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Tags: Los Angeles Travel / Hollywood / Cemeteries / Walking Tours / → All Tags
Spend the Afternoon With Hollywood's Dearly Departed On Cemetery Tours
The cryptic, yet beautiful grounds of Los Angeles' Hollywood Forever Cemetery are known for hosting summertime screenings of classic movies like Cool Hand Luke, and occasional special events like last week's sunrise concert with Bon Iver. But don't let its role as an entertainment venue dwarf the fact that it's a resting ground for many Hollywood luminaries, with floral-strewn monuments to prove it. Take a moment to slow down as your stroll through Hollywood Forever, and might find yourself overcome by its sprawling history.
If you're not adverse to spending your afternoon in the company of massive headstones, then you can learn a little more about the site with a walking tour hosted by guide Karie Bible. Bible claims she could give a six-hour tour of the grounds and still not cover everything there is to know about Hollywood Forever, so you'll get your fill of informational tidbits, and then some. We promise the actual tour won't last that long, and it will cost you a pittance of $12.
Tags: Walking Tours / Brooklyn / Subways / → All Tags
Explore the World's Oldest Subway Tunnel
Even though New York has more exciting neighborhoods than just about anywhere else in the world, it can still be frustratingly difficult to find anywhere undiscovered, because everything is so overly-documented.
So here's one walking tour activity you won't find in your Lonely Planet book: climb down a manhole underneath Brooklyn's busy Atlantic Avenue and inside the world's oldest subway tunnel.
The Atlantic Avenue tunnel is a half-mile road that was built back in 1844, and then just completely forgotten about for decades until it was rediscovered in 1980. Today, Bob Diamond, who found the lost tunnel, takes groups down on expeditions. If you're already grossed out, we can say that at least from the photos, it looks a lot cleaner than any subway tunnel we've ever seen.
Tours take place once a month; the next one is Sunday, February 22. Bring a flashlight!
· Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tours [Brooklyn Rail]
· Walking tours coverage [Jaunted]
· Brooklyn travel coverage [Jaunted]
Photo: [Brooklyn Rail]
Tags: Travel Tours / Walking Tours / Tours / Harvey Milk / Oscars / Movie Travel / → All Tags
Tour Harvey Milk's San Francisco
Slumdog Millionaire may be dominating the Oscar buzz, but it isn't the only Academy-nominated film catching tour planner's interest.
Best Picture nominee Milk made us want to hang out in San Francisco's Castro District circa 1978, and local walking tour organizers Crusin' the Castro have taken note—they're now offering a "Harvey Milk Tour." The comprehensive three-hour tour (Wednesdays only) takes you to the house where the pioneering politician lived, his campaign headquarters, through City Hall and to Milk's final resting place, along the way taking in the sights of the colorful Castro neighborhood, where much of the gay rights movement was born.
At $55, the price seems a little steep for a walking tour, although that includes admission to the GLBT Historical Society and its new exhibit about the Castro.
· Cruisin' the Castro [Official Site]
· "Milk" Reminds Us To Salute The Castro [Jaunted]
· 'Slumdog Millionaire' Tour: Effective or Exploitative? [Jaunted]
Photo: [magerleague]
Tags: Walking Tours / Desserts / Restaurants / Food Travel / → All Tags
Find NYC's Best Treats...and Walk Them Off
If there's one over-covered travel topic that's been done to death more than them all, it's probably New York restaurants. Millions of pages (and bandwith) have been devoted to that never-ending quest of finding the best dinner in NYC. But in all the fuss, New York dessert is often overlooked. You can dine anywhere from a high-end, raved-about restaurant to a cult favorite hole-in-the-wall, and even the most obsessive food blogger is likely to finish a meal and realize "I have no idea if the dessert is good here."
Which is why we're pretty excited about Free NYC Dessert Fest, a once-monthly walking tour of New York's best dessert destinations. Each tour explores one iconic NYC neighborhood, soaking in the sites and hitting up all the area's best sweet spots. This month's tour takes place Sunday, February 1 (at 11:30am, so you can get back in time for the big game) in the Financial District, which on Super Bowl Sunday should be empty of bankers but full of sugar at stops like Christopher Norman Chocolates, Financier Patisserie and Bubby's Bakery.
The walking tour, which covers a mile, is free, aside from paying for whatever treats you pick up and asking that you donate $1 to a non-profit that helps feed hungry New Yorkers. So you can give in to your dessert cravings, get some exercise and soothe your conscience! Sounds like a sweet deal.
· Free NYC Dessert Fest [Meetup]
· Dessert coverage [Jaunted]
· New NYC Restaurants coverage [Jaunted]
Photo: [robobby]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Walking Tours / → All Tags
Sussing Out Melbourne's Secret Masterpieces
Over the past decade Melbourne’s street art scene has grown to rival that of London or Berlin, thanks to the city's efforts to encourage artists to paint. Melbourne has gone so far as to designate certain streets for graffiti. Business owners are getting into the act as well by hiring street artists to paint the exteriors of their buildings. Still, the bulk of the good stuff is still hiding is the city’s nooks and crannies.
Because it can be a challenge to find the art lurking in remote corners and alleyways, Bernadette Alibrando, a local artist, has started giving walking tours of the best work in town. While many pieces are political statements about war, homelessness or global warming, others are lighter fare dealing with Australian pop culture.
Alibrando leads tours every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. The itinerary varies slightly each time out and usually ends with a passionate discussion over wine and cheese in the early evening. The cost per person is A$98 ($65).
Related Stories:
· Walk to Art Tours [Official Site]
· Walking Tours Bring Melbourne's Street Art to Life [LA Times]
· Street Art coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Doogsta]
Tags: Walking Tours / Tours / → All Tags
Nearly Free Travel: London Walking Tours
"Free walking tour" shouted the headline, and we, like dumb tourists, believed it. On further investigation it seems that the "free" London walking tours are only free if you've bought a ticket on the Original London Sightseeing Tour hop-on, hop-off bus.
