By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

LOS ANGELES - The tour organizer received assurances, he says, from four gangs that they would not harass the bus when it passed through their turf. Paying customers must sign releases warning of potential danger. And after careful consideration, it was decided not to have residents shoot water guns at the bus and sell “I Got Shot in South Central” T-shirts.

Borrowing a bit from the Hollywood star tours, the grit of the streets and a dash of hype, LA Gang Tours is a 12-stop, two-hour journey through what its organizer calls “the history and origin of high-profile gang areas and the top crime-scene locations” of South Los Angeles.

On the right, Los Angeles’s biggest jail, “the unofficial home to 20,000 gang members in L.A.,” as the tour Web site puts it. Over there, the police station that in 1965 served as the National Guard’s command post in the Watts riots. Visit the concrete riverbed taken over by graffiti taggers, and later, drop in at a graffiti workshop where, for the right price, a souvenir T-shirt or painting can be yours.

Alfred Lomas, 45, a former gang member and the creator of the tour ($65, lunch included), said this drive-by was about educating people on city life, while turning any profits into microloans and other initiatives aimed at providing gang members jobs.

But aside from its unusual logistical challenges - the liability waiver describes the tour as “inherently dangerous” and warns of the risk of death - the venture has also generated debate about its appropriateness.

“Everybody says we are the gang capital of the world, and that is certainly true, no denying that,” said the Reverend Gregory Boyle, who has spent decades trying to steer people out of gangs into legitimate work. “It’s hard to gloss over that. But there are two extremes we always need to avoid. One is demonizing the gang member, and the other extreme is romanticizing the gang.”

Others fear that the tour, which initially is to be conducted monthly, may conjure up the so-called slum tours of shantytowns and impoverished areas of Rio de Janeiro and Soweto, South Africa, which bring tourists close, but not too close, to misery, with questionable benefit.

But Mr. Lomas’s supporters said the tour would raise awareness of needs in depressed communities.

Mr. Lomas rejected initial plans to drive through two housing projects, a concession, he said, to critics concerned it would be insensitive.

To some, it is no wonder that, in a city known to have more street gangs than any other, as well as a close association with theme parks, somebody would come along and tap the tourism potential of gang culture.

“What the heck, market what you got,” said Celeste Fremon, who writes the criminal justice blog Witness L.A.

Although she disputed whether several of the sites had a solid gang association, she said, “if it makes money for a good cause, more power to them.”