Dearly Departed Tours

I went on this tour back in 1994 when Scott used to drive you around in a hearse! It was very unique and fascinating. I've always recommended the tour over all these years. The tour includes a narrative including a booklet of photos of the original scenes of the crime and how the homes looked back then - in addition to occasional audio of 911 calls related to the crime.This past tour I took my teenage daughter and her three friends. They definitely found it interesting but didn't know a lot of the older stars mentioned on the tour. So I would recommend it mainly to adults especially as some of the narrative and photos are graphic. (They do warn people of this before they buy tickets). But there's a ton of locations shown and many other things pointed out, such as famous places and star's homes. If you are looking for something different to do in Hollywood this is definitely it! You will not be disappointed! (There is a separate tour of the Manson Murders) Recommendation of locations for the operators: Phil Hartman, Richard Jeni, OJ Simpson route from Rockingham to S. Bundy and Nicole Simpson Condo, drive up to Greystone Mansion to get a better look and talk about the murder committed there ( I would dump Mae West if you need the time)

This a must see LA tour... The tour guide is extremely knowledgeable and will allow you to learn so much about this part of California history. If you are at all interested in the Manson killing you can not miss this one...

As enthusiasts of the dearly departed, having visited many cemeteries in the area, we thought we knew it all! We've read many books and searched the web until our fingers were raw searching for stories about the dearly departed. We were convinced we would be disappointed taking Scott's Dearly Departed Tour. However, in the first few minutes we were pleasantly surprised and knew we were in for a real treat. Scott is not only informative but entertaining. He is an expert historian and knows how to tell a story as if he were there. If you want to learn a lot about LA and many secrets no one else knows, you can't miss this tour.

I LOVED!!!! This tour, there was sooooo much about Hollywod that I didn't know!

This was an excellent tour if you are into the macabre, but even if you aren't there were plenty of Old Hollywood sites (Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's Old House) and new Hollywood sites (bathroom that George Michael made famous). Without a doubt the best part of the tour was the tour guide, Scott Michaels. He is clearly passionate about his work and he goes out of his way to answer any question and is incredibly knowledge about old and new Hollywood. The only thing I would have liked, that was not included would have been a tour of the one of the cemeteries (although we did pass the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and were informed about who was interred), but an extra hour or so might be too much for some.

Im a huge fan of the history of Hollywood. I enjoyed the tour so much because our tour guide was not only very friendly but new what he was talking about. My sister & I had such an awesome time that we are going to take the other tours. S.G.

Interesting and worth the price but the bathrooms we stopped at were terrible

great time! learned a ton about la!

I am 55 and had three 25 year olds with me. They didn't know who some of the stars were. Like George Burns, Bella Lugosi etc. But they had fun.. It could have been more morbid for us.. I don't know what that says about us..But none the less we will be booking the Manson tour very soon. And our guide Richard was great!!!! Very informative..Thanks ..Debbie Rhea..

Really enjoyed this activity..guide was informative, funny and passionate about what he was doing. Obvious he loves his job and the fact he enjoyed it flows on to the tour. Would do again and recommend

Very entertaining for those who find tragic Hollywood interesting, and I did. Great guide.

We're a family group - children aged 14 & 11 yrs. They didn't know some of the older famous people that were mentioined on the tour but both knew enough to enjoy it. My husband and I thought it was great - really interesting stories. Our guide was Richard. His delivery of the stories was great - slighty dead-pan, ironic humour, which had me chuckling away for a lot of the tour. The stories are what make this tour so good - without them the tour would just be driving around looking at sights but the stories brought them to life. As well as Richard's commentary, there were snippets of music, 911 calls, interviews and other facts, which were interspersed with the commentary. We all had a folder of photos, which went along with the tour. We covered a lot of different areas of LA. If you like something slightly different. more individualised than the mass tour operators provide, then this is the tour for you. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Thanks, Richard - I'm still smiling when I think of some of your comments!

I thought it was intresting some of the tour was really, really intresting and other parts of the tour where very long.it would have been nice to stop at the cementary to see some of the actual grave sites especially at the westwood cementary.the guide made the tour as intresting as possible.also its called "Dearly Departed "why take time to see where George Michaels was arrested and where Hugh Grant was caught?? other than that was fun and interesting.

Don't miss out on this one when you are in LA. We were lucky as we chose to go the next morning after our arrival. I would highly suggest you doing this as you not only see the sights on the tour, your tour guide will also point out some of the most interesting spots in LA. This really helped us with our travels during the rest of our time there. The tour guide will hand out a notebook with photos and info for certain sites so that you can get a better image of what event they are referring to. The van is as comfortable as can be expected and the tour guides have lots of personality. Some parts of the tour are pre-recorded by Scott as he tells the story of the event, but your tour guide definatley has lots to say. Another treat is that the tour meets at the Farmers Market. Go early and shop and look around this interesting location - we loved it. Highly recommended!

It's always nice to have a theme when you get on a bus for a city tour. As the places you see are accompanied with stories, things start to get much more interesting. This is a tour where the creators have really done their research. More importantly, they do a great job of keeping the tour updated with the most recent developments in Hollywood history. You can actually get to see all the celebrity homes they point out to you rather than merely their security gates, parking garages, or trees. A lot is covered, from Beverly Hills to Sunset Strip, from Hollywood to Los Feliz and Silverlake. The tragedies will make you feel sad but your tour guide will not let your sadness get deeper as another sight will be coming up pretty soon. Richard was the guide in my tour and he does a perfect job.