The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book: The Incomparable Guide to Movie Stars' Homes, Movie and TV Locations, Scandals, Murders, Suicides, and All the Famou

This book really came in handy for our first trip to LA. In particular (as is stated in the book), the crypt for Marilyn Monroe is very difficult to find. You will never find it without this book. I was with a friend who lives in LA and we went to find this cemetery using the book. When we got to the spot which the book described perfectly, he said it is not there and must be a fluke. However, I walked along side of the parking ramp, and there it was tucked behind everything - a fairly small cemetery. It has other famous people there as well. If you plan to go to LA, you will definitely see more sites if you have this book.

Much better than the expensive (and often quite wrong) "Maps of the Stars' Homes" sold on street corners in Hollywood, this volume accurately directs you not only to stars' homes (though all you'll see is their hedge, mailbox or garbage cans anyway) but more importantly to the filming locations used in many of your favorite movies and TV shows. Locations like Fox Plaza in Century City (the Nakatomi building in "Die Hard") and Griffith Park Observatory (of "Rebel Without a Cause" and now "Transformers" fame) are easy to spot simply by driving around, but want to know what buildings and houses were used as the exterior locations for your favorite TV shows? They're in here, from the "Brady Bunch" house in Pasadena to the beach in Malibu Charlton Heston stood upon at the end of "Planet of the Apes." Yes, most of the same information is now available on the Internet, but this book consolidates it in one handy tome that's great to throw into your carry-on when headed to LA for a trip. Save yourself the cost of the overpriced maps and materials typically sold in Hollywood gift shops and pick up this volume - if you're serious about visiting famous sites in LA, you won't be sorry. (As always, though, remember that the residences listed are private property and most stars' security companies won't hesitate to have you arrested for trespassing if you venture beyond the sidewalk fronting the homes, and people who made some paltry sum decades ago to allow their house be used as an "establishing shot" exterior are also likely sick of the attention.)

Used an earlier edition of this book when I took a self-guided tour in 1997, and bought this newer edition for my trip to L.A. in 2007. Indispensible! Better than a "map of the stars' homes" any day. Thoroughly recommended if you are planning to drive yourself around the various parts of L.A. looking for your particular favorite haunts. Thanks to this book, in 1997 I got to see (and exchange waves with) Jack Lemmon as he drove out of his driveway (no, I wasn't lying in wait. I'd pulled over to double check my location). Though I had far less time to use it on my 2007 trip, I would have felt naked and unprepared just travelling without it. Another great feature about this book is that the author encourages submissions/corrections/additions to add to future editions, so if you discover the rare incorrect or out-of-date piece of info, he wants you to submit it to him so the next edition will be just that much more accurate. Used the info in the book to track down the Playboy Mansion in 1997. Had a neat experience at the mansion gates that trip and have pics to prove it. When I drove by it again in 2007 a few hours before I was to attend a party there that evening, I glanced at the book over in the passenger seat of my rental car and gave it a knowing smile. My copy is autographed. Don't know if that increases its value, but it is a nice touch.

About 5 years ago I took a summer job giving tours of Hollywood on an old trolley car. One of my most memorable experiences was the day one of the guides for the Beverly Hills tour got sick and I was thrown into the front seat of a tour van and sent on my way to give a tour of the star's homes. It was without a doubt one of the more embarrassing moments of my life as it wasn't my regular gig and I had to make a lot of stuff up because I had no idea whose house was whose and the guy driving the van was as clueless as I was. But if the owner's of the tour company had seen fit to give me this book beforehand I would have known where I was and all those tourists wouldn't have asked for their money back when the tour was over.

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!