On Friday, September 3, 2021, I had the pleasure of taking a contingent of recent hurricane survivors from Louisiana on a city tour of L.A. This group of over 150 visitors was comprised of die hard Louisiana State University Tigers football fans who came into town over the Labor Day weekend to support their local team in a game against the UCLA Bruins slated for Saturday eve September 5 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I hosted one of five luxury coach bus tours which included glimpses of downtown L.A.’s Bunker Hill, the Hollywood & Highland complex (now sadly minus the giant pachyderm sculptures I so much liked that were recently removed by the new mall owner), the Wilshire District, Farmers Market, the Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive and the Santa Monica Pier.

Unfortunately due to Covid Delta variant that has been surging in many parts of the country–including Louisiana where the mask-wearing culture is not as de rigueur as it is here in the other “L.A.”–the local tourism industry has not yet started to fully rebound due to the U.S. not yet allowing incoming international tourists (only a limited number of “essential worker” business travelers). Nevertheless, this past summer, the local tourism industry did get a slight boost from domestic vacationers from around the country until the back-to-school season arrived.

I felt privileged to take around such a friendly and receptive group who seemed to appreciate they were away from the effects of the recent hurricane and could take a mental break from it all on a Southern California day of nearly perfect weather other than a little atmospheric haze. My group was to be commended for all wearing masks inside our enclosed coach bus (though they did remove them when outside in open areas and when posing for a group picture with your’s truly). What a wonderful opportunity this was. Hopefully, more tourism will return to our area as soon as the Delta variant diminishes.