Tours in North Glendale

As Karie Bible strides across Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the hem of her mourning gown absorbs dew from the gravesites of Johnny Ramone and Mel Blanc. She tours the cemetery for a living, leading groups to crypts and monuments that mark the remains of deceased celebrities. Whether recounting the legacy of silent-film icon Rudolph Valentino or kneeling at the spike of grass that marks Alfalfa’s final resting place, she immerses tour-goers in Hollywood history. Each tour lasts about two hours and sheds light on cherished stars, as well as lesser-known entertainers and community members.

The staff members at Another Side Of Los Angeles Tours take an unconventional approach to sightseeing. The goal is to fashion an experience that is as much about the sights as it is about the tour itself. Sightseers take to the air during helicopter tours, hot air balloon tours, and biking tours with optional ETs.

The company’s segway tours wheel saunterers through Mission Bay or the Gaslamp Quarter and the Embarcadero at sunset, when San Diego twinkles and teenage werewolves cycle through awkward states of half-transformation. In addition to information and adventure, the company frequently gives tour takers round-trip transportation, waives entrance fees, and serves bites to eat.

Red Line Tours specializes in one thing: Hollywood. Its signature tour, the Hollywood Behind the Scenes walking tour, explores Hollywood with the intimacy of a native Angeleno, diving into famous landmarks that are generally closed to the public. In just three blocks, the tour explores sites such as Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, and the Walk of Fame. Guides also lead groups to the El Capitan Theatre, Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, and the Roosevelt Hotel, imparting intimate knowledge about Hollywood lore, such as how the Hollywood sign got its name and how the baby from Baby's Day Out became LA's first mayor. Red Line Tours' special live-audio system ensures that every visitor can hear the guide, even at a distance. While Red Line Tours specializes in the Behind the Scenes tour, it also partners with other local tour agencies to offer packages that include tours of sites including Universal Studios and neighborhoods of celebrity homes.

Contestants use more brainpower than brawn to master CityRace Urban Adventure Hunts. Taking place up to three times each month, these three-hour adventures combine the brainteasing clues of a scavenger hunt with the timed pressure of a footrace. Inspired by The Amazing Race, events send teams of two or four speeding through the streets of a Los Angeles neighborhood on foot, by car, or via other unique methods. Participants can explore the diverse architecture of Little Tokyo, steep themselves in history in 200-year-old Old Pasadena, and ski down Hollywood’s snowbank-like piles of discarded screenplays. The team that finishes with the most correct answers wins a bronze trophy, assorted books and gift cards, and a picture in the Winners' Circle on the race website.

From the outside, the big, red bus looks like an open-topped relic from across the pond. Once on board, however, a rainbow oasis of streamers, flags, and tinsel reveals that this is no stodgy ride; rather, it’s the flagship vehicle of Out & About Tours—a tour company dedicated to celebrating the oft-overlooked sites associated with Los Angeles' LGBT legacy. Company CEO Jim Anzide pulls double duty as the tour’s guide, narrating historic info about the roots of the LGBT community in neighborhoods ranging from West Hollywood and downtown to Silverlake and the Sunset Strip. Lively banter punctuates each trip as Anzide and his guides quiz passengers on history and share personal anecdotes. They also lead walking tours that explore La La Land's hotels and bathhouses and curate their signature SunGay Brunch tour—a mini bus excursion that includes mimosas and bites at stops including Flying Leap Café and The Other Side, Los Angeles' last piano bar purportedly haunted by the ghost of Fats Waller’s Wurlitzer.

By trading in gas pedals for bike pedals, Bikes and Hikes LA customers adopt a green method for sightseeing the shores and slopes surrounding Los Angeles on top-notch, fully suspended hybrid road bikes from specialized brands such as Trek and Fuji. Carefully researched routes—such as that of the Celebrity Homes Tour that takes guests down Rodeo Drive and the Sunset Strip, and includes a walking tour of a famous Beverly Hills mansion—lay the groundwork for what is ranked as TripAdvisor's best tour in West Hollywood. For the LA in a Day tour, sightseers pedal by celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air before exploring picturesque Venice, Santa Monica, and Marina Del Rey. Tour guides can accommodate groups of 2–100 people, providing translators in any language and building custom experiences, such as scavenger-hunt bike rides or group levitations, upon request.