Just the same, we are rather attracted to walking tours and the outfit has both a "classic" walk through central London and a Changing of the Guard walk as well. Walking tours are often led by young backpackers spending a summer in London, so as well as regurgitating some of the local history, they can be extraordinarily good at pointing out the best pubs.
These "nearly free" walking tours cost £5 (nearly $9) if you haven't bought the too-expensive hop-on, hop-off ticket (which costs £20 ($35) for 24 hours). We advise checking out the walking tour guide first to see if they fit your bill and if not, well, just buy a map. Then you can make your walking tour an entirely free "getting lost" tour instead.
Related Stories:
· Original London Sightseeing Tours Introduce Free Walking Tours [eTravel]
· Walk Around London If Your Eurostar Is Late [Jaunted]
[Photo: Salim Virji]
Tags: Walking Tours / Boats / Islands / Tours / → All Tags
Exploring New York: Least Touristy Tours Ever
New York is the kind of city where a tour guide is far from necessary. But sometimes even the most jaded locals want to discover something new.
That's when it's time to consult Urban Tours, the least touristy tour company ever. Organized by the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, Urban Tours offers walking, biking and boat trips around the city's least traveled destinations.
Coming up later this summer: A walk through Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery, as well as a water taxi tour of "The Other Islands of New York," which explores the non-Manhattans: Roosevelt, Randall's, Ward's and the two Brother Islands. (Bonus points if you've ever even heard of the Brother Islands, wedged between the Bronx and Rikers Island, they formerly housed quarantined smallpox victims.)
Related Stories:
· Urban Tours [Official Site]
· Walking Tour coverage [Jaunted]
· New York Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Pro-Zak]
Tags: Walking Tours / Tourist Traps / Haunted-Travel / → All Tags
Tourist Trap: Winchester Mystery House
For those who like a bit of good old American weirdness with their tours, San Jose offers a stroll around the famed Winchester Mansion. A 160 room monument to nonstop renovations, the Winchester Mansion features endless arbitrary additions and staircases to nowhere.
The story goes that the widow of William W. Winchester, awash in money from her husband's namesake rifle, was spurred by a psychic to move west and build a sprawling domicile as a cure for a run of bad luck that included the deaths of her famous husband and their only child. This compulsive construction was an attempt to appease the souls of those who had died by means of the rifle that bore her husband's name. Ultimately, this appeasement resulted in thirty-eight years of round the clock construction and a one hundred and fifty six acre spread of idiosyncratic rooms and passageways.
The still-standing mansion and garden grounds offer a variety of daily tours. The best deal--short of faking senior status--is the Grand Estate tour at $28.95. This will take you through 110 of the 160 rooms and give you a behind the scenes look at the building and operation of the estate. If that's too rich for you, Weird US put together the video above.
Related Stories:
· The Winchester Mystery House Blogger Talks [Jaunted]
· The Winchester Mystery House [Official Site]
Tags: Trains / Britain / London / Walking Tours / Architecture / Eurostar / → All Tags
Walk Around London If Your Eurostar Is Late
When the Eurostar moves its London-end terminal to St Pancras in November, we hope it'll keep up its recent marvelous punctuality record. But if you are stuck at St Pancras station, just follow some tips from the UK Times to take yourself on a tour of some of the architectural highlights of the new station and its surrounds.
Or if you're really keen on swotting up on some London architecture, especially the newer stuff, sign up for a walking tour with local architect Tim Bruce-Dick. He takes people on a weekly Wednesday evening walk throughout the summer, starting at a different tube station each week. Now you just need to know when your train will be late and you can book a tour to pass the time.
[Photo: StartAgain]
Related Stories:
· Newsflash: Trains Arrive On Time! [Jaunted]
· The Revival of St Pancras [Times UK]
· London Walks with Tim Bruce-Dick [Official Site]
Tags: Walking Tours / iPods / → All Tags
Sounds for Sights
Downloadable walking tours are the best, we love having hands free to do other things while also feeling like pseudo-intellectuals able to spew a variety of facts regarding any locale after completing a tour.
Check out Sounds for Sights - they sell downloadable tours direct to consumers, and they're just $5 each. Started by a tech-savvy pair of New Yorkers they currently have many NY-themed tours and are in the works to develop a bunch for other cities too.
To get you in the Xmas spirit, they're offering a discount on their Rockefeller Center/Diamond District tour, enter 50offrockcenter to get your discount when you check out.
Happy walking, er, and listening!
Tags: Halloween / Walking Tours / → All Tags
Winchester Mystery House Blogger Talks
With the Halloween countdown begun, it seemed like a good time to talk a bit with Stephen, whose Mystery House blog is full of annotated pictures of the bizarre Winchester Mystery house, built by the spook-obsessed heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. Stephen took the photos while working as a guide a couple years ago -- many are of rooms and details you can't see on any normal tour.
Highlights from our IM chat are after the jump.
Tags: Walking Tours / → All Tags
NYC Haunts
If you're in New York this coming Sunday and looking for a little thrill, you might want to check out Haunted New York, a timely tour sponsored by the 92nd St. Y. The walk, led by urban historian (and horror writer!) Gordon Linzner, will go through the East and West Villages. This being New York, the emphasis is on celebrity ghosts, not just random lame-o spook nobodies. So you're headed for the haunts of Aaron Burr, Mark Twain, Peter Stuyvasant, and other VIPs; given the list, you may want to watch out for ghostly disses.
Image from the Metropolitan Museum's exhibit, "The Perfect Medium."
