Woo-ing Eternal Darkness

Dear lovies,

It’s Valentines week, which means you’re probably feeling pretty terrible about yourself right now. You don’t have a Valentine, you bought the wrong candy or you secretly hate your partner. It’s OK. Almost everyone hates Valentines Day and recognizes it for the fake but obligatory holiday that it is. Al Capone had it right when he had a bunch of guys blasted. F*** all that and spend the weekend celebrating other people’s misery with us. Because WE love you.

Speaking of love and misery, we have a box (stop it) in the shop for billboard legend Angelyne. You can enter to win a ride in her Corvette, which she pretty much drives around in LA all day. We all have jobs and that’s hers. So, if you’d like to cruise around with Angelyne while she’s “working,” this could be your chance. We suggest taking a picture for your Christmas card. Or Halloween …

As you know, we’ve been updating Find a Death to give users a better experience. It’s looking better, it’s easier to use and we’ve added a Shop button, Bad Wax section—the usual. And we keep adding more deaths because it’s Find a Death and people keep dying. The latest addition is pro-wrester/drug addict/porn star Chyna. As is so often the case, once a wrestler hits an expiration date they’re thrown away like lumpy milk. Chyna was no exception and at one point resorted to porn to pay the bills. (You see … it.) If you would like to read about her fall from grace, click here.

A special thanks to vloggers Adam the Woo, the Carpet Bagger and Jordan the Lion who came out to the shop and spent the day with Scott the Tour Guide. (We all get a cool nickname!) Adam the Woo has been in the shop before so it was good to see him again. We had a lot of fun showing them around town for a “greatest hits” of our tours. Click the photo to follow along on our adventures.

We’ve added some tours that are coming up this spring. Alison Arngrim is returning on April 15 for the Nastie Nellie tour. Instead of weeping about your taxes, join Alison for a day of fun and gossip. This really is a unique way to see Los Angeles through the eyes of someone who’s lived the Hollywood life. You can get a picture with Alison wearing that goofy Nellie wig because Alison is super cool like that and in on the joke. http://dearlydepartedtours.com/natie-nellie-oleson-tour/

Some other tours coming up: The Harlow’s Hollywood Tour in June is already selling fast and we’re expecting this one to sell out. We have some Jean Harlow items in the shop, including items that were found in her dressing room at MGM after she died. We’re doing this tour in partnership with Elisa Jordan of LA Woman Tours and the co-host is Darrell Rooney, author of Harlow in Hollywood. If you have a copy, feel free to bring it and have Darrell sign it. Learn about her life, the movie industry during the Golden Age, her death... and a murrrrderrrrrr. Or was it?

http://dearlydepartedtours.com/harlows-hollywood/

We have a couple of music tours coming. There’s the Doors, who were LA’s house band (so says me) and the Rock ‘n Roll Circus tour, which is a more general and comprehensive look at our music scene. That covers four decades of music in LA. Now the music scene is mostly gone because of big hotels and “mixed use” buildings strangling the city. But I digress. Come see what’s left of the world’s greatest music scene (sorry San Francisco). For the Doors, click here http://dearlydepartedtours.com/the-doors-la-tour/ and for rock ‘n roll click here. http://dearlydepartedtours.com/la-rock-n-roll-circus-tour/

We’ve already added next year’s Karen Carpenter tour for February 3, 2019. (Remember, this is for NEXT year.) Karen was so popular this year that we added a second tour. We thank everyone who showed interest. Karen is an important part of LA’s music history and often overlooked so we love telling her story. Richard is too, but he’s not dead (yet) and he’s not nearly as likeable. Karen was kind of the Marilyn Munster of the Carpenter family, well... if the rest of the family were remotely likable. http://dearlydepartedtours.com/the-carpentour/

Carpentour 2017

Finally, we have a new shirt! And it’s snazzy! It’s our Eternal Darkness T-shirt and it’s perfect to wear in your family pictures. We figured since they, um... "borrowed very heavily" from us, turnabout is fair play. You can stop in the shop or click here.