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Archive for the ‘Things To Do’ 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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Moonstruck by the Walk of Fame
Our Los Angeles Tour Stops for Walk of Fame Ceremonies
We do know whenever there is a ceremony to honor a new Walk of Fame celebrity. Today, at 11:30 a.m., in front of the Pantages Theatre, Olympia Dukakis will see her star unveiled in the category of Live Theatre with two close celebrity friends nearby to speak on her behalf, Diane Ladd and Ed Asner. These periodic celebrations (Olympia’s star is number 2,498; since February 1960, let’s see that 53 years multiplied by 12 months into … well, it’s not all that often) are often a highlight of our private Hollywood tour when our guests can be part of the history of entertainment and watch the event unfold. We photograph the event for them and take pictures of them enjoying all the pomp and circumstance. If there is a public event in Hollywood at the Walk of Fame, or Grauman’s Chinese Theatre or the Rock Walk, we will get our guests there in time to be a part of Hollywood history.
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A Clear Day for Runyon Canyon Hike – Los Angeles
The View is Worth the Effort on a Private Los Angeles Hiking Tour
Los Angeles has dramatic mountain paths and hiking trails all around. The view from these trails is always worth the effort to get there with the Santa Monica Bay and Channel Islands to the west of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood cityscapes. This photo taken at the top of Runyon Canyon in Hollywood shows only one of the many hiking paths we offer to our private Los Angeles tour guests wanting a little more intensive walking than simply the Hollywood Walk of Fame (we do that, too, on this tour). There is Lake Hollywood, the Hollywood Sign and trails deep into the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains. You decide from our suggestions what will work best for your group’s abilities and interests. When is the last time you had a professional photographer along on your hike? Just wait until your friends and families see you looking out over the ocean and celebrity homes below the trails.
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A Palace You Can Visit in Los Angeles
The Polo Lounge is Back — Lunch for our Private Los Angeles Tour
From the air the hotel and the grounds surrounding it pop right out to our private helicopter tour guests circling over Beverly Hills. The Pink Palace — also known as the The Beverly Hills Hotel. And from the ground it is even more splendid. For more than 100 years this grand hospitality center has entertained movie stars, hosted royalty, and treated all its guests with the aplomb and consideration expected of one of the finest hotels anywhere. This is a jewel of the Dorchester Collection of elegant hotels around the world. Not only do we bring our guests on their custom tour with us to see the hotel, we encourage them to enjoy a meal at the fabulous Polo Lounge. With us at your side we can share many stories of just the restaurant. The restaurant is newly reopened after renovations that updated the decor while still preserving the original design and ambience that is a welcome tradition at this home away from home for so many of Hollywood’s elite over the years. We are talking about Charlie Chaplin and Marlene Dietrich. We have eaten beside Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Billy Crystal and Thomas Haden Church. And they have enjoyed their meals near us. When you dine there we recommend the McCarthy Salad named for famed entertainment attorney Neil McCarthy.
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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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Looking East from the Eastern Building
Sunrise in Los Angeles
Thanks again to an Elite Adventure Tours friend who knew we would love this photograph of downtown Los Angeles’ Eastern Building taken early in the morning. This exquisite art deco building from 1930 has been repurposed into 147 spectacular apartments and is located on Broadway in the old Theater District. Since many of our private Los Angeles tours explore downtown Los Angeles we will regularly drive down Broadway and point out this beautiful torquoise terra cotta structure and prompt our guests to remember the many times they have seen it in movies and on television. It’s a star!
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Flying, Food and Fun at the Spitfire Grill
Private Los Angeles Tour Lands at Spitfire Grill
Santa Monica Airport was once Clover Field and a very large aircraft manufacturing facility (Douglas Aircraft: DC-3s, B-17s, B-47s). Today private luxury jets fly in and out of this beautiful airport by the sea. If you are there visiting the Museum of Flying and get hungry then we suggest the Spitfire Grill nearby. Terrific food and a wonderful aviation-themed restaurant to feed and entertain you.
Sitting in the patio enjoying a fine lunch with our private Los Angeles tour guests recently, we talked about the film Spitfire Grill, written by the owner of the restaurant, Lee David Zlotoff. The murals, painting and other artifacts inside and outside the cafe really speak to airplane lovers and make this a great place to go to talk about flying, food and film.
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Bimmerfest – Pasadena – May 18th
Touring Los Angeles in a BMW
Saturday, May 18th (9am-3pm), at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (just north of Los Angeles), is the return of Bimmerfest, a festival of BMW automobiles and merchandise. At last count the celebration is expecting more than 1,700 cars and almost 4,200 BMW lovers and enthusiasts. With a number of competition categories for maintenance and customization, you will have an opportunity to see just about every model of BMW in every possible color and, of course, the latest models. And surprises! If there is anything you need for your baby bimmer you will be able to find everything here in one place at the Bimmerfest. We will likely have one or two of our Saturday private Los Angeles tours swing by as so many of our guests love their own BMWs, more so than a chance to see the cars of Hollywood and Beverly Hills celebrities. Go figure.
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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.