Best Hollywood Tours In LA
(credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
Both glamorized and demonized in movies, novels and scandalous tell-all books, vacationing people by the thousands flock to Hollywood on a daily basis just to see what they can see. But if you don't know what you're looking for, you can be greatly disappointed. Hollywood tours are usually the way to go to maximize your L.A. experience. As with anything, there are cheap versions, and if you're not careful you could get taken for a ride you won't enjoy. Check out these top Hollywood tours.
(credit: Rob F./Yelp)
Hollywoodland Tours
1710 N McCadden Place
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 462-4116
www.hollywoodlandtours.net
Hollywoodland Tours give you a choice of tours based on tourist demand. Take a quick ride up to and around the Hollywood sign with an opportunity to get off the bus and up close and personal with it, a tour of celebrity mansions, celebrity hotspots and famous shops and restaurants or an historical tour of Hollywood that covers studio locations, famous landmarks and popular movie filming locations. Hollywoodland Tours offers discounts, packages and private deals.
(credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
TMZ Hollywood Tour
TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 461-3331
www.tmz.com/tour
If you're looking for the ultimate tour, who could be better at showing you around Hollywood and L.A. than the company that brought Hollywood stars to light both on TV and on the web. TMZ offers you a chance to see the hottest spots in and around Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the famed Sunset Strip. Driving around in their bright red van/bus will give you the time of your life while you learn where celebrities hang out, hear inside information and are given details about celebs and the stories that made them famous. The tour guides, who come directly from their TV show, are fun, knowledgeable and will show you everything you need to know. Pick up and drop off is located at the TCL Chinese Theatre, which is right in the middle of all the action on Hollywood Blvd.
(credit: Legends Of Hollywood)
Legends Of Hollywood Tours
7095 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 744
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 928-2024
www.legendsofhollywoodtours.com
Legends of Hollywood Tours takes you on a cruise around Hollywood in style. See and be seen in a new Mercedes Benz Sprinter with a multimedia system (32″ flat screen). Watch clips from movies, TV shows and music videos as you simultaneously go to each location. And thanks to satellite images, you can also see celebrity homes hidden behind massive security gates. Cruise down Sunset, Hollywood and Rodeo and check out other famous landmarks and must sees.
(credit: Stephanie T./Yelp)
Dearly Departed Tours
6603 Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028
(855) 600-3323
www.dearlydepartedtours.com
Celebrities do everything with style, including die. Dearly Departed Tours takes you on a ride of the macabre. Founded by Scott Michaels, authority on the Dark Side of Hollywood, your multimedia tour will include crime scene photos, 911 audio clips and grisly details of some the infamous celebrity deaths. Go to the payphone outside of the Viper Room and hear the 911 call made the night River Phoenix died. Then cruise by the homes of Michael Jackson, Rabecca Schaeffer, the Menendez Brothers' mansion and the rumored murder house of the Black Dhalia.
(credit: Su-E Tan/CBS)
Lite Flight Helicopters
16700 Roscoe Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91406
(877) 335-7038
www.liteflighthelicopters.com
Traffic is never a fun way to spend an afternoon, especially if you're on vacation and every minute counts. Lite Flight Helicopters tours takes you above the moto-mayhem and gives you a bird's eye view of everything you want to see. Your choice of tours includes a fly up the magnificent coastline to Malibu mansions; a hover above the Playboy Mansion, movie studios, weaving through the skyscrapers of downtown and so close to the Hollywood sign you'd think you could touch it; and a flight into the big city with bright lights on a night tour.
(credit: Felix In Hollywood Tours)
The Felix In Hollywood Tour Company
1500 Vine St.
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 929-0302
www.felixinhollywoodtours.com
There's always an opportunity to learn, even if you're on vacation. The Felix In Hollywood Tour Company is an experience dedicated to the history of old Hollywood. Your guide will take you off the beaten path and literally walk you back in time to Hollywood 1910, pointing out treasured landmarks and the origins of movie and TV studios and radio stations long before what we know them as today. You'll see bits of history that even seasoned natives don't know about. Oh, and it's a 90-minute walking tour so be sure to pack a pair of comfy shoes in your suitcase before you come to LA.
Related: Best Studio Tours In Los Angeles
