Tours in Santa Ana

Mark Morrow knows Hollywood. After arriving in Los Angeles more than 25 years ago, he enjoyed a brief foray into the music scene before finding his niche in the tourism industry. Mark went on to design his acclaimed Hollywood and Beverly Hills tour, the success of which earned him recognition from the Small Business Development Center hosted by Santa Monica College.

In the comfort of a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, Mark shuttles passengers around Tinseltown, showing off iconic sights and sounds while focusing on TV, movies, and musical moments. While sharing entertaining anecdotes, he guides groups past downtown LA, the Hollywood sign, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and other famed landmarks where feature films were made and straight-to-DVD releases were watched. As he waxes informational about all of the landmark sites, a 32-inch flat-screen multimedia center projects additional information, trivia, and satellite views of celebrities' homes.

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.

While cruising with their starry-eyed passengers through Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Sunset Strip, the humorous guides for TMZ Hollywood Tour – Secrets and Celebrity Hot Spots impart juicy, never-before-heard gossip and periodically leap off the open-air bus to film passenger-spotted celebrities. Tour-goers can step aboard TMZ's comfortable, custom-designed, star-searching stagecoach and get ready to train peepers on the haunts and hangouts of famous personalities during the two-hour excursion.

Guides from the TMZ TV program punctuate celebrity-seeking safaris with exclusive videos that inspire laughs and gasps from the ride's television screens, sharing hot Hollywood secrets and behind-the-scenes stories yet to be revealed on the show or the TMZ website. Along the way, tour takers can also sing songs, play games to win prizes and get firsthand glimpses of the shops, restaurants, and clubs where partying stars meet to mingle.

Dedicated to fostering a safe environment for L.A. cyclists, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition reaches out to the community via advocacy campaigns and builds awareness through bicycling events and group rides. Members work to promote cycling as a viable means of transportation by campaigning for more bike lanes throughout L.A., advocating for more-serious bike policies, and educating motorists and low-flying zeppelin pilots about street-sharing etiquette.

Brian Freeman wanted two things out of his career: to meet new people and spend time outdoors. With this in mind, Mr. Freeman's path seemed obvious. He would start giving bike tours. A self-described "fact guy," the expert guide draws upon his extensive knowledge of the Venice area to delight both tourists and California natives. From the Venice canals to the spacious mailboxes of celebrity homes, the expert guide tells stories about famous locations and uncovers some of the area's hidden gems. "Everyone always says they had no idea the tour would be so exciting," he says. "People think Venice is just the beach, but just a block away there is so much more."

Mr. Freeman doesn't keep his groups confined to the seats and cowboy saddles of bicycles. He frequently points out ideal spots for photo ops and occasionally pauses for activities, such as letting groups spray paint their names onto a legal-graffiti wall. He also supplies optional helmet cams that capture videos for souvenirs.