Exit
Hollywood Tours one that day.
Lori Daniels of Rancho Palos
Verdes, Calif., was on board and
said she was OK with the deception. “It’s more [about the] ambience of the tour than being 100
percent factual,” she said. But the
fundamental dishonesty of this
kind of celebrity encounter has
left an opening for a new kind of
star tour, one that ditches the classic model for one that’s perhaps
more authentic — which in today’s
world, means it comes with an eye
to scandal: The controversial, and
cheekily subversive, TMZ Tours.
Partnering with industry veteran
Starline, TMZ ditches the classic
presentation of Hollywood history
and fawning appraisals of celebrity
homes for a less-than-flattering
history of their most embarrassing
moments. The tour, Starline’s fastest-growing one, invites passengers
to keep a hawk-like vigilance for
celebs on the street to approach for
photos and impromptu interviews.
Tour guides, armed with an iPhone
affixed to a massive flash bulb, push
the possibility that at any given
moment, on this very tour, you, too,
could add to their canon of clips.
Kathleen and Lisa Dettman, a
mother and daughter from St. Joseph, Mich., didn’t spot any celeb-
CELEBRITY
HUFFINGTON
10.21.12
rities on their tour, but the mere
possibility was enough to satisfy.
“I wanted the TMZ experience,”
Lisa Dettman, 35, told Huffington.
“That was the one thing I wanted to
do when I was here.”
Well-versed in TMZ’s signature
snark, tour guides also take on
the role of Harvey Levin, the TMZ
founder who leads the daily pitch
session-turned TV news show.
“Did you cry during Kim Kar-
A check of L.A.’s public
records reveals that almost
none of the homes featured
have ever been associated
with the stars mentioned.”
dashian’s wedding?,” guide Alex
Gettlin mocked as the TMZ bus
stopped outside the London West
Hollywood hotel. “At yourself?
Because you’re the loser watching
Kim Kardashian’s wedding on TV?”
Just when the ribbing gets to
be almost too much, Gettlin pulls
back. “This is a safe place,” he assured. “We only judge celebrities
here.” Right on cue, the bus’s TV
monitors show footage of Kardashian getting flour-bombed at
the very hotel he’s parked in front