For immediate release
 
May 20, 2010

On 5/30 LAVA flows in Downtown LA with cultural salon conversations about vintage cosmetics packaging and unexplained phenomenon

WHAT: On Sunday, May 30, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents an afternoon of free cultural exploration in Downtown L.A. with the third monthly Sunday Salon gathering at Clifton's Cafeteria at 648 South Broadway (noon-2pm)
SALON INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/salon510

LOS ANGELES- Launched in February by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper--the founding Director and Curator of the Downtown L.A. Art Walk non-profit--the creative consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is already making a splash with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban events and a growing list of Visionary contributors.

In March, the new LAVA community came together in the first monthly Sunday Salon at historic Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown L.A. for the first showing anywhere of Visionary Gene Sculatti's outsider art scroll drawings of imaginary cities, a smash hit for the nearly 100 cultural explorers in attendance, and now under development as a documentary film produced by folks who discovered the work at the LAVA Salon! Photos from the first Salon are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623729484726/

LAVA's Sunday Salon is fast becoming one of the hottest (free) tickets for urban explorers seeking intelligent conversation, connection and inspiration—not to mention Clifton's famous home cooking. The Sunday Salon returns to Clifton's Cafeteria on Sunday, May 30, and all are welcome to dine together and socialize, or attend two different curated talks by LAVA Visionaries.

PRESENTATION #1) Starting at 12:30pm, social historian JOAN RENNER presents PANDORA'S BOXES, a curated conversation inspired by her collection of vintage cosmetics ephemera spanning the Victorian era through the 1950s. In Greek mythology, when Pandora opened the box that Zeus had warned her never to open, all of the world’s evils escaped and only one thing remained inside -- hope. This concept of hope is a fitting metaphor for cosmetics.  Each container of face powder or jar of cold cream represents the dreams and desires of a woman seeking a magic potion to make her beautiful. The exquisite and fragile packages used to market these dreams became the Pandora’s boxes of the early 20th century. Joan Renner has been collecting vintage cosmetics ephemera for over fifteen years. She has an extensive collection of commercial face powder boxes, rouge tins, advertisements, hair net packages and bobby pin cards. Please join her for a discussion of topics ranging from the design of the packaging to the use of arsenic-laden face powder by women in 17th Century Italy to “accidentally” poison their unwanted husbands. Once gracing women’s dressing tables, various unique and beautiful items from Joan’s collection will be also be on display. These include items featured in her blog Vintage Powder Room and some never before exhibited.

PANDORA'S BOXES IMAGE LINKS: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenoir07/sets/72157624101254616

VINTAGE POWDER ROOM BLOG LINK:
http://vintagepowderroom.com/

PRESENTATION #2) Startling at 1pm, gonzo journalist SKYLAIRE ALFVEGREN presents CHARLES FORT, THE LEAGUE OF WESTERN FORTEAN INTERMEDIATISTS, AND A LITTLE TOWN CALLED LOS ANGELES. Phenomenologist Charles Fort (1874-1932) spent 27 years of his life humorously shredding orthodox science by collating thousands of accounts of unexplained phenomena which it couldn’t -- and still can’t -- explain away. The world has only gotten more phenomenal since Fort’s time, and the League of Western Fortean Intermediatists (L.O.W.F.I.) ensures that his spirit lives on: neither cranks nor skeptics, Forteans are characterized by their objectivity, good humor and lust for supernormal adventure. Based in Los Angeles, L.O.W.F.I.'s focus is on the long, strange life of the American southwest, gathering to discuss its enigmas, peculiarities and unexplainable events. L.O.W.F.I. founder Skylaire Alfvegren has spent a lifetime researching the weird, wacky and unexplainable history of her hometown of Los Angeles. Join her as she explains Fort's importance and the objectives of L.O.W.F.I., while detailing some of her favorite local cases of unexplainable phenomena.

