Ripley's Believe it or Not - We Own Weird. Accept No Substitutes

Have you ever wanted to see gang life up close and personal in Compton? Well now you can charter a tour…much like the one in Hollywood that takes you to stars homes. LA Gang Tours gives passengers a “first hand encounter of the history and origin of high-profile gang areas and the top crime scene locations in South Central, Los Angeles!”

Some stops include:

The Los Angeles County Jail: the unofficial Jail to over 120,000 gang members
Skid Row: home to 20,000 of Los Angeles’ 90,000 homeless

Pueblos Housing Project: birthplace to one of the oldest blood gangs in Los Angeles – the Pueblos Biship Bloods … and much much more…

The tours, beginning in January 2010, will take tourists through South Central, Watts amd the Florence-Firestone areas of Los Angeles. These are the very birthplaces of The Crips, The Bloods, Florencia 13 and 18th Street gangs. Organizers hope to entertain passengers with dance-offs between locals, and tshirts created by graffiti artists. One of the ideas that was scrapped was to have local children shoot tourists with waterguns, and then sell tshirts that say “I Got Shot in South-Central”.

Organizers know this idea is controversial, but they aim to increase raise awareness of the living conditions and intend to reinvest revenues from the tour business back into these communities. You can purchase tickets here.

I think I will wait to read the Trip-Advisor reviews on this tour before I go and book. For more information, visit LA Gang Tours.