Hollywood is a legendary place of glamour and mystique. A part of the said mystique is the truth behind the glamour. The truth behind the glamour is sometimes sordid and sad and often violent. One sure thing in life, even in a life of fortune and fame is death. Hollywood naturally has some very dramatic deaths. This is the world explored and revealed when one takes a Dearly Departed Tour.

The tour starts from the waiting room in their small but chockfull museum on Sunset Blvd. When you enter you are greeted by founder Scott Michael’s an undisputed authority on the underside of tinsel town. The museum is filled with plenty celebrity photos and artifacts to whet your appetite before your tour starts. Scott told me that they will be moving into a larger space soon as the collection has gotten bigger and their current space doesn’t have enough space to display everything he has acquired. One of the newest and the largest acquisition is the car that Jayne Mansfield was driving in the night she was died. One of my personal favorite things in Scott’s collection is the door from the hotel room where Divine died.

The tours start from the museum where a van and guide takes 12 people on an over two hour tour making various stops throughout Los Angeles. Using both audio and video media to give background their multimedia experience enhances the tour. One of the places visited is Bela Lugosi’s last home. I found out about Dearly Departed because I saw the bus on my street in front of a non-descript apartment building. It turns out this was apartment where Lugosi died. Dearly Departed Tours bring you to spots where people have died and some of the most infamous murders have taken place. The Mansons, Winterland, Black Dahlia, OJ are all covered by their extremely knowledgeable guides.