Dearly Departed: The Tragic History Tour of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, United States of America
Can’t get enough of celebrity scandal? Are you a Hollywood buff with a macabre sense of humor? This 2.5-hour multimedia bus tour takes you to the homes and locations in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the Sunset Strip where your favorite celebrities died — or wish their scandals died. Discover the underbelly of the City of Angels and satisfy your twisted curiosities on this revealing ride featured on E!'s 'Hollywood Death Trip' and Anthony Bourdain’s 'The Layover.'
No city in the world has a more colorful and sordid history than Los Angeles, and nowhere else have so many famous (and infamous) icons met their maker. Gain insight into the darker side of Hollywood on this afternoon tour departing from Sunset Boulevard. This gruesome but entertaining excursion is popular with both visitors and locals, and inspired the ‘Eternal Darkness Tour’ episode on American Horror Story.
Your Director of Undertakings will guide you through decades' worth of death, murder and just plain fun. Once your tour, um . . . departs, hear tales of tinseltown tragedies in the cool comfort of your luxurious bus, aka the Tomb Buggy.
Cover more than 75 sites of interest in just 2.5 hours. While the itinerary may change from day to day, here are some of the places and juicy stories you can expect to encounter:
The last-breath locations of Michael Jackson, River Phoenix, Whitney Houston and Bela Lugosi
The murders of Rebecca Schaeffer, Sal Mineo, Dominique Dunne and Bugsy Siegel
The hotels where Janis Joplin and John Belushi ‘checked out’
The scene of Sharon Tate’s last supper
The scandals of Halle Berry, Chris Brown and Rihanna, and Hugh Grant
During the tour, you’re exposed to crime-scene photographs, 911 recordings and paperwork that the public-at-large normally don’t get to see about their favorite celebrities.
Visit a small cemetery where Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Farah Fawcett and other high-profile legends are buried. Walk through the stars’ final resting place and read their poignant and pithy epitaphs.
Your tour concludes back at the departure point. Spend some time browsing through the Dearly Departed Gallery. Check out unusual memorabilia connected to dead celebrities, including tiles from the pool where Rolling Stones drummer, Brian Jones, drowned, and Rock Hudson’s Rolodex listing Elizabeth Taylor’s phone number.
Loved this, want to do some of their other tours in the future.
Review by: Annette_124, March 2018
A very interesting tour, with a very informative and knowledgable tour guide. It was also sad and creepy as would be expected on a tragic history tour.
Review by: Stephanie D, March 2018
Our Tour Guide Richard was awesome! a nice mix of scripted and off the cuff. He delivered a well researched tour, with lots of personal stories which made it fun! There was a nice mix of old and new crime stories, but not terribly macabre or sinister. The tour of the city was incredible as well! I learned a lot about Los Angeles in general. I would highly recommend this tour, and will take many more from them when I return to Los Angeles!
Review by: Kyle P, February 2018
Highly Recommended! Great guide very knowledgeable!
Review by: Annie Gee, January 2018
We were very grateful and thankful that Dearly Departed tours honored our scheduled tour, as there was only three of us on the tour. We truly enjoyed every min. of this tour. Brain was great, very informative and exciting. We were very lucky that the fires in LA did not block any of our sites. Brain was very capable, animated and enjoyable, we learned/saw so much, not your usual run of the mill tour. Very happy we took this tour.
Review by: chelle1476, January 2018
Fun and informative!
Review by: Amy C, November 2017
Absolutely loved this tour - everyone was extremely friendly and helpful and the tour guide was amazing. We are going back to LA next Sep and will look to book another tour. Highly recommended!
Review by: Jim H, October 2017
Possibly one of the strangest, wacky tours I've ever taken but nonetheless worth it if you want to try something completely 'different'. The tour leader was a character and a half!
Review by: James C, October 2017
Fantasic tour... Our tour guide, Brian Donnelly, was awesome! The number of spots visited on this tour was incredible... Money well spent!
Review by: Eileen G, October 2017
Interesting tour not a lot of time for photo shots except at cemetery but nonetheless worth the time
Review by: Ramie S, September 2017
This was really cool. I was expecting something different but was fun to see different places where things had happened. Our guide pointed out some other non deathly places as well.
Review by: hannahl, September 2017
Amazing trip with amazing landscape!
Review by: susan b, September 2017
great, you see so much not just where there have been deaths and murders but also movie trivia
Review by: Craig B, March 2017
The tour guide was most knowledgeable and it was well worth it. We arrived early and there was no coffee shop so don't arrive too early!! The tour took us to where people had died or killed and you knew their name. Take the tour...
Review by: Morris P, January 2017
Brian was an excellent and very knowledgeable guide. Lots of information in a non-stop rapid fire manner. He really seems to enjoy his work and shares his love with his passengers. His personal stories of places he stayed in or visited and his rubbing shoulders with some of the celebrities was entertaining. Unfortunately, the tour was nothing but a drive by viewing of places that dead celebrities either lived in or died at. We stopped to visit the Hollywood cemetery where many celebrities had plaques or gravestones, but the timing of the rain caused us to hurry our short visit. The store front had a lot of sholcky mementos, like the recently showcased cigarette butt that Carrie Fisher supposedly discarded. Still enough entertainment to rate 3 stars.
Review by: Elizabeth F, December 2016
One of the highlights of our vacation...Highly recommend this tour!!!
Review by: Court P, October 2016
This was a GREAT tour. So well done, lovely guide. We had an awesome time.
