the subject matter encompased in the tour.

Highly recommended to all!

Enjoyed the tour but felt that there was more to be told about various places and the last 20 minutes felt incredibly rushed. But it's a great alternative to the usual tours of Hollywood stars' gates, hedges and security systems (although we saw a few of those as well).