For immediate release
 
May 15, 2008
 
Grassroots SaveLAPL Website Succeeds In Keeping Library Branches Open Sundays
 
WHAT: After one month and 1300 emails from SaveLAPL.org visitors, proposed Sunday closures for Los Angeles regional branch libraries is reversed
WHERE: Grassroots preservation campaign - http://www.savelapl.org  
Supporting documents and FAQ - http://www.savelapl.org/faq

LOS ANGELES- In the week leading up to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2008-09 budget announcement, a grassroots group of book lovers, L.A. historians, librarians and free software activists came quickly together as saveLAPL.org to draw attention to disturbing proposals to implement a $1-per-book loan fee for inter-branch library requests and close the regional branch libraries on Sundays.

The website was built on an open source platform first developed for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, CivicSpace, a free tool available for quick and easy public organizing.

Within one month, following 1300 impassioned emails to the Mayor and other city officials, the $1 fee and Sunday closures were taken off the table (saving 36.5 jobs) in a stunning victory for those who believe, as Benjamin Franklin did, that the Public Library must remain FREE and ACCESSIBLE for all citizens.
 
On May 14, members of the L.A. City Council Budget & Finance Committee, after being the recipients of hundreds of pro-library emails from SaveLAPL visitors, released their recommendations for the city budget, and the library was at the front of their minds. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel told the Daily News, "There is still pain across the board. We restored the bare minimum to the services. But we were able to restore some of the things that are important to our constituents, like libraries, sidewalks, streets and park rangers." The full City Council will begin voting on the budget on May 19, and is expected to follow the Budget & Finance's recommendations.

This is a victory for library lovers across Los Angeles, and means that next year no one will have to pay $1 to borrow a book from a different branch or be unable to visit a library on a Sunday. Will LAPL be properly funded to buy books next year,--unlike this year when book purchases stopped in February? We'll have to wait and see what the final budget says, but we are hopeful that the current pro-library feeling across the city and among the City Council member will encourage full funding.

The branches no longer effected by proposed Sunday closures are North Hollywood, Mid-Valley Regional, Arroyo Seco, West Los Angeles, Hollywood (Goldwyn Branch), Exposition Park, San Pedro and West Valley. By remaining open on Sundays, 36.5 library jobs will be saved.

The SaveLAPL.org website was launched by Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, the newlywed L.A. writers and social historians behind Esotouric bus adventures and the 1947project time travel blog. This was their third preservation campaign following successful campaigns to Save the 76 Ball and to have writer Charles Bukowski's East Hollywood bungalow named a historic-cultural monument. They are thrilled to have been able to help focus the attention of city officials on the importance of maintaining a free, accessible and well funded public library.
 
Launched late in the evening of April 14, at the start of National Library Week the www.savelapl.org website resulted in more than 1300 emails to the Mayor, Library Commission, Budget & Finance Committee and City Librarian, features on KCRW's "Which Way LA," KPCC, KPFK, KXLU and KFWB, an Op-Ed by actress Julie Andrews in the LA Times, and coverage in the Daily News, Library Journal, LA Weekly and many blogs including LAObserved, Librarian.net, the L.A Times online, Franklin Avenue, Pico and the Man and Mickey's Zoo.
 
SaveLAPL website creators Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
May 13, 2008
 
"Born Into This" director John Dullaghan to guest on Special BookExpo Edition Charles Bukowski bus tour
 
WHAT: Esotouric and City Lights Books present "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA" bus tour, with special guest John Dullaghan (director of the documentary "Bukowski: Born Into This")
WHEN: Saturday May 31, 5pm-9pm
WHERE: Departs from Morton's Steakhouse, 735 South Figueroa St., Downtown LA
COST: $55/person, snacks included
FREE SWAG: Badge-holding BookExpo attendees who get on the bus will receive a complementary Tony Millionaire Bukbird beer coaster and a prerelease copy of City Lights' forthcoming Charles Bukowski anthology "Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944-1990"
PARTY INVITE: Badge-holding BookExpo attendees who buy their tickets before 5/29 will be invited to that evening's private City Lights Books party in Los Feliz
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- LOS ANGELES- Esotouric, the company whose offbeat bus tours expose LA's secret history, is collaborating with Lawrence Ferlinghetti's legendary San Francisco press City Lights Books to offer a very special evening edition of its popular Charles Bukowski bus tour HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN. Newly added to the event is John Dullaghan, director of the acclaimed documentary "Bukowski: Born Into This," who will be on the bus answering questions and sharing fascinating tales of working with Bukowski.

