As many of you know, I love the Carpenters and pay tribute to Karen every year around her deathaversary. It’s become Dearly Departed’s Super Bowl Sunday tradition. It's the only day of the year that traffic is light enough to see everything in a reasonable period of time.
This year Karen’s special day falls directly ON Super Bowl Sunday. That means we have the rare treat of conducting this tour on the actual day she went from a Star on Earth to a Star in Heaven. Bless.
For this tour, we’ll head to Carpenters Ground Zero in Downey. This is where Richard and Karen bought a house for their parents and where Karen collapsed on the morning of her death. We’ll also check out the hospital, funeral home and church where Karen’s funeral took place (because, you know, we’re Dearly Departed Tours and that’s our thing). We listen to Carpenters music and cover versions, watch videos and swap stories about group. We'll grab lunch (stop it.) then head up to Thousand Oaks and pay a visit to Karen herself.
After the tour we huddle around the bathroom sink from Karen's last home, which is of course in our museum (It's what she would have wanted). We raise a glass of Skinny Girl and toast the woman we love. And we do love. And we will always go for a cheap joke.*
Click on the kids for a video description I made a few years ago.
Here are the details on this year’s Karen Carpen-tour:
Sunday, February 4
th at 10am. Meet at the Dearly Departed Tours office in Hollywood on Santa Monica Blvd. The tour will last longer than four hours but not more than five. It goes by fast. Ticket information
is here.
We are also offering some tours that don’t run on a regular basis so we like to call those out and let you know about them. Our Horror Film Location Tour is always pretty popular so we’re doing five this year. The dates and ticket information are below:
Our schedule for the Horror Film Location Tour:
October 21 at 3pm (Saturday)
October 22 at 3pm (Sunday)
October 28 at 3pm (Saturday)
October 29 at 3pm (Sunday)
October 31 at 11am (Tuesday)
More information and tickets are available
here.
Our partnership with LA Woman Tours has really blossomed.
Marilyn Monroe’s Hollywood is getting ready to make a couple of maiden voyages. The first one goes out THIS SUNDAY! Tickets are selling but a couple are still available—everyone loves Marilyn. Check out the tour information
here.
September 10: Marilyn Monroe’s Hollywood
October 8: Marilyn Monroe’s Hollywood
We’re celebrating Jim Morrison’s birthday with a Doors tour on December 10. This tour is becoming pretty popular and it’s a lot of fun. More information is here.
Join us!
Love,
Scott and the Dearly Departed Tours Team
*In all seriousness, some of the proceeds from the Carpen-Tour are donated in Karen's name to the National Eating Disorders Association.
