When's the last time you went on a walking tour that was accompanied by comedic songbirds and a…read moremelodica? A few weekends ago, I had the pleasure of taking Mojo Maps Expedition Co.'s interactive walking tour of Venice Beach. Two knowledgable and talented tour guides took us on an adventure through Venice Beach's historical landscape -- through Muscle Beach, the Dogtown skaters, and the Beat Poets, all the way back to the neighborhood's birth era of Abbot Kinney and his "Venice of America". I was impressed by founder Chris Eng's passion for Los Angeles and his desire to provide Angelenos with an immersive adventure and the opportunity to step out of their comfort zone, right in their own city. (LA's newcomers and tourists are welcome to join in the fun too, of course!) Chris and his crew are invested in creating an evocative, visceral experience for people that goes far beyond historical dates and events. During the Venice Land tour, we walked leisurely for about 2.5 hours as the tour guides regaled us with stories from every period in Venice Beach's history through comedy, music, and improvisation. Participants were constantly engaged through activities like spray painting (yay for public defacement!), sing-alongs, and an even impromptu "bathing beauty" pageant as a shout-out to Venice Beach of the Roaring 20s. It might be a tour more suitable for extroverts but this semi-introvert was thoroughly entertained. If you have kids, I would say the tour would be great for 10-year-olds and older. There's nothing overtly racy or inappropriate -- I just think the tour would be better appreciated by slightly older kiddos.

I picked the Venice-Land tour as a fun activity to do with my mom who was visiting from out of…read moretown. We had a BLAST! The tour immediately starts off with a song, dance and music which sets the tone for the rest of the day. Kristen and Kimberly were great! They are true performers. Their quirky voices and superb acting combined with a live harmonica player, quickly transforms you back to historic 1920's Venice. As we walked through out the various parts of Venice (canals, muscle beach, and boardwalk) the tour guides pointed out murals, statues, and hidden artifacts that I've seen a dozen times but never gave much thought to, but now know the entire history behind each item. What really set this tour apart from other walking tours I've done before are the group improv games played to bring to life some of the history. Normally I'm a pretty shy person but Kristen did a great job encouraging everyone to participate where there are no right answers! From performing our own impromptu 1920 Beauty Contest to becoming Arnold Schwarzenegger's product development team.... I don't think I have ever laughed so much! This was a great experience and I would highly recommend the tour to anyone looking for a fun afternoon in Venice!

UPDATE: A day after I wrote to the Conservancy regarding them canceling my scheduled tour without…read morenotice, one of their staff reached out to me and expressed their apologies without making any excuses. They have also said they are going to mail me a refund and other travel-related expenses. I wasn't expecting that but it was nonetheless a thoughtful gesture to correct a wrong. All businesses go through ups and downs and in this case, I am glad to see that this business is willing to admit its mistake and to try to make amends to a disgruntled customer. That is what great customer service should be about. I definitely felt less upset with my experience.

I recently gathered a small group for a private walking tour led by a docent with the Santa Monica…read moreConservancy. We were lucky enough to have Thomasine "Tomi" Rogas as our guide for the 2.5 hours. She shared so much history, architecture and background on key players in Santa Monica's founding. Her stories and photos really helped paint a picture of Santa Monica in the early days. Tomi's depth of knowledge and passion for the area's history really shone through. Great experience!

Arrived Early, Treated Rudely, Safety Issues, 30+ Minutes Late…read more We prepaid for the 11:00 AM open-air tour 4 days in advance and arrived at 10:40 AM with printed confirmation stating the bus leaves on time and all late arrivals are bumped to the next tour. Instead, we were repeatedly told to "come back closer to 11" and then that there was a "bus issue" and come back at 11:15 am. We wandered around in the cold. We checked in 3-4 times because we had lunch plans after the 2-hour tour. Staff claimed another group was late (which turned out NOT to be true). Meanwhile, employees were trying to recruit more passengers. Only after we said we were canceling 30 minutes late, did they send us to board a bus. The driver was nice, but one seat behind him had no working seat belt. Three blocks after leaving, the bus was called back to pick up a group of 8 even though there were only 7 seat belts available. We were pressured to give up our safe seats and wait for another bus. We refused to exit. We refused to sit without a seat belt. The older male staff member was aggressive and extremely rude. The tour left over 30 minutes late. Disorganized, misleading, RUDE older man and unsafe. Horrible experience for the start of our vacation. Would NOT recommend.

We had a great time, got on across the street from the Chinese theater we did the tour that was…read moreabout an hour and a half in one of the small open vans. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and fun! Had a great time seeing Beverly Hills, stars houses and the Hollywood sign.

Chris happened to be someone we already had used for a wonderful tour on the sunset strip last…read moreyear. So right away, my wife and I were excited to see him again because he's just awesome. A wonderful experience for her birthday. Wandering the streets of downtown and hearing some fun and gruesome tales.

We had a great day with our guide, Paul! Very informative filled with a chock full of interesting…read morefacts! We are native Los Angeles peeps and never rode Angel's Flight. Paul treated us to a ride which made it special! I definitely recommend this tour company!