ADDITIONAL L.O.W.F.I. INFORMATION LINK:
http://forteanswest.com/wordpress-mu/?p=348

ABOUT LAVA: Through participation in LAVA, a select group of creative professionals come together to promote cultural programming that speaks to the urban experience while promoting positive public space. LAVA's creative partners share a love for L.A. and unique ideas for exploring it in their work.  Formed by social historians RICHARD SCHAVE and KIM COOPER -- proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and until recently the Director and Curator of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk -- LAVA brings together L.A.'s most visionary promoters, artists, writers and thinkers. The first crop of Visionaries in the growing curated community includes cultural chronicler ADRIENNE CREW, Cacophony Society co-founder AL RIDENOUR, avant-garde costumer A. LAURA BRODY, poet and publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ, back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, filmmaker and festival organizer ALLISON ANDERS, former Metropolitan Museum curator ALLON SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven ANNE BLOCK, documentarian and radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, master puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, 826LA's CHRISTINA GALANTE, performance artist CRIMEBO THE CLOWN, the NEA's outgoing Director of Literature DAVID KIPEN, author and educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY, documentarian and exploitation film historian ELIJAH DRENNER, musician and performance artist FEATHERBEARD, pop critic and outsider artist GENE SCULATTI, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER, no-longer-Teenage Glutster food blogger JAVIER CABRAL, horror film director JEREMY KASTEN, social historian JOAN RENNER, historian of noir-era Los Angeles JOHN BUNTIN, Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES, performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator and activist JULIE RICO, "Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, esoteric scholar and lecturer MAJA D'AOUST, poet and dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer and impresario NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, peace activist PAUL NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, filmmaker and preservationist ROSS LIPMAN, SARAH TROOP of the Boyle Heights Paranormal Project, social networking mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, L.O.W.F.I. founder SKYLAIRE ALFVEGREN, Warhol star and writer TERE TEREBA, metal artist TOM WALKER, and hat designer and multi-media artist YASMIN DIXON. Applications from prospective LAVA members are being taken at http://lavatransforms.org/apply

To learn more about LAVA, please visit http://www.lavatransforms.org
 
LAVA founders Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, Salon discussion hosts Skylaire Alfvegren and Joan Renner, and most of LAVA's Visionary members are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
May 17, 2010
 
Esotouric's Newest Crime Bus Adventure Explores Darkest East Los Angeles

WHAT: Esotouric, L.A.'s most eclectic tour company, looks across the L.A. River with the EAST SIDE BABYLON crime bus tour
WHEN: Saturday, June 26, 12pm-4pm
WHERE: Tour departs from Philippe The Original, 1001 Alameda, Chinatown
COST: $58/person
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com, 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- Most tourists who visit Southern California confine their explorations to such famous destinations as Hollywood Boulevard, Rodeo Drive or the Santa Monica Pier. And there's certainly plenty to do and see at any of those old favorites. But when looking for something off-the-beaten path, savvy natives know the tour company to call is Esotouric.

On Saturday, June 26, a select crew of urban explorers will climb aboard for EAST SIDE BABYLON, the latest addition to Esotouric's popular crime bus tour series, for its third excursion following a sold-out Halloween weekend debut and a packed January repeat. The public loves this new Esotouric bus adventure, and all signs point to another full house.

Passengers on this unusual bus adventure will discover fascinating, little-known historic neighborhoods and the grim memories they hold. With crimes spanning the 20th Century, some hideously gruesome, others weird and frankly unbelievable, the tour provides a new way of discovering the city, via crime scenes and oddities that make ordinary houses and intersections seem to vibrate with a mysterious energy.

