To live and die in LA -- the tour

February 25, 12:47 AMSouthern California Travel ExaminerJenna Rose Robbins

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Scott Michaels and his Dearly Departed tour van, with the iconic Capitol Records behind.

I've already reported on one alternative tour company operating in Los Angeles (see Esotouric). Here's another that'll put to rest the cliche that the City of Angeles is all sunshine and Botox smiles. There's a reason that Raymond Chandler chose our burg as the backdrop of his noir classics, and that ethos still lives and breathes in a city often overlooked as having little history and no depth.

From the comfort (and safety) of a touring van, you'll get a drive-by glimpse of some of LA's most horrifying crime scenes: the LaBianca slayings, the Menendez murders, and even sites of celebrity ill-repute, such as the street where Hugh Grant was caught with Divine Brown and the Beverly Hills bathroom where George Michael was caught with his pants down.

Tour director Scott Michaels is chock full of demented trivia. Not once in the four-hour ride did a passenger stump him with a question. Obviously, the macabre has been a passion of Michaels' for years, he being the self-professed "death hag" who masterminded the popular FindADeath.com website, a directory of the final resting and breathing places of celebs around the world.

Michaels' obsession for his hobby is matched only by his attention to detail. Throughout the tour, he swaps out CDs of music (the theme to John Carpenter's Halloween) and 911 calls (Joaquin Phoenix calling in brother River's collapse) as the van approaches a site. Then there's the binder that every tour guest receives, which contains photos of venues from yesteryear, as well as police photos from the crime scene of the Black Dahlia murder. Some of the tidbits leave you to wonder how Michaels' got his hands on the material (such as Charles Manson's version of a song that the Beach Boys later recorded), but then you remember that this is a guy who owns pieces of the Hindenburg and the hotel door where Divine died.

Aside from the 100-location standard tour, Dearly Departed also offers a Manson-specific Helter Skelter tour, with plans to introduce a video-supported Hollywood Movie Tour in the near future.