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Archive for the ‘Just for FUN’ Category
Observe the Observatory from Above
Los Angeles Tour Like a Hawk
Golden Time is what the filmmakers call it, that late afternoon golden light accompanied by long shadows and clear skies. As the hawks and other local raptors glide the updrafts looking for small prey emerging as the day cools, we flew with our private Los Angeles tour guests on a luxury French helicopter over the 4,300 acre urban forest of L.A. — Griffith Park. The Griffith Observatory is a monument to astronomy as it sits on a bluff overlooking Hollywood and the Los Angeles basin. It offers great views of the city, the Santa Monica Bay and mountains, Beverly Hills and Century City and on very clear days the Channel Islands and Palos Verdes Peninsula. Inside there are great views of the night skies through telescopes and in the planetarium. Though the observatory did not open until 1935, the land and the promise of an astronomical museum was given in 1896 by Colonel Griffith Griffith for whom the park and observatory are named.
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Remembering Jenni at the Grammy Museum
Jenni Rivera Exhibit on Private Los Angeles Tour
Just opened at the Los Angeles Grammy Museum is a full-blown exhibit honoring and remembering Jenni Rivera: La Gran Señora. Featuring costumes, documents and correspondence, her Bible (an important Christmas gift from her parents) and, of course, plenty of her Banda music (she was, after all, the Diva of Banda) this presentation is both a loving tribute and an educational experience for all music lovers. The Grammy Museum is a welcome stop on many of our custom private Los Angeles tours through downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles is without doubt a major music capitol and we enjoy showing our musical guests around this wonderful museum before taking them out to Hollywood and Beverly Hills to see studios and offices important in contemporary music history.
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Self-Portrait with Helicopter
Private Los Angeles Tour Departs Heliport
As our guests are getting ready for their flight over Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu and the coastline we enjoyed a chance to grab this interesting self-portrait with the helicopter in the background. Since photographs are an essential part of the tour experience we provide we are truly professional photographers and, judging by the interest we generate on Pinterest, many more folks than just our private tour guests are enjoying our work.
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A 60s Polynesian Bar Worth Visiting
Elite Adventure Tours Stops at Historic Bar
Imagine a bar where they do not serve beer or wine. The Tiki Ti ONLY serves tropical cocktails as they have been doing for more than 50 years. There are 92 different drinks on their menu so who needs beer or wine. Look over the menus from its earliest days and trace the evolution of island cocktails over all these years. Begun in 1961 by Ray Buhen, a master mixologist with roots at Don the Beachcomber, where all the other tiki bars faded into history the Tiki Ti flourished. Intimate (small) and quaint (locals, rum lovers, history buffs), the Tiki Ti always gets looks as we pass by on our private Los Angeles tour through Hollywood on the way to Beverly Hills, it is so tiny next to the hulking KCET television studios. Like the Frolic Room and the One-Eyed Gypsy, there are bars in this city with stories to tell and we not only like to help tell them but are happy to bring our guests in possibly to make a new story.
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Special Parking in Santa Ynez
Helicopter Landing at a Santa Ynez Winery
Talk about a special parking spot. How about this spot we get at a secret Santa Ynez winery where we take our private Los Angeles tour guests who want a wine tasting adventure. We are met by the owner with his ATV to drive us through the vineyards to the tasting room. This kind of special treatment is a part of all our tours and we really highlight it with our wine adventure tours. It’s not just a hot towel service and snacks, we’re talking gourmet picnic lunches, special owner-guided tours of wineries and opportunities to sample wines unavailable to the general public. Our Santa Ynez Valley tours might include ostriches and a cute Danish village (Solvang) or town from the Old West. We also can take our wine loving guests to other wine areas in different directions from Los Angeles (Malibu and Temecula). Whatever our guests want we can put together in a custom luxury adventure.
