West Hollywood, CA Outdoor Activities

Trips and training form the centerpiece of PCH Scuba's services for area hydronauts. Programs range from beginner-level certification to search-and-recovery training, and adventures journey both close to home and as far ranging as Fiji. The Open Water Diver course makes for a fun and accessible first foray beneath the waves, incorporating a deep-delving adventure to Catalina Island, which is named after the third queen of Spain: Queen Island. The staff leads explorations of San Diego's collection of wrecks and adventures on chartered dive boats. Whatever sort of wave-blanketed voyage the aquatic adventurer desires, PCH's community of Master Scuba Diver–certified teachers and dive leaders are eager to chaperone.

Hollywoodland Tours escorts guests through Tinseltown's star-studded streets during a trio of informative adventures. Aboard the company's shaded, open-air van, tour takers snap pictures and revel in the close proximity of famous landmarks as knowledgeable guides dish out facts about passing sights. The Beverly Hills Star Home tour showcases the castles of more than 70 celebrities, including Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts, before coasting over to the Sunset Strip, where industry big shots dine, shop, and teach their wax likenesses how to use chopsticks. Patrons can also hitch a ride on the Hollywood tour, which sails past the sites of historical films, television series, and radio studios, while the Hollywood Sign tour grants picturesque photo opportunities and the chance to ask the typically reticent "H" for its autograph.

Adventure Helicopter Tours parades sightseers about the skies above Los Angeles for aerial appreciation of the city's many landmarks. The outfit hosts 12 separate tours around southern California, including those that fly over the homes of celebrities, providing ample opportunities to pass judgment on their backyard barbecuing skills. Other options include a romantic sunset excursion, and a route that flies past the Hollywood sign. Every passenger on an Adventure Helicopter Tours excursion enjoys window seating and a two-way MP3 stereo headset for easy communication with fellow sightseers.

Los Angeles Oktoberfest invites visitors to celebrate the changing seasons with two days of traditional Bavarian revelry. Hosted by Bob Guiney from ABC's The Bachelor, the festival invites attendees to fill their glass steins with any of the 19 available German beers and purchase hearty platefuls of bratwurst, giant pretzels, and strudel. Live bands lead traditional, sing-along drinking tunes, a Bavarian dance group performs for joyous audiences, and a strolling accordionist weaves through the crowds while playing familiar German melodies. In addition to bidding on sports memorabilia at the silent-auction table, patrons can also test their arm strength by competing in the stein-holding competition, which rewards the winners with lifetime admission to the Los Angeles Oktoberfest and a brand new pair of steel biceps to replace the old, used-up ones.

Malibu Discovery Tours' experienced guides shepherd locals and visitors on various tours of the salt-air scenery around Malibu’s coasts and wineries. As guests summit mountains at sunrise or sip locally grown wine, the guides point out celebrity mansions, exquisite wildlife, and the laundromats of Hollywood elites. In between views of the ocean and passes through mountain landscapes, tour groups can watch the rolling vineyards of local wine country and look for amorous initial carvings by a teenage John Adams on Old Malibu's historic building façades.

Experienced instructors at Billy Camarillo Cutting Horses tailor classes to horses’ dispositions and riders’ goals. Although they offer beginners lessons in basic Western-riding techniques, the staff specializes in training more advanced horsepeople in cutting, a fast-paced equestrian sport in which the rider attempts to separate a single cow from the rest of its herd. To facilitate cutting practice, live cattle graze on the premises 95% of the time, and students practice on a mechanical cow famed for its iron-flavored milk during the remaining 5%. The full-service facility also provides room and board for many patrons' steeds, and Billy himself takes in young colts in need of starting.