The tour coincides with the influx of publishing industry professionals visiting LA for the annual BookExpo conference (though non-industry passengers are welcome). It departs from Arnie Morton's Steakhouse downtown, which is opening its bar early to provide a well lubricated place for passengers to gather.

As a special treat for Book Expo's Bukowski fans, City Lights Books is printing a limited edition prerelease run of its forthcoming Bukowski anthology "Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944 – 1990," and each passenger who shows their convention badge will get a free copy of this rare book, likely worth more than the tour ticket price.  "Portions" gathers many uncollected pieces including Bukowski's first and last short stories, and his first "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" column. Many of the writings have only appeared in 'zines, newspapers, chapbooks, and magazines. Never before has this material been collected and made so accessible. Read more at www.citylights.com (Badge-holding passengers also receive a gift from Esotouric, a souvenir beer coaster featuring Tony Millionaire's Bukowski-inpsired Bukbird character.)

HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN spans Bukowski's personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, favorite bars and liquor stores, "Barfly" locations to the downtown library, where he discovered his "God," novelist John Fante. German born, Bukowski spent most of his life in L.A., working for the US Postal Service, as "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" columnist for the underground press and writing the screenplay for the autobiographical "Barfly." The city and its characters are everywhere in the work, so this tour celebrates the artist within his city with visits to places that were important to him. The tour is hosted by Richard Schave, one of the forces behind the recent successful campaign to have Bukowski's one-time bungalow on De Longpre Avenue in East Hollywood declared an historic-cultural monument.

Elaine Katzenberger, Publisher of City Lights Books, says "Bukowski is the only author who has his own section at the City Lights Bookstore. Thing is, that 'honor' was bestowed because so many of his fans seemed to think it was okay to 'appropriate' his books and we had to move them to a place where we could keep an eye on things. (The section now resides near the front register.)  Somehow, I think he'd appreciate the humor and chaotic aptness of this sort of back-door fame and the role his readers have played in it. A tour of his haunts would really begin in the buzzing minds of his fans, and I suppose that's where the bus departs from."

Esotouric has made its name with true crime bus tours (Black Dahlia, Pasadena Confidential) and explorations of literary LA (Raymond Chandler, John Fante, James M. Cain). Now they turn their creative attentions to Bukowski, the prolific poet, novelist and screenwriter whose rough-hewn tales of boozing, wild women and rotten jobs never obscure the deep vein of sweetness and hope that runs through all his work. This special evening tour is a opportunity for visiting book industry professionals to explore the work and the city of one of LA's most distinctive authors and to ride along with "LA's coolest tour company" (Metroblogging LA).

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – Esotouric & City Lights Books present Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA (BookExpo edition)
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 21 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour with guest star Ruthann Friedman (composer of "Windy")
Tues July 1 – American Library Association Edition: Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
*Sat July 12 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
Sat July 26 - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

Bukowski tour host Richard Schave and "Bukowski: Born Into This" director John Dullaghan are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
May 5, 2008
 
Offbeat San Gabriel Valley Route 66 bus tour follows in the steps of critic Reyner Banham
 
WHAT: Esotouric presents Route 66, a bus tour in the "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" architecture and urbanism series
WHEN: Saturday May 17, 11am-4pm
COST: $55, or save $30 on four tours with a Season Pass
DISCOUNT TICKETS: 2-for-1 seats offered for people who send an email supporting the LA Public Library from threatened budget cuts through http://www.savelapl.org
WHERE: Tours departs from Philippe the Original, opposite Union Station
 
"Reyner Banham was as smart and sassy as any critic in the postwar period. What made him distinctive was his passion for the edgiest expressions of his technological age, not only in avant-garde architecture but in anything designed - Cadillacs and transistor radios, custom hot-rods and painted surfboards, gadgets and gizmos." –Hal Foster
 
LOS ANGELES- No city has so fascinated scholars of urban and cultural studies than L.A., and British writer Reyner Banham was the first to love the city's ugliness as well as her beauty. In the early 1970s he abandoned his academic preconceptions to revel in L.A.'s freeways, foothills, beaches and suburbs, discovering extraordinary spaces in neighborhoods overlooked for being too remote, too industrial, or simply occupying invisible "flyover country" beneath the great freeways. Banham saw that behind the urban sprawl was a pattern which could not be understood through old modes of architectural criticism, but which required new ways of seeing and of thinking.
 
