Los Angeles is a magical city, with world-class entertainment and attractions. But with great achievements come great demises. Indeed, L.A.’s sinister side contributes to the city’s unique allure and shapes its essence.

The Black Dahlia. Charles Manson. Richard Ramirez. O.J. Simpson. These weren’t just infamous historic characters; they became cultural zeitgeists, terrifying forces personifying the distinct epochs of this city’s evolution. It explains why dusting off a black-and-white film noir about a fatal Hollywood heiress in a spooky mansion, or taking a deep web dive about the west coast mob is a fine way to educate oneself about the history and culture here.

Grave Line Tours serves to present to you this other, darker, side of L.A., one no less real than the aspects the world has already come to know and love.

Sigmund Freud reduced all human drives into two ultimate forces: sex and death! For a culture as sex-obsessed as ours, there seems to be a gaping vacuum in exploring death. In fact, current cultural consciousness, worshipping at the alter of eternal youth and vitality, seems desperate to avoid the grim reaper’s inevitable arrival at any cost.

Grave Line Tours loves discomfort (except inside of a limousine). Where normies squirm, we want more. We want to break down the barriers and stigma surrounding all things grim because they fascinate us. We in no way condone violent crime or rejoice from or glorify the pain and loss of others.

But. We attribute so much about what brings life meaning and value to those rare moments of reprieve from death, crime, disease, disgrace and tragedy. Without the occasional reminder about these dark forces, one can too easily take for granted that which is most fundamental to reinforcing the joy of living.

Perhaps Leonard Cohen put it best: “There’s a crack in everything…that’s how the light gets in.”

 

Research-Based Rides

 

At Grave Line, we do not take the mantel as Los Angeles' purveyor of true crime and paranormal tourism lightly. Of paramount importance is ensuring that the tours we give are accurate and current. Although many of our great crimes happened decades ago, there's still dozens of cases discussed on our tours that are either still in legal proceedings, have recently been revisited, and/or polarized the American population. 

 

Rather than take a stance and persuading our mourners that our views are the correct ones, we shy away from ever telling you how or what to think. All we can hope to do successfully is present you with dates, evidence, timelines and legal developments (and as many dark, twisted and gory details as possible). Where pertinent we will summarize dominant or contending theories on cases; however, we always first make clear that they are no more than just that. With developing sagas, we regularly circle back to sync our scripts to the latest in the news.

Your trust matters to us much more than whether we think the Menendez Brothers should be freed, or George Hodel killed Elizabeth Short. As such, our entire team works collaboratively on all tours to mine as many juicy and obscure facts as we can serve up to you. The kinds of minutiae that go beyond what you will see in a Wikipedia article, or newspaper headline. We salivate over little known gems that can only be found in out-of-print books and archived detective web forums. It is normal for us to debate outlandish theories or how to verify witness accounts in company group texts. We stay up past our bedtimes to finish YouTube videos that seem too crazy to be accurate (they usually are, but still jolly good fun to watch).

So, good mourner, take heart. Every statement you will hear uttered in the limousine has been fact-checked, and if not, sourced exhaustively. We prefer you to focus on the crimes, and leave the storytelling to us--unless, of course, you want to help! (Mansonheads, we're talking to you.)