I debated with myself whether to give two or three stars and decided to be generous…read more The experience didn't start out too great. When we made reservations for a certain date, Mr LA surprisingly didn't even take down a name. When we arrived at the appointed place and time, Mr LA wasn't there. We called him and he said he'd be there within 15 minutes. Well, he approximately arrived after that time. We took Mr. LA's Culver City Food tour. For a food tour, I'd expect at least three tastings, hopefully more, but we got only one. We walked by many restaurants and he had something to say about several, but we never went in for a little snack. I got hungrier and hungrier hearing about the diversity, food and otherwise, in Culver City. Near the end of the tour, he finally took us into one place and bought so much of one thing that we couldn't even finish. He could have easily made us much happier by getting only one serving to share at this and two other places, maybe not even with the added chai tea. He wouldn't have spent any more money, but would have made us much happier. Other than the food, he started with some interesting facts, but towards the end, his knowledge kind of fizzled out. At one point, he told us one thing, but the sign next to the place said something different. I assume that whenever he mentioned years or dates, they were only approximate. He was a nice guy and I still learned a bit about Culver City, so I wasn't too disappointed, but I wouldn't take another one of his tours. Especially not for regular price; we had a Groupon. I should also mention that the tour only lasted about two hours, when it was advertised as a three hour tour.

I've been on a couple of MrLA Tours. Tom (the owner of MrLA Tours) is a walking encyclopedia of…read moreLos Angeles. It is astounding how much he knows, and his presentation is interesting and entertaining all at the same time. If you want to take a great walking tour in Los Angeles then you must do a MrLA Tour. I highly recommend it.

I loved walking and painting with Kady. She encouraged us to really experience the place during the…read morewalk - feeling the sand between our toes, looking at the way the sky lightened toward the horizon and watching the river and ocean wave patterns. She demonstrated some ways to capture what we saw using different brushes and dilutions of paint, then it was off to experiment for ourselves! I was quite proud of my painting of a palm with the fronds coming in all directions that I'd spotted on the walk. Over a lovely lunch we compared notes. Each painting was so individual. Best thing is, we get to take them and the paint kit home. So expect more sketches and painting from me. Thank you, Kady!

From the owner: Find a relaxed and pleasurable way to experience Los Angeles in this unique three hour walking…read moretour. Explore the coastal communities of Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Rey. After the walk, attend a watercolor workshop taught by an artist Kady, then return back to a favorite spot on the tour to create with your gorgeous watercolor kit a memento of the experience. The focus is on pleasure and enjoyment, no painting experience needed. We then gather for a picnic lunch, and lively conversation

I really enjoyed our tour. I'm from a big city. (NY) And never thought of doing any of these tours…read morehere in NY. But it was soo informative. We learned a lot about each star and their symbol. Walked into the Egyptian Theater. He was able to tell our some cool things about the Chinese Theater. Learned a lot about the Dolby Theater.We purchased the Los Angeles Go Card, so I'm not even sure how much this cost separately. But it was worth it for a LA tourist. Tips are appreciated, but obviously not mandatory. He was definitely well informed and very helpful. So why not?

Review for " A Journey Through Time in Film Tour" in Downtown Los Angeles…read more You don't have to be a movie buff or an out-of-town visitor (I'm not a film person and I've lived in Downtown LA for 10+ years) to enjoy this fun tour through numerous historical landmarks in Downtown Los Angeles. Our tour guide, Jared, was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the landmarks and neighborhood, and the current states of the spaces that we visited. The tour was very engaging and I loved the use of personal headsets and the big tablet he wore to show us clips of the films while we were standing right at the spot where the scene(s) were shot. Fun!

Took the 5.5 hour tour and was disappointed…read more Spent way too much time on celebrity house tours which was uninteresting and not disclosed. Our tour guide only spoke about himself and did not once introduce himself or engage with most of the group. He made racist comments towards a group of Chinese passengers who had a slight language barrier and left the vehicle for a different tour company. We were told we'd have 15 minutes to view the Hollywood sign which I had waited years to do, from a number of angles however we had three minutes and it was an obstructed view over a mile away that was impossible to show up in pictures. We were supposed to have an hour in Hollywood Blvd but he told us to arrive back at 5.15 instead of 5.30 and this gave us only 30 minutes as we were late. We then decided the trip was not worth the suggested $20 tip PER PERSON in a group and we did not return to the truck.

Like others, we had a racist, inappropriate, absolutely horrible guide. If you are a woman or…read morebringing children, STAY AWAY! On several occasions, even though there were young children, he told sexually inappropriate stories, such as George Michael and the bathroom he used with men for sex in the park. He was insulting to different races, and his stories were off-putting. I was expecting to learn about the architecture and places we were going, but instead got random facts about "celebrities" no one really knew, and inaccurate information. As a single woman, he was very creepy and inappropriate (I'll just leave it at that). I debated writing this but realized that they never replied to or addressed other reviews - so my guess is they have no intention of getting rid of any bad guides. Note - I did 2 other tours in So Cal that week and they were amazing... and have done an LA tour in the past was sooooo much better.

Chris is so nice and relaxed and experienced and is very good at finding dolphins feeding and at…read moreplay. Lots of beautiful sea life to see and the Marina Del Rey shoreline and Marina are spectacular! Thank you @aboard_the_bluemoon

Amazing . Very professional and nice guy . Our son was thrilled, going into the ocean and see all…read morethis kind of dolphins in the open sea.