Touring Los Angeles with a gay twist

There is certain things that you likely never find on those infamous star maps you can buy on any street corner in Los Angeles.

Imagine learning that Barney's Beanery used to hang a sign that said "Fagots Stay Out" or visiting the corner where Eddie Murphy "mistakenly" picked up his late-night transsexual companion Atisone Seuli.  Now imagine taking in all of LA's gay history and gossip from the upper tier of a big red double-decker bus.

Out & About Tours is a new and only gay bus tour that provides an educational yet always entertaining look at LGBT history in and around Los Angeles. The tour is open to members of any and all communities 21 years of age and older; be it a straight local or gay tourist, everyone will get something special and memorable from Out & About Tours. With more than 100 points of interest, the tour mixes campy entertainment with heart-breaking personal stories of struggle and failure. In creating Out & About Tours, founder Jim Anzide aims to combine fun with education and drive the message home by playing to audiences' emotions.

"Doing the research for this tour has opened my heart and mind in ways I can't begin to articulate," said Anzide. "Knowing that people have lost their lives, loved ones, homes, and careers so that I can do something as simple as go to a bar in West Hollywood and dance with my friends, walk hand-in-hand with someone of the same sex or live with the person I love is overwhelming. I felt ungrateful through my ignorance. I knew that I had to be part of educating and empowering my generation and future generations of LGBT people in the best way I know how - through entertainment."

Anzide, who began his career as an actor and a founding member of Circle X Theatre Company, was inspired to create this tour after Prop 8 passed in California. Frustrated, he combined his gift for pleasing the masses with his anger and passion as an under-appreciated gay American in California. The result was Out & About. The tour shines a spotlight first on gay life prior to the AIDS crisis, then focuses on the difficult time between the dark period of the AIDS epidemic and the pop phenomenon of being gay in a post "Will & Grace" world. It examines the gay experience and reveals it as an undeniable part of California's collective history; not simply the experiences of one group.

It's not all solemnity, however. Although riders are intellectually and emotionally stimulated, the tour is pure fun. From the attractive crew and lively tour guide (Anzide himself) to the audience's participation with cheers for LGBT heroes and jeers for its villains.

Steve Smith commends Anzide for creating Out & About. "It is important to have tours such as Out & About help tell the often untold stories and contributions of our community " says Smith, a board member of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association and one of the founders of the Gay and Lesbian Historic Trolley Tour in Key West. Fla., which has provided tours to thousands of visitors during the last 5 years.

Out & About operates every Saturday and Sunday and alternating Fridays. Tours departs from ONE Archives Gallery & Museum in West Hollywood at 1 p.m. and ends at approximately 4 p.m. The $75 ticket includes a full day of fun and education as well as drinks and food available gratis at key stops. For more information and a complete tour schedule including future tailored tours to downtown and Old Hollywood visit Out & About online at www.outandabout-tours.com or email info@outandabout-tours.com.