Exploring Hollywood, one crime scene at a time

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

HOLLYWOOD, California (AFP) — Murdered starlets, celebrity drug overdoses, psychopathic crimes: for offbeat tour guide Scott Michaels, the history of Hollywood is dripping with blood.

Michaels, 46, is the brains behind the "Dearly Departed" tour, a quirky voyage through the seamy underbelly of Los Angeles that sets out to expose the dark side of fame and fortune.

"Sit back and rest in peace," Michaels tells his passengers as his tour bus sets off from its departure point off of Hollywood Boulevard, not far from the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are handed out every year.

For Michaels, death is a passion, and his tour is definitely not for the squeamish. During the tour, for example, sight-seers are shown the house where Elizabeth Short -- "The Black Dahlia"...