Nearly twenty years after his death, one of Banham's students, Esotouric's Richard Schave, hosts a series of eclectic bus tours taking urban explorers deep into the uncharted Southland. On the ROUTE 66 tour, passengers head East along the old Mother Road, to explore how Southern California has changed since Banham mapped it and reveal the secret wonders that survive.
 
ROUTE 66 explores California's original mass transit corridor and the building of its dream, from climate to citrus industry, TB hospitals to candyflake car culture. Highlights in the May 2008 edition (the tour features different stops each time it's offered) include a tour of E. Wald Ward Farm (the oldest surviving commercial citrus facilty in LA, where passengers can buy preserves to take home), a visit to an Irwindale gravel pit and processing plant to explore the convoluted Rube Goldberg machinery that produces stone for L.A.'s freeways, a stroll through the halls of Robert Stacy Judd's 1924 masterpiece The Aztec Motel (and yes, it's haunted), a visit to the astonishing Egypto-manic Covina Bowl bowling alley (once the 24-hour hub of community entertainment and still a popular destination), and a tour of the exquisite bungalows of old Monrovia.

The Reyner Banham Loves LA series of Esotouric bus adventures provides fresh ways of seeing the Southland and mingling with fascinating fellow travelers, and are a must for urban explorers, architecture buffs, San Gabriel Valley residents and anyone who enjoys turning over rocks to reveal the secrets beneath.
 
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings San Gabriel Valley crime bus tour
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – Esotouric & City Lights Books present Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA (BookExpo edition)
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 21 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour with guest star Ruthann Friedman (composer of "Windy")
Tues July 1 – American Library Association Edition: Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
*Sat July 12 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
Sat July 26 - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
 
For more info on Esotouric, please visit http://www.esotouric.com
For more on Reyner Banham, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reyner_Banham
And the BBC documentary "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles"
http://reyner.notlong.com
 
Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews. Journalists and photographers on assignment can often be accommodated on Esotouric bus tours. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 30, 2008
 
Grassroots SaveLAPL Website Calls For The Public To Attend Library Budget Hearing on 5/1

LINK http://www.savelapl.org
 
LOS ANGELES-Since launching on April 14, more than 1100 emails have been sent by visitors to the grassroots SaveLAPL website in support of the LA Public Library.  In just one week, its users successfully convinced L.A.'s City Librarian to table a proposed $1-per-book loan fee, and the Library Foundation to create a dedicated book-buying fund.

Now the SaveLAPL website now asks that library loving citizens carry a library book to City Hall tomorrow afternoon, Thursday May 1, to show support during budget hearings when the Library faces devastating cuts to the book fund, staff layoffs and Sunday branch closures.

The proposed cuts include:
1) Sunday closures of the eight regional branch libraries of North Hollywood, Mid-Valley Regional, Arroyo Seco, West Los Angeles, Hollywood (Goldwyn Branch), Exposition Park, San Pedro and West Valley. With this comes elimination of 36.5 staff positions.
 
2) Book-buying budget slashed by $2 million, to $7.7 million for the entire fiscal year (July to June). This represents a 22% cut from last year’s book budget of $9.8 million (which ran out in February), and a 33% cut from the $11.4 million book budget of two years ago.
 
3) Library staff, will be subject to "short-term layoff," which according to the Mayor, "could take the form of mandatory furlough days or reduced work weeks." In light of this plan, an additional $1.4 million is being deducted from the library budget.

WHERE: Ferraro City Council Chambers, 3rd floor, City Hall (First and Spring Streets, the public enters on Main Street)

WHEN: The afternoon session begins at 1pm on Thursday May 1, with the Library the second-to-last agenda item. If many members of the public attend, the Library discussion may be moved to earlier in the afternoon.

