Hello!
Groovy Greetings, man.
We have some big news! Tickets are finally on sale for the Friday events of the Dearly Departed Weekend hosted by myself and Elisa Jordan of LA Woman Tours! On Friday, August 9, we’re hosting a 1960s day! This will give us some historical context for what was going on in the summer of 1969.
To start things off, we doing a day-time bus tour we call The Magic Carpet Ride of Hollywood that will include many sites having to do with Los Angeles in the 1960s. It will music, culture and the Sunset Strip and! filming locations for Quentin Tarantino’s movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood!. For lunch we’ll stop for pizza and salad for lunch at the legendary Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset.
This is a classic restaurant on the Sunset Strip. After you are dazzled by the rock ‘n roll photos and memorabilia, you'll realize that the building is exactly the same as it was during the Golden Age of Hollywood when it was known at the Villa Nova. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio had their first date here. Vincent Minelli also proposed to Judy Garland (who died 50 years ago this week!) here, which is why the name is now the Rainbow—it was for Judy.
Tickets for The Magic Bus Tour are $85.
Now that we’re closer to the movie’s release, I can finally talk a little more freely about something I wasn’t allowed to discuss, per a very strict non-disclosure agreement: Quentin Tarantino asked me to be an advisor on the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was a wild trip working directly with him. He could easily hired a team of researched but he saw my and Mike Dorsey's film, The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter and reached out to me. Walking into Tarantino's office and seeing our movie on this desk... it was crazy. I walked in expecting to be blown into a corner by a team of people, but it was just Quentin and me for about an hour - talking everything about the case. A few days later I took Quentin and his team on a tour of various Tate-LaBianca related locations. I can't tell you everything right now, but in the meantime, here I am at the Sebring Salon film shoot.
On set at Jay Sebring's Salon - which was put. back. in. it's. original. location!
That Friday night August 9, we are rounding out our 1960s theme with a Valley of the Dolls themed cocktail party and dinner on a real movie studio back lot, Raleigh Studios! Raleigh is one of the oldest operating studio in America. Whatever Happend to Baby Jane, The Pit and the Pendulum, Gunsmoke, Superman, The Best Years of our Lives, Major Crimes... these are just a few of the classic productions filmed on this lot and it's a really rare treat to actually be able to have a party on the lot with so much history.
This is our way of putting a positive spin on what could be a very sad day. We’ll have cocktails, comedy by Jill Marie Morris, an Italian buffet dinner (I’ll heat up the lasagna.) and a very special guest: Sharon Groves, who was Sharon Tate’s stunt double in the movie Don’t Make Waves. She will share her memories of the movie set and of Sharon and we’re honored to have her.
Oh, did we mention that Raleigh also has ties with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? True. Some of the scenes were filmed on this backlot.
A limited amount of ticket for the Valley of the Dolls Party are available for $100 until June 30. On July 1 general tickets will go up to $125 so get tickets now!
Remember, these two experiences focus on the pop-culture element of the 60's and LA - it's produced by both us and LA Woman Tours. These particular experiences are not death-themed (but we'll double dip occasionally!).
We’re heading into summer this weekend so be sure to do something witchy during the equinox. We’re celebrating by getting in touch with a piece of Old Hollywood that has come back to life like magic. I was one of the first people who were able to check out the newly reopened Formosa Café on Santa Monica Blvd.
Formosa Exterior by ABC News, Scott with Alison Martino of Vintage LA and Designer Kimberly Biehl Schmidt
The Formosa originally opened in 1925 and became a staple of the Hollywood elite and regular joes and janes. It was passed down through a couple of generations, which proved that just because your grandparents were good businesspeople doesn’t necessarily mean that you inherited their talent. In the 90's this was my favorite dive bar, back it was going through it's sort of Sunset Blvd. faded glamor days. Well, bad management decisions and a heartbreaking remodel drove regulars to clutch their pearls and ditch. The place shut down and it seemd like it was in danger... but a new company has stepped in and painstakingly put the Formosa back to the original wonderfulness. It doesn't happen a lot... but when some people (with honestly, with the money to back it up) still care about our history in Los Angeles, and put so much effort into preserving it. Well done.
Finally, Mike Dorsey have given our latest episode of the Dearly Departed Podcast a full-release. This one is dedicated to our favorite TV Hillbillies!
TOURS AND EVENTS NEW!!!!!!!!!
The Magic Carpet Ride Tour of Los Angeles
$85
Valley of the Dolls Dinner and Cocktail Party
Early doll special: $100 ($125 starting on July 1)
PS: You will always be notified by email first when tickets to any of our events become available.