Come visit Boyle Heights, where Night Stalker Richard Ramirez was captured and a mad dad ran amok. Roam the hallowed lawns of Evergreen, L.A.'s oldest cemetery and home of some memorable haunts and strange burials. Visit East Los Angeles, where a deranged radio shop employee made mince meat of his boss and bride--and you can get your hair done in a building shaped like a giant tamale. Explore the ghastly streets of Commerce, where one small neighborhood's myriad crimes will shock and surprise. Visit Montebello, for scrumptious milk, eggnog and cookies at Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy washed down with a horrifying case of child murder. All this, and so much more on EAST SIDE BABYLON, Esotouric's exploration of L.A.'s most horrifying forgotten crimes.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule:
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
Sun May 30 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 5 - Weird Adams crime bus tour
Sat June 12 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat June 26 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sun June 27 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat July 10 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat July 24 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sun July 25 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sun Aug 1- Reyner Banham Loves LA: South Los Angeles
Sat Aug 7- Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns
Sat Aug 28 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown
Sun Aug 29 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)

Esotouric's Richard Schave and Kim Cooper are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

For East Side Babylon info, visit http://www.esotouric.com/eastsidebabylon

Tour hosts Richard Schave and Kim Cooper are available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can often be accommodated on the Esotouric bus. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
May 5, 2010
 
Mayor Villaraigosa Tops Up His Piggy Bank With L.A. Public Library Budget

LOS ANGELES- You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that Los Angeles is facing a major financial crisis, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council scrambling to balance a budget that's teetering perilously close to the edge.

But many have been shocked to see the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL)—widely assumed to be high on the list of community services to be maintained at all costs --  suffer a devastating series of budget cuts that have already resulted in Sunday closures, reduced weekday evening hours, and the pending loss of hundreds of experienced staff members and popular community programs. Despite thousands of petitions and emails circulated to City officials by library supporters, the cuts continue.

The City Council's Budget and Finance Committee will send recommendations to full City Council on May 17, with deliberations continuing until the budget is passed on June 5. So now is the time to speak out in support of the Library. The message for Mayor Villaraigosa and City Council is clear: RESTORE LIBRARY HOURS AND FUNDING. DON'T BALANCE THE CITY BUDGET ON THE LIBRARY'S BACK.

"If the Mayor is successful in his effort to slash the library budget we will have hardly any library services available in any community," said Roy Stone, President of the Librarians' Guild, AFSCME Local 2626. "The Mayor's efforts cannot simply be called 'lack of support' of the library because it has now reached an open and obvious effort to diminish one of the most important and essential services provided to every community in the City. The Mayor will single handedly be the most destructive force in the history of the Los Angeles Public Library System."

It might seem like the Library is just one casualty among many City departments in an unexpected financial crisis. But the reality is that this administration's assault on LAPL began three years ago, with a blatant and ongoing money grab in which LAPL has been forced to pay another department's rapidly growing bills. That department is the General Fund, the central repository of City money used by a variety of City agencies-- the same General Fund which Controller Wendy Greuel warns is nearly broke, and which is waiting on promised payments of $73.5 million from the Department of Water and Power. Instead of holding the DWP, with its powerful union, responsible for its civic obligations, the City Library's relatively tiny budget is being gutted to top up the Mayor's piggy bank.

Over the past three budget cycles, Mayor Villaraigosa has turned to the library to make up costs where other departments overspent. In Fiscal Year 2008-09, LAPL was billed $3 Million in building overhead costs that had always come out of the General Fund; LAPL tightened its belt and paid the bill. In Fiscal Year 2009-10, LAPL read the budget and found it was now expected to pay $11.7 Million to the General Fund to cover overhead costs for maintaining its buildings; again LAPL made cuts, to book purchases and community services, and paid the bill.

Now, with the General Fund nearly exhausted by an administration that has spent itself into a hole, the Mayor has again turned to LAPL as an easy way of covering other departments' debts. The bill for Fiscal Year 2010-11 is $22 Million, nearly twice what it was last year. The Library budget just can't take the hit: in mid-April, all L.A. libraries closed on Sundays, weekday hours were slashed, and hundreds of experienced staff members are slated for layoff.

What does the Mayor's proposed budget mean for Library service in Los Angeles?

• Libraries will be open only five days a week, for the first time in LAPL's 138-year history.

• 37% cuts to budget will result in 37% reduction in public services for the community.

• 30% staff reduction (328 positions) will leave every branch understaffed. In 1978, when there were only 62 libraries (there are now 72),  there were 1459 staff members and 6 Million visitors. Under the Mayor's proposed budget for 2010-11, there will be 848 staff members to serve 18 Million visitors. Do the math—this is no way to balance a budget or serve a city.

