My freelance consulting activities include working in the local Southern California tourism industry including hosting and/or helping create specialized tours such as the former Turner Classic Movies Film Location bus tour of L.A. and Princess Cruise Line’s “Beach Cities” Tour (featuring an off-the-bus, two-hour-long walking segment highlighting points of interest in Venice Beach) as well as other localized tours. Though I am not exclusively in the tourism industry, it has been a major part of my recent professional life–so much so that I voluntarily serve on the board of directors for the Southern California Tour Guide Association as its vice president of programming.

Coinciding with that important involvement, on Sunday, July 18, 2021, I hosted the Association’s SUMMER REBOUND PARTY and barbeque in the spacious and colorful backyard of my own 99 year-old California bungalow style home in Los Feliz to celebrate the post-pandemic return of our local tourism industry. To help set the mood, live steel drum music was performed by Prince Bernard originally from Trinidad. Invited were an array of local tour operators, representatives from the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (aka “Discover L.A.) and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. We were also graced with the presence of City Council District 4 representative Nithya Raman and her chief of staff Najeeba Syeed.