Meet Scott Michaels of Dearly Departed Tours and Museum in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Michaels.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I moved to LA in the early 90’s from Chicago where I worked in a law firm for several years. I was in my early 30’s when I chucked it all in and drove to LA to take over management of Grave Line Tours, my dream job. We used old Cadillac hearses – it was the first tour of its kind.

After a few years with Grave Line, I moved to the UK for a relationship. My research of deaths in London culminated in a tour which never really took off (due to visa issues). During this time, Grave Line was sold and the kid who bought it, killed himself. No disrespect intended, I thought it was a poetic end. The relationship dwindled and I returned to LA.

I got back in the sightseeing business with the “Big” company in Hollywood. They gave me a bus and a load of tourists and told us to get lost for two hours. We could make anything up we wanted as long as we came back for another load of tourists. I did my own research and my tours were really good. The company saw this and put their trainees on my bus to learn my tour. There were half a dozen guides going out every two hours with the information I gave them, and the company never compensated me. So, I quit.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There is always the “if I knew then what I know now…” scenario. When I began, I knew very little about the process of starting a tour company. Luckily, I had a friend in the business who was able to help with some of the legal applications and filings. To get a license to run a tour business I had to have a bus, so I bought one. The bus has to be insured for passengers to submit the application, but since I didn’t have a license, the insured bus sat in storage for about a year. That seemed a bit silly. There are lots of hoops to jump through.

Insurance, insurance, taxes, permits and more insurance.

The other struggle is progress and geography. When I began, there were a couple of locations that were non-negotiable to include. Number one was the Ambassador Hotel. We sat in our bus and listened to the recording of the assassination of RFK that took place in the hotel. This was one of the most important events in American History and a very poignant moment on the tour. Now the hotel is gone. This happens a lot.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Dearly Departed Tours is a light-hearted look at the Dark-Side of Hollywood. We specialize in showing people where famous and infamous events took place. Deaths, Scandals and just plain fun things. I assembled a list of things or events that I thought everyone should see, or would find interesting.

We love what we do and I think that’s why we’re good at it, and have a good reputation.

When I started my company, I existed solely on tickets being sold on Goldstar Events and picking people up in front of a Starbucks for the first couple of years.

I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve become part of the landscape here in Los Angeles. We’re a tour that locals have embraced. LA Weekly and Los Angeles Magazine have both named us in their Best Of issues.

Other companies have tried to do what we do, with little success. Again, we love what we do. That’s the difference.

We’ve upped out game this year and are opening a museum featuring some pretty amazing and bizarre artifacts, the largest being Jayne Mansfield’s Car. Yes, THE car.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Detroit and was exposed to death at an early age. We lived on a very busy intersection where accidents happened very often, sometimes fatal. It was commonplace. To this day when I hear brakes screeching in the distance, I can tell by the sound if there will be impact.

Sometimes it was like I was in “Stand by Me”. I remember an urban legend about a woman who lived in a crazy old house a few miles away who killed someone with an axe and put their body in a garbage can. I had to have been 10, but I pedaled my stingray to that house and sat on the curb across the street from it for what seemed like hours.

I was a Boy Scout and we would go camping for weekends. Nearby one of the campgrounds a young boy disappeared for several weeks. It turns out he had drowned in a nearby lake. The next time we were camping there, I hiked to find the location. It was creepy I guess. But it was history.

I’m not trying to sound dramatic, but I knew four people who have been murdered. One was abducted from a store parking lot and another was a cashier killed in a robbery at a fast food restaurant. Terrible, sad stories. But I’d patronize those businesses because that made doing mundane things a helluva lot more interesting.

Pricing:

• The Standard Tragical History Tour $50 per body
• The Helter Skelter Tour – based solely on the Tate Labianca (Manson) Murders $75

Contact Info:

• Address: 5901 Santa Monica Blvd.
  Los Angeles, CA 90038
• Website: www.dearlydepartedtours.com
• Phone: 1-855-600-DEAD
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearlydepartedtours/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DearlyDepartedTours/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LADeathTrip
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dearly-departed-tours-los-angeles-3
• Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g32655-d1453242-Reviews-Dearly_Departed_Tours-Los_Angeles_California.html

Image Credit:
Erica Lancaster