WHY: The Budget & Finance Committee is hearing the proposed Library budget, with its many deep cuts to staff, library hours and book buying. Here is a chance for the public to speak up in support of LAPL keeping all its city funding.

WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO: Fill out a speaker's card on arrival, or just be in the room to show support.

WHO: City Librarian Fontayne Holmes, the Librarian's Guild, citywide Friends of the Library groups and Save LAPL will also be in attendance.

GETTING THERE: Due to May Day protests, people are urges to use the subway to get downtown. Exit at Civic Center on the Red Line. Wikipedia page for connection information to Civic Center Station: http://civicCenterMetroInfo.notlong.com
Map of Civic Center Station with directions to City Hall: http://civicMetroToCityHall.notlong.com

ABOUT SaveLAPL: the site is built with Drupal's CivicSpace, the free software package developed for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, and continues the tradition of using cutting edge free technology to empower citizens and amplify their voices at moments of community crisis. The SaveLAPL.org website was launched by Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, the newlywed L.A. writers and social historians behind Esotouric bus adventures and the 1947project time travel blog. This was their third preservation campaign following successful campaigns to Save the 76 Ball and to have writer Charles Bukowski's East Hollywood bungalow named a historic-cultural monument.
 
SaveLAPL website creators Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.
 

For immediate release
 
April 25, 2008
 
Grassroots SaveLAPL Website, Having Already Changed Library Policy, Gears Up To Protect Endangered LA Public Library Budget
 
WHAT: After a week in which its users successfully convinced L.A.'s City Librarian to table a proposed $1-per-book loan fee, and the Library Foundation to create a dedicated book-buying fund, the grassroots SaveLAPL website takes aim on next week's budget hearings when the Library faces devastating cuts to the book fund, staff layoffs and Sunday branch closures.
WHERE: http://www.savelapl.org

Grassroots preservation campaign - http:// www.savelapl.org
Supporting documents and FAQ - http://www.savelapl.org/faq
Library Foundation book buying fund - http://www.lfla.org/enhancementfund
 
LOS ANGELES- In the week leading up to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2008-09 budget announcement, a grassroots group of book lovers, L.A. historians, librarians and free software activists came quickly together as saveLAPL.org in a last minute push to stop a misguided plan to implement a $1-per-book loan fee for all inter-branch library requests. Not quite one week and 875 impassioned emails to the Mayor later, the proposal was taken off the table in a stunning victory for those who believe, as Benjamin Franklin did, that the Public Library must remain FREE for all citizens.
 
But SaveLAPL still has work to do. On May 1st the Budget and Finance Committee will hold hearings on the library budget, and LAPL is facing devastating cuts. These include:

1) Sunday closures of the eight regional branch libraries of North Hollywood, Mid-Valley Regional, Arroyo Seco, West Los Angeles, Hollywood (Goldwyn Branch), Exposition Park, San Pedro and West Valley. With this comes elimination of 36.5 staff positions.

2) Book-buying budget slashed by $2 million, to $7.7 million for the entire fiscal year (July to June). This represents a 22% cut from last year’s book budget of $9.8 million (which ran out in February), and a 33% cut from the $11.4 million book budget of two years ago.

3) Library staff, will be subject to "short-term layoff," which according to the Mayor, "could take the form of mandatory furlough days or reduced work weeks." In light of this plan, an additional $1.4 million is being deducted from the library budget.

But wait, you say, LAPL has plenty of money—it can afford to take some cuts along with the rest of the City services. Not so! Before these cuts, in 2006, Los Angeles was already among the poorest performing North American cities with populations over one million when it came to library expenditures per citizen, spending just $2.56 per capita. And since 2006, LA has fallen from #19 to #23 on this list of 25 cities. Compare LA to New York ($3.90), San Diego ($3.92), Broward County ($4.14), Chicago ($4.29), Hawaii ($4.92), Philadelphia ($5.13), Las Vegas ($6.73) and King County, WA ($8.84) and it’s obvious how woefully under-funded LAPL has been and continues to be. Additional cuts will put Los Angeles at the bottom of the barrel in support for Library services, and be a national embarrassment.

