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Archive for July, 2012
Levitated Mass Is One Heck of a Big Rock
Michael Heizer’s 340-ton rock is now in place and ready to be enjoyed in the backyard of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The name of this fascinating installation is Levitated Mass. We took these photos on a private luxury tour of Los Angeles with an emphasis on public art. Conceived by Heizer decades ago it took much of that time just to find the right rock which eventually turned up in a quarry in Riverside, CA, 105 miles away from LACMA. The rest of the the effort was in designing a special vehicle to transport the rock all those miles along city streets.
Heizer specializes in a form of expression called Land Art and he, in particular, creates work of immense proportion. This will surely be clearly seen in Google’s satellite photos.
So now the big rock is here and provides another great Los Angeles high-”gawk” factor sight as well as shade for kids on a hot summer day.
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BOA – West Hollywood – Steaks, Wine
We love to point out BOA Steakhouse as we drive by with our luxury tour guests leaving the Sunset Strip in W. Hollywood and entering Beverly Hills to show them where many of the celebrity patrons of this fine restaurant live. Susan Zechter writes in her book Celebrity Hot Spots that there have been 122 celebrity sightings at BOA plus a number of organized celebrity events.
But how good is the food? Super — according to our guests who have reported to us during their tours. And the service and atmosphere? Super — again according to our guests. This is why BOA is on our list of recommended restaurants that we maintain and update with an ear to what Elite Adventure Tours customers are saying.
And wait, there’s more. On Sunday nights you can order any bottle of wine for half price. Steak and wine as you dine.
BOA Steakhouse
9200 Sunset Boulevard
W. Hollywood, CA
310.278.2050
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The Stars Stood Here
Here are our private luxury tour guests, the Saldukas family, visiting the Blossom Room inside the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Why are they so impressed? This is where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held. Those light fixtures, that rug — ORIGINAL! Well, so we have been told by hotel staff members and we choose to believe it. Join us for a tour of historic Hollywood as well as Beverly Hills and Bel Air. We’ll show you amazing Los Angeles sights including celebrity homes, famous shops on Rodeo Drive, and special places where the movie stars are.
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The Mood, the Music and the Wine
Looking for some fun on a Friday or Saturday night this summer? Our guests aboard one of our private luxury tours in Los Angeles always ask us what we recommend. We suggest a drive up into the Santa Monica Mountains along Mulholland Drive (the drive itself is fun!) and arriving at Malibu Wines for some outdoor music and wine tasting. You should bring a picnic and sit out on the lawn with your friends while bands and solo artists perform music you know and music you want to know. The schedule also includes music during the day both Saturdays and Sundays. Visit the Malibu Wines website for more information.
And since we all love films, Thursday nights are Movie Night.
Malibu Wines
31740 Mulholland Highway
Malibu, California 90265
818-865-0605
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The Mauretania Apartments and John Kennedy
Built by The Wizard of Oz actor Jack Haley (the Tin Man) this historic apartment building on N. Rossmore Avenue below Melrose was a favorite residence of President Kennedy when he visited Los Angeles. There are a lot of historic properties on this stretch of road near the golf course. We regularly pass by on our custom private luxury tours of Hollywood to talk about the great actors and statesmen who lived nearby as we head from Hollywood over to Beverly Hills.
Click on any of the photographs to see archival footage of President Kennedy coming down the stairs.
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Traveling with Baby
We conduct hundreds and hundreds of custom private luxury tours every year for families visiting Los Angeles who want to see Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Malibu up close as only we can. The families with very small children always endure the difficulty of managing necessary equipment for their babies. But who wants to fly with car seats and cribs and vaporizers and perambulators and all the other appurtenances of a young family?
The solution we admire and make good use of is TravelingBaby.com. This company delivers to you (or us in the case of a car seat and stroller for a tour) all the high quality baby equipment you can desire. Cribs are assembled and waiting in your hotel room when you arrive. Their service is as professional and friendly as ours which is one of the many reasons we so highly recommend them.
While we are based in Los Angeles and use TravelingBaby.com in this sunny location they have agencies throughout the country. Visit their website if you travel with your baby or small child and would prefer having someone else handle all the cumbersome equipment you need at your destination.
1-800-304-4866
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Before the Aliens Lost
This jumbo jet crash site on the backlot of Universal Studios enthralls our private luxury tour guests when we take them on the VIP Experience tour of the studios. The VIP Experience is the perfect complement to an Elite Adventure Tours excursion around Los Angeles and Hollywood because it, like us, pampers its guests. At Universal the tour is a small group with front-of-line access to all the attractions, backstage encounters with the performers, perfect coordination to see all the shows and visit all the attractions — and lunch!
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“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown”
Come to Chinatown near downtown Los Angeles for some great food, and lots of music and culture for this year’s Chinatown Summer Nights event. There are three Saturday nights that Chinatown will be partying hard: July 28, August 11 and August 25. Show up at 5pm when the bands kick off and stay until midnight to enjoy everything offered.
This will be a huge outdoor summer party with restaurants open late, gourmet food trucks as only Los Angeles knows, music and dancing, large scale video projections and lots of happy Angelenos enjoying Chinatown.
We have seen many changes over the years as we have taken our private luxury tour guests through this historic neighborhood to shop and eat and truly love the opportunity to visit. We expect to be dropping by Chinatown Summer Nights while on our Saturday evening tours this summer.
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Cool at the Pool, Playboy-style
We are nice and cool flying above the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills on a very hot Los Angeles summer day. The cool people visiting Hugh Hefner’s estate know how to stay cool at Hugh’s pool and grotto. Our private luxury helicopter tour over the other mansions of Beverly Hills and Bel Air gave us a good idea of the great number of pools down there and all the fine folks enjoying summer in the blue water behind their homes.
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Farm-to-Picnic Meals
We offer a number of regular tours around Los Angeles, Malibu and Venice Beach that include a picnic lunch. We did a lot of work to find the perfect business to provide the gourmet picnic lunches adequate and appropriate for the private luxury tour guests of Elite Adventure Tours. We are fortunate to have found Paleta, a deeply thoughtful catering company that seeks healthful and environmentally considered sources for the foods they use in their menu items.
Our guests have loved their Paleta picnic meals because they are delicious as well as nutritious. We mention that Paleta purchases their foods from local growers who farm organically, raise animals without cruelty, and fish responsibly. Paleta‘s own kitchen is the first certified green kitchen in California. They compost their kitchen waste products and package their products in environmentally sensible materials.
Paleta does more than cater meals and picnics. Paleta will deliver meals as part of a healthy and nutritious meal plan service. You might also be interested in their new line of organic pressed detox juices.