Shannon Salmon, Young Adult Librarian at LAPL and creator of the Save the Library website, says "Our staffing is already down 20% from what it should be. With the 100+ layoffs to occur on July 1st in the Mayor's budget, we will then be down to 30% of our staffing.  The reality for the public is that familiar faces will not be there anymore; the libraries will have to close down to 5 days a week; evening hours may have to be canceled; there will be less literacy programs, history programs, art exhibits and storytimes, because the staff that is left will be so overworked just trying to provide the basic level of customer services that our patrons need.  All of this, and we use only 2% of the General Fund budget."

Under no previous administration has the Library ever had to pay into the General Fund to keep the lights on, water running and trash cans emptied in the 72 City branches. With a $22 Million bill coming due in the next Fiscal Year, LAPL will have no choice but to close branches and eliminate services. But if allowed to keep just $7.8 Million of that $22 Million, LAPL could keep all branches open six days a week.

The public is urged to visit the Save LAPL website http://www.savelapl.org, where with a single click they can send a message to the Mayor and all members of City Council urging them to restore library funding to its current level, retaining staff, weekend and evening hours, and community programs. For more information on this evolving story, visit the Save The Library website at http://www.savethelibrary.org.

SaveLAPL is a project of LAVA – The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org

For additional information about the threat to LAPL, contact Roy Stone, President of the Librarians’ Guild, AFSCME Local 2626, via email at rstoneATlaplDOTorg. For information about LAPL's efforts to raise awareness of the situation, contact Shannon Salmon, Young Adult Librarian at LAPL and creator of the Save The Library website, via email at shasal70ATgmailDOTcom or by phone at 310-621-4088. SaveLAPL website creators Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are also available for interviews -- contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
May 4, 2010
 
The Sexy, Weird and Bloody History of Downtown LA is Revealed in a Bus Tour

WHAT: Esotouric presents Hotel Horrors and Main Street Vice, a Downtown double-feature bus tour
WHEN: Saturday June 12, 12pm-4pm
COST: $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members)
WHERE: Departs from Cafe Metropol at 923 East 3rd Street, LA 90013, tour covers downtown LA's historic core
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
TOUR PHOTOS: http://flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623986634614
SAVE: Esotouric offers May Mania promotions all month long, including ½ off May 8 Blood & Dumplings tour. Details at http://www.esotouric.com

LOS ANGELES- From the founding of the city through the 1940s, Downtown was the true center of Los Angeles, a lively, densely populated, exciting and sometimes dangerous place. After many quiet decades, Downtown is making an incredible return. But while many of the historic buildings remain, their stories have been lost.

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 HOTEL HORRORS AND MAIN STREET VICE, a tour meant to bring alive the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core.

The HOTEL HORRORS section of the tour is steeped in true crime and oddities, featuring some of the wildest, weirdest, goriest and most memorable happenings in historic hotels like the Alexandria, Hayward, Barclay, King Edward and Cecil. Join the tour and you'll step inside many of these legendary locales, and find out where Night Stalker Richard Ramirez slept, which hotel saw a visit from the Skid Row Slasher, and where two traveling chocolate salesmen laughed so hard they fell backwards out a window to their deaths. You'll also learn the truth about the myth that Beth "The Black Dahlia" Short was last seen alive at the Biltmore and explore the fiery curse that repeatedly leveled the St. George Hotel. Also included are some light hearted stories to help the blood and gore go down.

The MAIN STREET VICE section is a social history lesson celebrating 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 western 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. We'll visit the scenes of some more unforgettable debaucheries and share stories of crime, smut, passion and commerce.

Climb aboard for a time travel journey back to the downtown that's not there anymore, and the surprising number of gems that survive.