With just one click, visitors to the SaveLAPL website can send an email supporting the Library to Mayor Villaraigosa, all five members of the Budget and Finance Committee, and City Librarian Fontayne Holmes, who will be speaking on behalf of library services at the May 1st budget hearing.

SaveLAPL is built with Drupal's CivicSpace, the free software package developed for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, and continues the tradition of using cutting edge free technology to empower citizens and amplify their voices at moments of community crisis.

The SaveLAPL.org website was launched by Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, the newlywed L.A. writers and social historians behind Esotouric bus adventures and the 1947project time travel blog. This was their third preservation campaign following successful campaigns to Save the 76 Ball and to have writer Charles Bukowski's East Hollywood bungalow named a historic-cultural monument.

Launched late in the evening of April 14, over the course of National Library Week the www.savelapl.org website resulted in 875 emails to the Mayor, Library Commission and City Librarian, features on KPCC and KFWB, and coverage in the Daily News and many blogs including LAObserved, Librarian.net, the L.A Times online, Franklin Avenue, Pico and the Man and Mickey's Zoo. The week ended with the announcement that the proposed $1-per-book inter-branch loan fee would not be introduced. The website was re-launched on April 25 with a new petition, asking the Mayor and Budget and Finance Committee to restore the book-buying budget, keep branch libraries open on Sunday, and protect the jobs of library staff.
 
SaveLAPL website creators Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 24, 2008
 
Follow in the Footsteps of Philip Marlowe thru Raymond Chandler's Downtown and Hollywood
 
WHAT: "Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place" bus tour
WHEN: Saturday May 3, 1pm-5pm, departs from Lincoln Heights/Cypress Metro Station
COST: $55/person (15% off for KCRW members) including Chandler-themed gelato from Scoops
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
TOUR REPEATS: July 1, all day special edition for American Library Association convention attendees, departs from Anaheim and includes a fixed price luncheon at Musso & Frank. October 11, Vroman's Bookstore edition departing from Pasadena.
 
LOS ANGELES- In May Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company whose tours reveal L.A.'s secret history, presents a tour dedicated to the city's greatest detective novelist, Raymond Chandler, and his personal relationship to the mean streets of Hollywood and Downtown LA, where he lived, worked and set his stories.

RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LOS ANGELES: IN A LONELY PLACE delves deep into a lost city that exists in shadowy parallels to contemporary LA.  Bungalows. Crime. Hollywood. Blondes. Vets. Smog. Death. This was Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, which resonated from deft and melancholy fits of his writer’s bow.

Join Esotouric on an exploration of the city that shaped Chandler's fiction, and that in turn shaped his hard-boiled times, in a four hour tour of downtown, Hollywood and surrounding environs: Musso & Frank, Union Station, the Hotel Van Nuys, Paramount Studio’s gates, and much, much more.

Through published work, private correspondence, screenplays and film adaptations, the tour traces Chandler’s search for meaning and his anti-hero Philip Marlowe’s struggle to not be pigeonholed or give anything less than all he has, which lead them both down the rabbit hole of isolation, depression, and drink. As the bus rolls from point to point, your guide Richard Schave draw the lines between Chandler's life and his fiction, offering insight into his peculiar marriage to the much-older Cissy, the enigmatic redhead who appears in many forms in his short stories and novels.

The tour includes a stop at Scoops Gelato in East Hollywood for a complementary sampling of avant garde ice cream master Tai Kim's unexpected flavors, which have in the past included the Chandler-inspired Bacon-Caramel and Nicotine (made with crushed Nicorette gum).
 
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat April 26 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns ($55)/ Main Street Vice (90 minute tour, $30, or ride both 4/26 tours for $70)
Sat May 3 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings San Gabriel Valley crime bus tour
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – BookExpo Edition: Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 21 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour with guest star Ruthann Friedman
Tues July 1 – American Library Association Edition: Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
*Sat July 12 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
Sat July 26 - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Bukowski tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews. Journalists and photographers on assignment can often be accommodated on Esotouric bus tours. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 24, 2008
 
Esotouric and City Lights Books Present Charles Bukowski Bus Tour During BookExpo Convention Weekend

