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Archive for the ‘Just the Facts’ Category
Unreal Estate
Our tour guides pride themselves on having interesting and complete stories and anecdotes with which to regale our luxury private tour guests wanting to see some of the great estates of Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills and Bel Air while visiting Los Angeles and Hollywood. Michael Gross‘ wonderful book, Unreal Estate, tells the tales of a number of the homes we pass by as we investigate the neighborhoods. We love to add these sources to our libraries even though so much information is available on the internet because great authors make it easier to retell the stories. Sometimes we even bring the books along to share with our guests. We will share our book discoveries here with you, too!
Our Lady of the Angels
Just across the street from the Music Center (and looming over the Hollywood Freeway) in downtown Los Angeles is this exquisite modern cathedral constructed after the Northridge earthquake significantly damaged St. Vibiana's. This new home of the Catholic archdiocese is a structure we love to point out when we are touring downtown and we always suggest stopping to visit and see the interior architecture and artwork. The beauty of a private luxury tour is that we can do that. This photo is not one of our own but was provided by Christina Hahni, a good friend of Elite Adventure Tours.
The Price is Right
The Price is Right is just one of the shows regularly filmed at CBS Television City in Hollywood. Also, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Bold and the Beautiful, Young and the Restless and Craig Ferguson’s late night show.
Built in 1952 on the site of the former Gilmore Stadium, a professional football stadium and then a motor racing track, before that a messy and smelly oil field (same oil that shows up at the La Brea Tar Pits), the 8-soundstage facility has hosted some of television greatest shows.
The audience shows draw regular crowds. We, from time to time, will bring our private luxury tour guests enjoying Hollywood and Los Angeles to see specials and pilots filmed before a live television audience.
The Nose Knows
- Jimmy Durante not only memorialized his signature and handprint, but also took a nosedive into the wet cement in the forecourt of Sid Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. That was some Halloween back in 1945. We really appreciate the occasional guest on one of our Elite Adventure Tours (EliteAdventureTours.com) private luxury tours of Hollywood who actually remembers Jimmy Durante.
Quiet on the Street Set, Stop Honking!
We hardly ever have a tour where we do not encounter a film crew out on location. We see either a parked convoy of semis, vans and half-ton pickups or we run full on into bright lights, cables and off duty and retired police seeing that the crew is undisturbed and able to do their work. The beauty of being on a private luxury tour with Elite Adventure Tours is that we carry a professional Nikon camera to capture the film crew at work whenever we find them.
Max Headroom at Wilt’s Old Abode
There is certainly a lot of headroom as you walk through Ron Howard's special Mulholland Drive home-away-from-home. Originally built by Wilt Chamberlain ("Wilt the Stilt" of Los Angeles Lakers fame) it overlooks the Hollywood Bowl from Mulholland Drive. This photo was taken during a private luxury tour of Hollywood with Elite Adventure Tours (EliteAdventureTours.com)
Dodger Stadium – 50 Years Old
The cleanest stadium in all Major League Baseball (so says Ballparks.com). We can believe it. Despite recent controversies the Dodgers are a great team and play in a terrific stadium. It is a grand baseball experience. We suggest you join us for a 1-hour helicopter tour around Los Angeles plus a 3-hour ground tour to visit specific sites including, if you wish (it IS a custom tour), Chavez Ravine and Dodger Stadium.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are in town tonight followed by the San Diego Padres. Let us get you luxury box seat tickets so that after your tour you can enjoy a truly amazing Los Angeles baseball evening.
View from the Top (of the Hollywood Highland Center)
One of those perfect clear Los Angeles days where the skycrapers of downtown were so easy to see from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. We often walk with our private luxury tour guests up into the Hollywood Highland Center to enjoy these views of Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles.
Granddaddy of Flea Markets
The second Sunday of each month (next one – April 14th) finds thousands of shoppers converging on the biggest and best flea market around. Hundreds of vendors display their wares for crowds in the warm sunny atmosphere of the Arroyo Seco of Pasadena. The magnificent stadium and the San Gabriel Mountains as a backdrop provide a fun and exciting shopping excursion for locals and visitors. If you are enjoying a luxury tour of Los Angeles and want something outside of Rodeo Drive and high end retail, then the Rose Bowl Flea Market might be just the thing to excite you. Hollywood celebrities are regularly seen there so you might have an opportunity to collect an autograph, too!
R.G. Canning Attractions
2nd Sunday of each month at the Rose Bowl Stadium
rgcshows.com
The Original Pantry Never Closes. Ever!
While it is rare that we find ourselves out on a tour of Los Angeles late a night, since we specialize in custom private tours we do on occasion meet up with night owl visitors who want to see the lights of the city and drop by the bars and nightclubs, hear some music, dance and then when hungry want to grab a meal. Not that we have anything against the pancake houses and hot dog stands that can feed a hungry person late at night, we are more luxury oriented and seek out special places to impress our guests. Downtown, really a part of L.A. Live, is The Original Pantry, a full course restaurant operating since 1924 whose doors never close and is always serving customers no matter the day or the time of day.
877 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 972-9279
www.PantryCafe.com