Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA (1888PressRelease)
November 06, 2009 - Imagine taking in all of Los Angeles’ LGBT history from the upper tier of a double-decker bus. Cruising East down Santa Monica Boulevard you are introduced to Barney’s Beanery where there used to hang a sign that said “Fagots- Stay Out.” Approaching a corner in Hollywood, you are told this is where Eddie Murphy infamously picked up his late-night transsexual companion Atisone Seuli. Soon you stop at The Other Side Piano Bar in Silverlake for a quick cocktail with Ms. Judy Garland and then you high tail it through Old Hollywood where you acquire enough gossip to make you the hit of cocktail hour for weeks to come.
Out & About Tours is the first and only gay bus tour that provides an educational yet always entertaining look at LGBT history in and around Los Angeles. The tour is open to members of any and all communities 21 years of age and older. With more than 100 points of interest, the tour mixes campy entertainment with heart-breaking personal stories of struggle and failure. In creating Out & About Tours, founder Jim Anzide aimed to combine entertainment with education and drive the message home by playing to audiences’ emotions.
“Doing the research for this tour has opened my heart and mind in ways I can’t begin to articulate,” said Anzide. “Knowing that people have lost their lives, loved ones, homes, and careers so that I can do something as simple as go to a bar in West Hollywood, walk hand-in-hand with someone of the same sex or live with the person I love is overwhelming. I felt ungrateful through my ignorance. I knew that I had to be part of educating and empowering my generation and future generations of LGBT people in the best way I know how - through entertainment.”
Anzide, a former actor, was inspired to create this tour after Prop 8 passed in California. Frustrated, he combined his gift for pleasing the masses with his anger and passion as an under-appreciated gay American in California. The result was Out & About Tours. The tour shines a spotlight first on gay life prior to the AIDS crisis, then focuses on the difficult time between the dark period of the AIDS epidemic and the pop phenomenon of being gay in a post “Will & Grace” world. It examines the gay experience and reveals it as an undeniable part of California’s collective history; not simply the experiences of one group.
It’s not all solemnity, however. Although riders are intellectually and emotionally stimulated, the tour is pure fun. From the attractive crew and lively tour guide (Anzide himself) to the free snacks and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), this tour excites and entertains. After the tour, the fun continues at an after party where riders get the opportunity to make new friends, share experiences, and dance.
The tour runs every Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The $75 ticket includes a full day of fun and education as well as drinks and food available gratis at key stops. For more information visit www.outandabout-tours.com
###