On Charles Bukowski Bus Tour, BookExpo Attendees Receive Unpublished Ltd. Edition Anthology

WHAT: Esotouric and City Lights Books present "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA" bus tour
WHEN: Saturday May 31, 5pm-9pm, departs from Arnie Morton's Steakhouse, 735 South Figueroa St., Downtown LA
COST: $55/person, snacks included
FREE SWAG: BookExpo attendees with badges who get on the bus will receive a complementary Tony Millionaire Bukbird beer coaster and a prerelease copy of City Lights' forthcoming Charles Bukowski anthology "Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944-1990"
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- Esotouric, the company whose offbeat bus tours expose LA's secret history, is collaborating with Lawrence Ferlinghetti's legendary San Francisco press City Lights Books to offer a very special evening edition of its popular Charles Bukowski bus tour HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN. The tour coincides with the influx of publishing industry professionals visiting LA for the annual BookExpo conference, and departs from Arnie Morton's Steakhouse downtown, which is opening its bar early to provide a well lubricated place for passengers to gather.

As a special treat for Book Expo's Bukowski fans, City Lights Books is printing a limited edition prerelease run of its forthcoming Bukowski anthology "Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944 – 1990," and each passenger who shows their convention badge will get a free copy.  "Portions" gathers many essential, uncollected pieces including his first and last short stories, and his first "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" column. Many of the writings have only appeared in 'zines, newspapers, chapbooks, and magazines. Never before has this material been collected and made so accessible. Read more at www.citylights.com (Badge-holding passengers also receive a gift from Esotouric, a souvenir beer coaster featuring Tony Millionaire's Bukowski-inpsired Bukbird character.)

HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN spans Bukowski's personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, favorite bars and liquor stores, "Barfly" locations to the downtown library, where he discovered his "God," novelist John Fante. German born, Bukowski spent most of his life in L.A., working for the US Postal Service, as "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" columnist for the underground press and writing the screenplay for the autobiographical "Barfly." The city and its characters are everywhere in the work, so this tour celebrates the artist within his city with visits to places that were important to him. The tour is hosted by Richard Schave, one of the forces behind the recent successful campaign to have Bukowski's one-time bungalow on De Longpre Avenue in East Hollywood declared an historic-cultural monument.

Elaine Katzenberger, Publisher of City Lights Books, says "Bukowski is the only author who has his own section at the City Lights Bookstore. Thing is, that 'honor' was bestowed because so many of his fans seemed to think it was okay to 'appropriate' his books and we had to move them to a place where we could keep an eye on things. (The section now resides near the front register.)  Somehow, I think he'd appreciate the humor and chaotic aptness of this sort of back-door fame and the role his readers have played in it. A tour of his haunts would really begin in the buzzing minds of his fans, and I suppose that's where the bus departs from."

Esotouric has made its name with true crime bus tours (Black Dahlia, Pasadena Confidential) and explorations of literary LA (Raymond Chandler, John Fante, James M. Cain). Now they turn their creative attentions to Bukowski, the prolific poet, novelist and screenwriter whose rough-hewn tales of boozing, wild women and rotten jobs never obscure the deep vein of sweetness and hope that runs through all his work. This special evening tour is a opportunity for visiting book industry professionals to explore the work and the city of one of LA's most distinctive authors and to ride along with "LA's coolest tour company" (Metroblogging LA).

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat April 26 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns ($55)/ Main Street Vice (90 minute tour, $30, or ride both 4/26 tours for $70)
Sat May 3 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings San Gabriel Valley crime bus tour
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – BookExpo Edition - Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 21 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour with guest star Ruthann Friedman
*July 12 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
July 26 - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

Bukowski tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews, as is Stacey Lewis from City Lights Books. For Mr. Schave, contact Kim at amscrayATgmail(dot)com, 323-223-2767. For Ms. Lewis, contact her directly, staceyATcitylights(dot)com, 415-362-1901.

