Coastal34374337843
20 Apr 2023
I was actually quite disappointed with this tour. The check-in was great, nice guy, very helpful. We seated ourselves on the bus, as instructed (from the back forward), but then found we had to move as a large part of sharp panelling on the bus was pushed in and obstructing our foot area.
I was very disappointed that, as a full day tour, we didn't drive around the stars homes in Beverley Hills, I felt more that we had places pointed out on our way to somewhere else, and not specifically, just a generalisation in some cases.
I found it annoying that our first stop was outside a massive gift shop, where we were given a coupon for a free gift if a purchase was made (a badge), but 5 minutes walk along the road was the Chinese Theatre, somewhere that was of interest, yet there was no mention of this from the guide, we only saw it having been picked up.
We went to Santa Monica beach & pier and was told by our guide specifically not to buy from the food stalls and spoil our lunch at the farmers market. The farmers market was mentioned over and over, yet when we got there, by the time we found somewhere to eat with food we liked, ordered, and our food arrived, we.literally had 10 minutes to eat it, as we were only given an hour at this stop. Actually, we found more food of interest in Santa Monica than the farmers market.
After lunch, we visited the Griffin Observatory, another one hour stop. 30 or 45 minutes would have been adequate.
Our driver was quite derogatory about a lot of places and, although quite comical, I didn't feel that comfortable all day. I felt that the company, or the driver, were on commission with certain places and we were directed to these areas and discouraged from others.
Overall, I wouldn't choose this company again.
It wasn't an optimum day for this tour. Rain was expected the next day and it was the day of the OSCARS thus eliminating many of the stops such as Grumman Chinese Theater, the walk of stars and the Dolby Theater. In addition, our tour guide Jeff K, proudly brought his three foot personal speaker onto the bus and played very loud music making it hard to talk amongst ourselves. He would also make fun of passing pedestrians. Very rude. He seemed to focus on stabbings and murders. For example, when passing the Peterson Car Museum, all he told us was about the stabbing that took place on that corner. Personally, I think there are other attributes to be focused on rather than the negatives that lies beneath any city, especially Hollywood and Los Angeles. I am a local so I know many of the interesting tidbits that could be shared in a tour. Unfortunately, they were obscured by stories of stabbings, shootings, and public humiliation of passing pedestrians. Lastly, it wasn't disclosed that we would be traveling certain distances on the 10 freeway in an open air bus. Very uncomfortable to say the least. I am a docent at two different facilities in Los Angeles. Perhaps I'm sensitive to the quality of a tour.