The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book (3rd edition) [Paperback]

William A. Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

The self-guided tours in this book help travelers discover where today's Hollywood lives, works. The book covers a little of everything: celebrity homes and haunts; locations all over greater Los Angeles where popular and classic motion pictures and television shows were filmed; the studios; sites of infamous Hollywood scandals, murders, and suicides; and other sites where entertainment history, including sites that inspired songs. The book is updated annually and covers 17 different areas of greater Los Angeles (from Pasadena to Malibu and the northern San Fernando Valley to the South Bay.) Readers can also ask the publisher to send e-mail updates.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book is the joyously affirmative answer to the question "Is there an alternative to the prepackaged bus tour of Tinseltown?" William Gordon's guide delivers all the juicy scandal you've come for, but at your pace, at your discretion, and without crackly speakers blasting in your ear. You want to see former homes of Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, or Elvis Presley, current homes of Elizabeth Taylor, Ronald Reagan, or Hugh Hefner, and the site of the Charles Manson cult murders? Gordon helps you conduct your own exploration, and supplies invaluable tidbits of information, such as how Jayne Mansfield came to receive $50,000 worth of free merchandise to decorate her Pink Palace. Gordon covers 32 neighborhoods, providing a practical tour guide as well as a fun gift for the star-struck and Hollywood-bound. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

It is a terrific book, with maps and information that you really would find nowhere else. -- Paul Wallach, syndicated broadcaster

This guide spotlights the hidden dirt that standard star tours never uncover. -- New York Daily News

This guide spotlights the hidden dirt that standard star tours never uncover. -- New York Daily News

We would rate this "Hollywood Tour Book" Number 1+ of all the tourist guides that have been written on Hollywood. -- John Austin, Hollywood Inside Syndicate

We would rate this book as Number 1+ of all the tourist guides that have been published on Hollywood. -- Hollywood Inside Syndicate

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: North Ridge Books; 3 edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937813079
• ISBN-13: 978-0937813072
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #934,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy before you go to LA!, August 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I read the book AFTER returning from LA--put me through the best and worst of 2 worlds. One of estasy (I remember that place, it was cool) to one of envy (I wish I had seen that). Please pick this book up before you leave, and plan your trip according to the sites listed. After taking one of the traditional tour vans around the city, it seems the driver must have used this book as a guide as I remember some of the houses matching up with what the author talked about. On the flip side, I would have preferred more pictures and more detailed information on hollywood grave sites, but maybe that's fodder for its own book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tinseltown Mania, April 11, 2003

By 

Brad Baker (Atherton, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book (3rd edition) (Paperback)

There must be 50 Hollywood homes books on the market. If you visit Beverly Hills, a tour-bus or map salesman will gladly take your money. But W. Gordon's remarkably accurate and truthful guide will spell out where the buses point out homes where movie stars never lived. Gordon provides detailed directions and maps to the sites you want to see. And loads of "goodies" and information. He shows you how to get to Arnold's palatial block of homes in Brentwood, and warns that driving there is a $ 500 fine and possible jail time! Wow! He also gives directions to Rudolph Valentino's original 1920's mansion(and much, much more). Forget the B.S. Here it is. When I e-mailed him for an up-date, he gladly provided it for free(see the book). Why waste time driving around freeways?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A plethora of information about my neighbors in Los Angeles., February 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

William Gordon certainly has done his homework. Whats great about his book, is that it gives the average person access to these hot spots in Los Angeles, by giving directions to the Aaron Spelling house and David Geffen's house. For those coming to Los Angeles, I would recommend buying this book, rather than buying one of those "Maps to the Stars Homes". Those have not been updated in years, Gordon Updates his book twice a year. I have met William Gordon and had lunch with him, what a great guy. He is even open to suggestion, if you know of something he has left out of the book, drop him a line. You could tour everything in that book in a day!