For immediate release
 
April 14, 2008

Juviley and Garland Sign With Lost in the Grooves online

LINKS
http://www.lostinthegrooves.com/garland
http://www.lostinthegrooves.com/juviley

LOS ANGELES- Celebrating the greatest records you've never heard, Lost in the Grooves is the online companion to Scram Magazine's anthology of the same name, in which dozens of music writers spotlight the forgotten albums they adore. The website offers MP3 downloads and physical CDs by artists as diverse as Alabama popsters Sex Clark 5, psychedelic UK one-man-band Orgone Box, blues-punks The Gibson Bros, opera-punks Suckdog, offbeat songwriter Brute Force and prank phone call genius John Trubee, with proceeds going directly to the artists. LITG artists are exclusively represented by the Maryatt Music Group for placement with film, TV and advertising clients.
 
The newest additions to the LITG roster are a pair of retro-tinged pop ensembles each promoting strong debut albums: NYC's (via Israel) Juviley and LA's Garland.

Garland's self-titled CD was recently selected by store staff for Amoeba Music's Homegrown series, where a a notable local act is promoted with in-store displays and ads in local papers. With their stunning vocals, shoegaze guitar shimmer and fragile electronic ballads, Garland's sound is rich, emotive and distinctively its own.

Juviley is the project of Israeli musician Or Zubalsky, who toured widely with Israel's leading indie acts Shy Nobleman, Geva Alon, Daphna & The Cookies. At 21, he began writing his own songs, and revealed a tender, delicate sensibility far removed from the stereotypical dumb drummer. Inspired by the chamber pop of Brian Wilson, Nick Drake and Belle and Sebastian, on his debut album "How To Miss The Ground" Or plays nearly every instrument himself. With its heartbreaking simplicity, bittersweet melodies and thoughtful arrangements it creates a unique, dreamlike atmosphere. Once the record was completed, Or moved to New York City, where he plays regularly, in clubs and on the streets.

The critics love Juviley's "How To Miss The Ground." Palebear muses, "I sort of needed this album to right my sanity... beautiful, pastoral... equal parts Kings of Convenience, Mojave 3 and Belle and Sebastian." And Caroline Leonardo says it's "an articulate collection of songs sure to warm your soul with pleasant melodies and story-like lyrics... an acoustic dream with the kind of tunes that'll lift your spirits during a rainy day... [it] is one of those rare debuts that carry a lot of clout. This well orchestrated album comes off gentle and well meaning without being pretentious or overbearing in the way that it's so simple and true. Indie pop has never sounded so good."

Please visit www.lostinthegrooves.com to learn more about Garland and Juviley and the Lost in the Grooves anthology, and hear song samples.
 
Garland's Rich Kay and Juviley's Or Zubalsky are available for interviews, as is Lost in the Grooves founder and Scram Magazine editrix Kim Cooper. Review copies are available on request. Contact Kim, amscrayATgmailDOTcom or by phone 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 14, 2008
 
Esotouric Presents A Day of Eclectic Downtown LA Bus Tours on April 26

WHAT: Esotouric presents two back-to back Downtown Los Angeles bus tours
WHEN: April 26 (The Many Downtowns 11am-3:15pm; Main Street Vice 4pm-6pm)
COST: $55 for The May Downtowns, $30 for Main Street Vice, or ride both for $70
WHERE: Both tours depart from Philippe the Original, opposite Union Station
 
LOS ANGELES- These days it seems like the whole world is interested in Downtown L.A.—the Germans have commissioned a neighborhood travel guide, overseas visitors fill the hotels, and a few Westsiders have even been spotted making the trek out to ArtWalk. But few people really understand how Downtown LA works. That's why Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company whose tours reveal the secret history of L.A. through crime, culture, literature and architecture, is offering a day of Downtown tours meant to bring alive the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core. Esotouric is uniquely suited to explain Downtown, since they were recently named purveyors of the Best Downtown Tours by the Downtown News.

Tour #1 THE MANY DOWNTOWNS, part of the "Reyner Banham Loves LA" architecture and urbanism series,  is a guided social history of the mysterious, complex and rapidly evolving center of L.A., a thriving neighborhood that was intentionally depopulated in the 1950s and is currently experiencing an extraordinary rebirth. Everyone complains L.A. lacks a center—this tour explains why. The tour features visits inside exquisite architectural gems, including some seldom seen by the general public. But it also offers a sophisticated analysis of the economic and social tools used to rebuild downtown. Featured locations include Grand Central Market, Title Guarantee Building (including its landmark Hugo Ballin murals), Angels Flight Railway, Pershing Square (with its tribute to novelist John Fante) and Grand Central Market.
 