Review by: Glyn K, September 2016
We can't recommend this tour enough, it was a great tour around the darker side of Los Angeles very interesting and fun. When we got held up getting there and thought we'd missed the tour, Brian came back for us which we really appreciated. The lady in the shop was so helpful, getting dabs for us to get back to long beach we just made it back in time thanks. Brilliant company and tour thank you
Review by: Mark L, September 2016
This is a hysterical tour of LA, but also a great acclimation for the Hollywood/Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles. I have taken many friends on this tour. Irreverent sense of humor required!
Review by: Caroline H, September 2016
Richard was our guide and was fabulous fun and knowledgeable. We has so many laughs! It was 3 hours of pure enjoyment that sped by so quickly. We went to cemetery where Marilyn was interned as well as others and did the whole Hollywood bit. I liked the museum they have - particularly Mae West's dentures!!
Review by: Susan M, August 2016
The tour was great, and the owner bent over backwards to correct your mistake. It seems our reservations, made through your company, did not reach them. Consequently the tour was overbooked. _br/_ I would not use your company again.
Review by: ctmroberts2008, August 2016
Tour was good and we all enjoyed it, only downside was the the cemetery was closed for a funeral very inconsiderate and this was what we were looking forward to the most. The guide was very informative and made the tour fun, we would recommend this tour and hope there are no more funerals at the same time.
Review by: Richard W, August 2016
RATED 3
Review by: mierunner, July 2016
tour and guide were great..entertained the group with stories, charm, and wit!..Got to see a lot of places where known celebrities passed away or crimes occurred..tour was not long enoug
Review by: mierunner, July 2016
tour and guide were great..entertained the group with stories, charm, and wit!..Got to see a lot of places where known celebrities passed away or crimes occurred..tour was not long enoug
Review by: Heidi W, July 2016
The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable. The van had air conditioning, but was still warm. Pros were that we were able to hear well. Cons were difficult to see in an enclosed vehicle. I would definitely recommend the tour!
Review by: Cheryl L, June 2016
The tour was fantastic. Brian our tour guide was excellent very informative and fun. Had a great time. Wished it was longer. I would definitely recommend it.
Review by: paul m, June 2016
you got to do this one !!!
Review by: Andrew M, June 2016
Quirky but interesting, with loads of facts and an excellent guide.
Review by: Stacy k, June 2016
Richard was very informed and did a great job. Lots of detail and pretty gruesome in places.
Review by: William H, June 2016
Time was well allotted for the trip but my expectation was that we would see more than we did.
Review by: James L, June 2016
This is the second time I've taken this tour. I really enjoy it and it's not gory or creepy. It covers a variety of people and places. I highly recommend it.
Review by: Mrs Elizabeth M T, May 2016
A truly 'one off' experience! The guide is so well informed. So many interesting facts imparted in so short a time in such a unique manner. It took a little while for our English ears to adjust to the pace of the tour, but once they did, we just wanted more, and we were certain that our guide had lots more to give. Sad when we came to the end of our tour. We would certainly return for more, when, or if, we return to LA in the future. A great experience.
Review by: Elaine G, April 2016
Thoroughly enjoyable!
Review by: Lucille J, April 2016
Excellent tour. Brian was our tour guide, he remembered all our name, he kept all of us entertained the whole time, was very knowledgeable and intersting to listen to. I recommend that everyone should take this tour.
Review by: Lucille J, April 2016
We had Brian as our tour guide, brilliant, fanstaic what a great tour guide, he was funny and made it really interesting. Found out lots of things about the stars visited grave would recommend this to everyone.
Review by: Rachael B, November 2015
This tour was loads of fun, Scott and Brian were fantastic, highly recommend this tour, it does not disappoint.
Review by: Elaina K, November 2015
This tour had lots of good information and will keep you engaged! I am glad we took advice from other reviews and booked this!
Review by: Mrs D J Joice J, October 2015
Bryan was a fantastic tour guide. He took us to many interesting spots and kept us well informed throughout the whole tour. Lots of quirky facts included!
Review by: Cecile P, October 2015
More than what we expected: we didn't know we had a chance to visit a Hollywood cemetery. The tour guide satisfied our curiosity about many celeb tragic deaths. Can't say it was repectful or tasteful, but the tour was a lot of fun.
Review by: janet p, September 2015
This has to be the best tour in LA. The driver was very informative and funny. Not only did we go to places where the rich and famous met their end, we were treated to the history of some very gruesome murders. The tour also took us to Beverly Hills to see the houses of the very rich. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and would recommend to any Brit visiting LA.
Review by: peter.f17, August 2015
Great tour, never thought i would be wondering around a cemetery with a camera ,but i was._br/_ unusual and left field subjects, need to concentrate because the history and facts come thick and fast._br/_ I loved it.
Review by: Karen F, July 2015
The tour was amazing. Bryan was hilarious and well informed on all of what he was talking about. A great way to see the city from a different angle. Really enjoyed it, and highly recommend it!
Review by: Aida L, July 2015
Our tour guide was fabulous!
Review by: Clarence H, June 2015
enjoyable, different tour. included a lot of the standard tour locations
Review by: Yelitza H, June 2015
Lots of sites visited! Loved the shop too!
Review by: Tracie D, June 2015
Great tour highly recommended - tour guide Brian is a wealth of info - well worth it!
Review by: Gary C, June 2015
Fantastic tour and the best one I've done in Los Angeles . Well worth it and the tour guide was exceptional
Review by: luis e, June 2015
Very funny and knowledgeable, our tour guide Brian makes up 90 percent of this tour. I definetly recomend it.
Review by: Monica L, June 2015
Fun tour with fantastic tour guide - you will learn heaps about LA beyond the usual tour info
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