South LA guided tours?

July 24, 2009 10:25 AM

Anyone know of any guided tours of South Central LA?

I am visiting LA right now and I would like to check out 'South Central'. You know, HomeBoy 3000 and Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, etc. LA is so vast and sprawling that I would prefer a tour rather than just try to rent a car and drive around aimlessly...

posted by GleepGlop to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

No, I've never heard of such a thing. In fact your request will probably be perceived unsympathetically. I mean, what are you imagining here -- a coach, perhaps labeled Ghetto Tours, pulling up outside Roscoe's, and you emerging along with a bunch of pale, tubby, butt-pack wearing tourists, being greeted joyfully by the patrons and wait-staff inside?

You're in LA, but have no car, yet you'd like to explore. Your options are limited, but maybe you should rent a cab by the hour... and while you're in South-Central let me encourage you to visit the Watts Towers on 103rd. A destination! -- now there's at least three on your list, so no need to drive around aimlessly.
posted by Rash at 11:16 AM on July 24 [1 favorite]

Taking a more sympathetic approach to the question, perhaps there are pre-recorded LA neighborhood audio tours (as opposed to the sight-seeing bus that Rash posits)?

Poverty tourism is distasteful in general, sure, but then again it's not crazy to imagine a "legitimate", well-intentioned sight-seeing pilgrimage to South Central. It's a famous part of a famous city of considerable 20th Century pop cultural significance.
posted by onshi at 11:48 AM on July 24

There are Hip Hop Tours of New York (found this via an LA Times article) that look something like the one you imagined, Rash! Stands to reason that there might be a west coast counterpart that could conceivably include South Central, but I've yet to find one.
posted by onshi at 12:00 PM on July 24

I'm pretty sure the Roscoe's on Gower near Sunset is the original one.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 12:09 PM on July 24

The Watts Towers are amazing and well worth a visit. You can take the Blue Line (subway) south from the 7th Street/Metro Center station to the 103rd Street/Kenneth Hahn stop. The towers are an easy walk from there.
posted by chicainthecity at 1:11 PM on July 24

Just to clarify this is not about poverty / gawker tourism. That is all.
posted by GleepGlop at 5:00 PM on July 24