Seeing Stars: Tours Of Hollywood
In our celebrity obsessed society many people would do anything to meet their favorite T. V. Or movie star. Most people, at one time or another, have wondered what celebrities are like in person and how it feels to live their everyday, publicly scrutinized life. Even if you have no designs on becoming a big star yourself one day, it’s easy to get caught up in hearing about their high profile lives. If you live in or are visiting the Los Angeles area, one way to get a little glimpse into the stars’ daily living and working world is to take one of the many Hollywood star tours.
The types of tours vary depending on what part of their lives you’re interested in seeing and the amount of money and time you’ve allotted to that part of your vacation. Tours can last anywhere from 2 or 3 hours all the way to a whole or half-day tour. The most common tour is the basic bus tour in which you drive around for a couple of hours seeing the most famous areas such as Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Bel Air.
Then there are the requisite tours of the stars homes, during which you are still on a bus or trolley, but the locations pointed out are only of the full or part time residences of certain celebrities. Many people have the idea that they will actually get out of the vehicle and get to browse around the stars’ homes or yards – and perhaps get a glimpse of them inside. This may have been the case long ago in the old days of Hollywood, but currently, due to city ordinances, the buses can pause briefly so you can take pictures and they can give you some background information about the residence or the celebrity, but they cannot let passengers out to roam around. Can you imagine the complaints or possible traffic congestion if they did?
Next are the Hollywood Studio tours, which can take a bit longer but can be a lot of fun because some of them are quite interactive. For example, on the Universal Studios tour, you get to experience an explosive special effects rehearsal called The Fast and the Furious: Extreme Close-Up.
Studio tours are also a great chance to see what goes on behind the scenes in the creation of movies and T. V. Show. And the bonus is that since you’re on a working studio lot, there’s a good chance to see some actual stars in action – or at least perhaps walking by on their way to the commissary.
For those that are interested in doing something a little less mainstream, there are a few alternative choices as well. One tour company is capitalizing on the seemingly insatiable need for the public to know all about the indiscretions and scandals that celebrities are involved in. Dearly Departed Tours offers two Hollywood tours that some might call a bit morbid.
They have two tours that can be considered just a touch morbid. One is the Hollywood Tragical History Tour and takes riders past many of the locations that have been involved with celebrities and their tragic or mysterious deaths. The other is the Helter Skelter Tour which is touted as a “3+ hour multi-media tour” which takes you to all the sites involved in the brutal murders of the LaBianca and Tate families that were committed by the Manson family.
You will probably learn more than you ever wanted to know about this heinous crime, but if you’re looking for a tour that’s a little off the beaten path, this will certainly fit the bill.
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