Dearly Departed Tours

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!

My visiting brother from the east coast and I took this tour on October 8, 2009 and although Richard the tour guide was very nice guy and informative, I'd be lying if I said we weren't disappointed in many of the stops we had.....and many stops we should have had. There were too many non-tragedy locations while many interesting nearby "death" stops were missed. For example..... Mae West's and Judy Garland's old homes weren't of any interest.......The Paramount Gates? Who cares? If we wanted a routine Hollywood Tour, we would have taken any number of the regular tour buses. After our tour was over, we ended up taking my car and visiting two classic locations that we were amazed weren't in the Dearly Departed Tour....especially since they were right in the same area of town the tour traveled.....The home on Benedict Canyon where George Reeves killed himself and the condo on North Kings where Jack Cassidy burned to death. The tour needs more death and less of the Hollywood "queens."

I grew up in the suburbs of LA and feel like I know this town pretty well, but I had never known so much about "Old Hollywood" until I went on this tour. It's not too morbid, either, just parts of it. It was a nice, cozy shuttle bus that held about 10 or 12 people, and we went all over town. Our tour guide was very knowledgable and willing to answer any questions we had. We also had plenty of chances to take pics, as our guide was great about slowing down long enough to take a good picture. I would only recommend an extra bathroom stop (we got out twice), but otherwise it was a great time. :)

I have taken this tour 3 times and it's amazing. Scott is hilarious and full of interesting information! The tour is just the right length and has 2 rest stop breaks (on being at George Michael's infamous toilet in Beverly Hills). Scott will also de-tour if there is something you really want to see! Amazing, funny, crude - LOVE IT - BOOK NOW!!! Marc Hudson - London

I loved this tour. I have taken tours of Hollywood before - Stars homes etc with the big companies but the Dearly Departed tour was miles ahead of these. It covered alot more in terms of area, history and interesting facts. I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Hollywood. I would also be interested in taking other tours with the Dearly Departed people!

Richard was a great tour guide. Having been in TV and film prior to becoming a tour guide adds a perspective to the tour. We feel this tour covers an entirely different aspect than a standard tour. The dearly departed are in fact that--from Mae West to Marilyn Monroe and Joe D. Also saw where Michael Jackson died so the tour is current. Do this tour before all others. Would do another DDT when we return.

This was my second DD tour and I very much enjoyed it again. (My last was probably 3 years ago) The one thing I was not so happy about was missing Scott. I would have liked to have been told when I bought my tickets that Scott was not doing the tour anymore. Richard was very good, knew his stuff and was very personable. I was just expecting Scott and was disappointed. Nothing against Richard at all. Having said all that, I thought the tour leaned a little more to the history side and less to the murder and mayhem side. Missing were several famous murder/death scenes- Nicole Brown Simpson, Sal Mineo. The black dahlia was mentioned, but the crime scene was ignored. Likewise Cielo Drive and Wonderland. This seemed to lean a little heavier on the celebrity houses and famous buildings. Not sure where the Grease Finale site is relevant. I'd like to see the tour go a little more back to its roots. It seemed to be just a tad "vanilla'd" down. Still, enjoyed it, and the person with me who had not been before had a fabulous time. Thank you.

So, we (My mom, aunt, hubby and 85 tear old grandmother in law) took out tour with Richard. It worked out, since we had missed the 9:30 tour by 10 minutes. The people in the office (INCLUDING Scott!) were able to get us onto the 1:00 tour. I loved how our driver, Richard, knew ALOT about everything. he even knew stuff my hubby didnt, which is hard to do. i'm glad we got to see the homes of Billy Bob and Melanie....but seeing Lana's house, The Black Daliah, DeeDee Ramoes house and the House of Davids just rounded out the tour. THANK YOU!

If you are considering doing an insightful tour of famous LA than Dearly Departed's Hollywood Tragical History Tour is the way to go, seriously. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor which to me is an awesome combination. Oh yeah, these guys are on time, so please be on time...

I had a good time. The guide was very entertaining.

Fun facts delivered by an intelligent guide. The tour around the Hollywood homes and neighboring business areas was a delightful introduction into the "business" side of L.A. My adult daughter and I enjoyed the tour and all of the fun-facts the guide shared with us. I would highly recommend this to someone who wants a quick tour of Hollywood with a little quirkiness thrown in!

JUST DO...the best 3+ hours I have spent in LA...fun, laughs, shocks - entertaining. Why see where Tom and Katie happily live when you can see where Paris got snapped buying her own porn dvd, where River collapsed and Jaoquin called for help. Spend hours afterwards explaining why you have a pic of the infamous toliet block...yes its was where George Michael was caught... You see the Hollywood that cant change...past and present - a must do!

richard was great . info was more than imagined and in great detail . thinking of sending family on trip also.

We loved this tour, even though it was 100 degrees & traffic was terrible to us. (Well, it is LA, after all!) Richard was a great guide. We highly recommend.

Great tour...Guide was friendly and knowledgable. My 25 year old son enjoyed it as much as I did. A good way to see the Hollywood area in general. This is not a complaint, I understand that the tour has time restrictions and seems to be limited to the Hollywood / Beverly Hills area of LA....BUT...would have liked to have seen the OJ / Nicole sites.....the Wonderland Ave site (went out and found that one on my own)...the Black Dahlia dump site (not just the Hodel house who may or may not have been involved)...former site of the Ambassador Hotel where RFK was assassinated. It would also have been nice to have a photocopy of the tour book.