Like other Angelenos working in the entertainment industry, Sacramento-native Brian Rodda found himself pivoting toward a new career during the pandemic. Prior to the lockdown, he worked in entertainment public relations, hosted a Hollywood red carpet web series and owned a marketing consultancy. When he was in Carmel riding out the situation, a friend encouraged him to take on a new real-life role as a culinary tour guide in the fashionable resort town as travel slowly returned.
© Elyse Glickman
Rodda quickly discovered his passion for food, interest in local history, and years of experience as an actor and host made him a natural fit for the vocation. This, in turn, led him back to Los Angeles to create LA Food Tours. He hit the ground running, offering 3.5-hour tours with substance beyond the stylish bites and cocktails served at partnering restaurants and gourmet food shops.
The Beverly Hills Food, Film & Fashion tour, currently offered Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. not only covers five celebrity-approved food institutions (partners may include Cantina Frida, Grill on the Alley, KITH Treats, The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, Erewhon Market and others — locations subject to change), but also iconic film locations, historic architectural points of interest and a final toast at a fashion house/boutique on Rodeo Drive.
© Elyse Glickman
As chief experience officer, Rodda begins the tour at Beverly Hills Civic Center, which makes for quite an amuse bouche in terms of the tour’s historic content. From there, between tasting destinations, he weaves in other sites such as Beverly Hills Visitor Center, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Two Rodeo and Beverly Wilshire Hotel (a.k.a. key film site for 1989’s Pretty Woman) and points out spots where key scenes of various movies were shot. There is also a VIP Access Experience, featuring higher-end restaurants as well as custom-curated private tours for corporate groups and special occasions.
A new tour, Brianna’s Drag Food Experience covering West Hollywood, takes shape for spring 2024. Brianna (whom Brian believes has great potential as a successor to the great Dame Edna Everage based on her TikTok appearances as a foodie influencer) will dish about the neighborhood’s emerging upscale food scene, as well as its colorful Russian and LGBTQIA+ history.
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FX Excursions offers the chance for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in destinations around the world.
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