Tour #2, MAIN STREET VICE is a celebration of the ribald, racy, raunchy old promenade where the better people simply did not travel, but kicks were had by all who did. Burlesque babes and dirty picture parlors, mummified old west outlaws and old time tattoo parlors, wax museums and pawn brokers, "professors" offering sex lectures and magazine peddlers with nudie Marilyn Monroe calendars under the counter, sophisticated steak houses and nickel donut dives -- these were the pleasures and the people to be found along Main during the first half of the 20th century, a street that every Angeleno knew offered more (yet less) of what could be seen anywhere else. On this tour, we'll visit the scenes of some more unforgettable debaucheries and share stories of crime, smut, passion and commerce.

Tickets for these tours are offered individually ($55 for Many Downtowns; $30 for Main Street Vice), or in a $70 combo ticket. Taken together or singly, they are a great way to explore one of America's most fascinating neighborhoods with the tour company Lonely Planet calls "hip, offbeat, insightful and entertaining."

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat April 26 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns (4 hours, $55)
Sat April 26 - Main Street Vice (90 minutes, $30)
Sat May 3 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings San Gabriel Valley crime bus tour
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – BookExpo Edition - Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour
*Sun July 20 – Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Boyle Heights
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
 
For more info on Esotouric, please visit http://www.esotouric.com
For more on Reyner Banham, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reyner_Banham
And the BBC documentary "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles"
http://reyner.notlong.com
 
Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns tour host Richard Schave and Main Street Vice tour host Kim Cooper are available for interviews. Members of the press on assignment are always welcome on the bus, space permitting. Contact Kim at amscray/at/gmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 9, 2008
 
Esotouric Offers Charles Bukowski Bus Tour During BookExpo Convention Weekend

WHAT: BookExpo Edition - "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA" bus tour
WHEN: Saturday May 31, 5pm-9pm, departs from Arnie Morton's Steakhouse, 735 South Figueroa St., Downtown LA
COST: $55/person, snacks included
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- Esotouric, the company whose offbeat bus tours expose LA's secret history, is offering a very special evening edition of its popular Charles Bukowski bus tour HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN to coincide with the influx of publishing industry professionals visiting LA for the annual BookExpo conference. The tour departs from the downtown branch of Arnie Morton's Steakhouse, which is opening its bar early to provide a gathering place for passengers.
 
"Haunts of a Dirty Old Man" spans Bukowski's personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, favorite bars and liquor stores, "Barfly" locations to the downtown library, where he discovered his "God," novelist John Fante. German born, Bukowski spent most of his life in L.A., working for the US Postal Service, as "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" columnist for the underground press and writing the screenplay for the autobiographical "Barfly." The city and its characters are everywhere in the work, so this tour celebrates the artist within his city with visits to places that were important to him.

The tour is hosted by Richard Schave, one of the forces behind the recent successful campaign to have Bukowski's one-time bungalow on De Longpre Avenue in East Hollywood declared an historic-cultural monument.

Special treat for BookExpo attendees: show your badge when boarding to receive a souvenir beer coaster featuring Tony Millionaire's Bukowski-inpsired Bukbird character.

Esotouric has made its name with true crime bus tours (Black Dahlia, Pasadena Confidential) and explorations of literary LA (Raymond Chandler, John Fante, James M. Cain). Now they turn their creative attentions to Bukowski, the prolific poet, novelist and screenwriter whose rough-hewn tales of boozing, wild women and rotten jobs never obscure the deep vein of sweetness and hope that runs through all his work. This special evening tour is a opportunity for visiting book industry professionals to explore the work and the city of one of LA's most distinctive authors and to ride along with "LA's coolest tour company" (Metroblogging LA).

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat April 12 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat April 26 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns
Sat April 26 - Main Street Vice (90 minute tour, $30)
Sat May 3 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings San Gabriel Valley crime bus tour
Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat May 31 – BookExpo Edition - Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat June 28 – Amoeba Music - Where the Action Was rock history tour
*Sun July 20 – Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Boyle Heights
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore – Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

Bukowski tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.