Louise's big gay bus ride!

This weekend I kissed my husband and kids goodbye to go on a long awaited date with the one and only Prince Gomolvilas (of the always fabulous blog, Bamboo Nation) for a one-of-a-kind bus tour: "Out And About Tours," a unique trek through Los Angeles’ LGBT history, all viewed from the upper tier of a double-decker bus.

How cool is that?

*Note: To read more about our date, be sure to read about it on The Bilerico Report, here.

The tour was everything it promised to be plus an ice cold drink and a bag of chips!

This first ever GLBT history tour of Los Angeles is a non-stop giddy whirlwind of laughs, jeers and cheers all spirited along by an attractive team of actors and tour guides who brought to life the many tales and facts woven together by the talented creator of the tour, founder Jim Anzide.

The trip was a whirlwind flight through the City of Angels, a journey that happened to be chock full of laughs, and stories that will stay with me forever.

Cruising east down Santa Monica Boulevard one of the first places we came to was Barney’s Beanery which I recognized right away since it just happens to be where I had my first date with my now husband. Unfortunately, in the past it turns out that Barney's used refuse to serve members of the gay and lesbian community by displaying a charming sign that stating “Fagots-Stay Out.” (Jeers and boos were encouraged here)

Apparently this outed them not only for being bigots, but also being grammatically challenged. (Barney’s, by the way, is where my husband and I had our first date, unfortunately, in light of the intolerance once practiced there.)

We then passed several other lively establishments including the lesbian bar (called "Peanuts") that was responsible for bring the world the phrase "Lipstick Lesbian." See? I never knew that.

Soon after we passed several other sites of "jeers and cheers," we then approached a certain corner in Hollywood where Prince and I were chosen to act out a scene based on Eddie Murphy’s infamous late-night pick-up of transsexual Atisone Seuli. I'll let you ponder who played who in the scene, but I will say it was an Oscar worthy moment for both of us.

As it turns out, Out & About Tours is the first and only gay bus tour to provide an educational yet always entertaining look at LGBT history in and around Los Angeles. The tour is open to anyone 21 years of age and older. Whether you’re a straight local or a gay tourist, everyone will get something special and memorable from the tour.

On a personal note, I didn't feel silly for not knowing that much to start with about local gay history. Almost right away I could see that our lovely and animated tour guides would bring me up to speed by holding up clever signs that said "Cheers!" or "Jeers!" along the way as well as including a few handy gestures to employ throughout the trip a la “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

As I mentioned earlier, our guides were a lively and entertaining crew who peppered the trip with colorful scenes and monologues throughout the trip. We learned plenty of gossip, gossip, gossip as well as many moving tales of struggle and triumph as the gay and lesbian community fought for civil rights throughout the years.

I had no idea the Los Angeles Police Department were quite so doggedly brutal for quite so many years. A pretty shameful legacy, I must say. Or that even women could be arrested (and then harassed by the police) merely for not dressing in a more "lady-like" fashion. What?!

So, for instance, if you didn't wear a dress like Betty Draper you might get hauled down to the police station for it and harassed for not appearing feminine. This means we've come a long way, baby, but clearly just not quite far enough.

In any event, there was never a dull moment as we cruised high up in our very jaunty big red bus all the way to Silver Lake and then to downtown Los Angeles.

We passed through historic Olvera Street where we learned that the first settlers in this area were Native Americans who historically had always given those who were "different" an honorable place in their community. In fact, they even had a ceremony during tribe members teen years celebrating their individual choice of identification should they desire.

Which I thought this was a very handy thing to know what with Thanksgiving just around the corner.

As I said, we passed all through the city all and we even stopped for cocktails at a wonderfully dark and swishy piano bar called The Other Side. Here we could redeem pink tickets issued at the start of the trip for a lovely cocktail, or two and even belt out a tune or two at the piano.

If only I'd known we were going to sing so I could have brushed up a few show tunes for the trip! Prince was right; one should never be without a memorized song or two!

On the way back we travelled up and past the famously seedy Hollywood and Vine and took in a view of some entertaining riff-raff there before heading back home to the beginning of the tour.

Later, after the bus ride ended Prince and I chatted about our wonderful tour for a piece written for The Bilerico Project which you can read right here.

After our lovely day, we also strolled around the corner to a wonderful local restaurant called Tender Greens, located at 8759 Santa Monica Blvd. to decompress and relax over lovingly prepared local produce. It was a perfect accompaniment and close to an entertaining and educational afternoon aboard the big red bus.