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Nothing Obscure about Santa Monica’s Camera Obscura
Ancient Camera Interests Private Los Angeles Tour Guests
Dating back to 1898, the Camera Obscura in Santa Monica allows guests to enjoy the same visual examination of the area that earlier beachgoers did. Perhaps the earliest of optical inventions, this type of device was employed by renaissance painters (Leonardo da Vinci) as well as philosophers (Aristotle), astronomers (Johannes Kepler) and scientists (Roger Bacon). The idea of the pinhole camera preceded lens technology and permitted projection of inverted images onto a surface so that solar eclipses could be safely watched or individuals observed without their knowledge. The Santa Monica Camera Obscura was moved from its original beach location to the Senior Center atop the palisades overlooking Santa Monica Bay in 1955 where it can be found today.
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Sun Sets on a Private Los Angeles Tour
Great Photographs Mark Hollywood Tour
Among the many things we do so well on our private Los Angeles tours is capture great photographs. We know our guests love that we take these photos because we generally have the best camera in the van (prosumer digital SLR camera) and we take so many photographs every day that we really do know how and where (and when) to get the best shots of the area and of our guests. Each of them have extensive digital photo albums after their tour to share with family and friends. This photo was taken from a hilltop in Griffith Park on a perfectly clear evening looking out toward Santa Monica Bay. Palm Trees — so Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Do you know who else loves our photographs? Our followers at Pinterest.
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Can You Ride a Segway with One Hand?
My Horn App Isn’t Working
As are readers know we like to post photographs taken during our private Los Angeles tour excursions through Hollywood and Beverly Hills because we so often capture unusual images. This one shows a one-handed Segway rider navigating a Beverly Hills street while attending to his smartphone. Now, in all fairness, he could be examining his map app and getting directions to the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM. However, he’s probably looking at box office results or checking his investment portfolio. If you find yourself on a sidewalk in Beverly Hills please do keep your eyes on the road, er, pavement.
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Luxury Van to Luxury Helicopter
Private Los Angeles Tour Vehicles
While awaiting takeoff clearance we had a chance to take this photograph of our custom luxury van near the Aerostar helicopter our guests were flying on their Los Angeles tour that day. Their one hour flight around the city of Los Angeles included dramatic ocean views at low altitude along the beaches up to Malibu followed by exciting looks at the Santa Monica Mountains and canyons. Celebrity homes and mansions all along the way as well as all the notable landmarks of Los Angeles like the Hollywood Sign, Dodger Stadium, the Coliseum, the Hollywood Bowl and Greek Theater, Griffith Observatory, Beverly Hills Hotel, Playboy Mansion and so much more! Not only that, but after the flight we provide a 3-hour ground tour of some of those same sights up close and personal. The 1-hour flight plus 3-hour ground tour is one of our most popular tour packages. Plan one for yourself on your next visit to Los Angeles.
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Vistas, Vineyards and Ostriches
Wine and Big Birds on a Private Adventure Tour
You might not think of the Santa Ynez Valley just north of Santa Barbara, CA as a significant wine region, though it is (have you not seen the film SIDEWAYS?). You might also not regard it is a major ostrich farming area either. A trip to this beautiful valley with us by private van or luxury helicopter will convince you otherwise. There are over 100 wineries throughout the valley bottling wonderful vintages made from more than 55 varieties of grapes. And there is one large ostrich farm, Ostrichland, in Buellton. Ostriches and emus of all ages and sizes roam the ranch. While you can buy ostrich eggs and meat in the gift shop, Ostrichland is a really a zoo environment where visitors can interact with the giant Australian birds and thoroughly enjoy the experience.
We can arrange a private wine country tour for you originating in Los Angeles, Hollywood or Beverly Hills. You may choose to fly to Santa Ynez by helicopter. Or, you can enjoy the scenic drive up along the Pacific shoreline and over the Coastal Range in our comfortable luxury van. We will even have a copy of SIDEWAYS that you can watch on the built-in 23″ flatscreen monitor. Even more special, we might be able to arrange to have Rex Pickett, the author of the novel Sideways join us on the trip and guide us through his favorite wine drinking destinations.