And if you're looking for offbeat L.A. history but can't wait to ride the Esotouric bus, there's plenty of good stuff online. In addition to this and other historic Los Angeles bus tours, Esotouric's team created the 1947project "time travel blog" series of alternate history websites, including In SRO Land ("lost lore of the historic core" at www.insroland.org), On Bunker Hill (www.onbunkerhill.org) and the original 1947project ("a crime a day" from 1947, 1927 and 1907 at www.1947project.com and 1947project.blogspot.com).

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sat May 8 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 15 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
Sun May 30 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 5 - Weird Adams crime bus tour
Sat June 12 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat June 26 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sun June 27 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat July 10 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat July 24 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sun July 25 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sun Aug 1- Reyner Banham Loves LA: South Los Angeles
Sat Aug 7- Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns
Sat Aug 28 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown
Sun Aug 29 - LAVA Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

Esotouric's Richard Schave and Kim Cooper are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org
 
Tour hosts Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can often be accommodated on the Esotouric bus. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 29, 2010
 
Esotouric's Weird West Adams Crime Bus Tour Reveals Strange Tales of a Neglected Neighborhood

WHAT: Esotouric's Weird West Adams Crime Bus Tour
WHEN: Saturday June 5, 12pm-4pm  
WHERE: Departing from 2nd Avenue Park, at 2nd Avenue and West 25th Street in West Adams, one block north of Adams Blvd.  
COST: $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members)
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com, 323-223-2767
 
LOS ANGELES- On June 5, Esotouric, the offbeat bus adventure company that unearths fascinating criminal skeletons from L.A.'s civic closet, offers its occasional neighborhood true crime tour, WEIRD WEST ADAMS. West Adams locals and interested bystanders won't want to miss the chance to hear all the newly-unearthed dirt.

ABOUT THE TOUR: On this guided tour through the Beverly Hills of the early 20th Century, Crime Bus passengers thrill as Jazz Age bootleggers run amok, marvel at the Krazy Kafitz family's litany of murder-suicides, attempted husband slayings, Byzantine estate battles and mad bombings, visit the shortest street in Los Angeles (15' long Powers Place, with its magnificent views of the mansions of Alvarado Terrace), discover which fabulous mansion was once transformed into a functioning whiskey factory using every room in the house, and stroll the haunted paths of Rosedale Cemetery, site of notable burials (May K. Rindge, the mother of Malibu) and odd graveside crimes. Featured players include drunken ice cream men, the most famous dwarf in Hollywood, mass suicide ringleader Reverend Jim Jones, wacky millionaires who can't control their automobiles, human mole bank robbers, comically inept fumigators, kids trapped in tar pits, and dozens of other unusual and fascinating denizens of early Los Angeles.

There are even some celebrity sites along the route, including the death scenes of Motown soul sensation Marvin Gaye and 1920s star Angels baseball catcher Gus Sandberg. And the architecture too is to die for, as the Crime Bus rolls down the elegant streets of old West Adams, lined with gay mansions, adorable bungalows and signs of a century's decay which only enhance the neighborhood's charm.

Passengers on this eye-opening, funny and informative tour will forever see the West Adams district in a new light. It is highly recommended for natives and newcomers alike, crime and history buffs and anyone who likes to seek out the unexpected.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule:
Sat May 1 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour with Crimebo the Clown
Sat May 8 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 15 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
Sat June 5 - Weird Adams crime bus tour
Sat June 26 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sat July 10 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat July 24 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sun Aug 1- Reyner Banham Loves LA: South Los Angeles
Sat Aug 7- Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Tour hosts Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can often be accommodated on the bus. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 26, 2010
 
Esotouric's May Mania Promotion: Blood-Curdling Discounts on Offbeat Bus L.A. Tours

WHAT: Esotouric bus adventures' May Mania Promotion, with Friday drawings for free tickets, weekly discounts (like half-off on May 1 Pasadena Confidential tour), and the biggest sale ever on solo 6-pack and shared 12-pack tickets
WHEN: Raffle drawings held every Friday in May, free tickets may be used any time.
HOW: Purchase any Esotouric bus ticket to be entered in the week's drawing. 6-pack tickets are good for three raffle entries, 12-packs good for 6. Or follow Esotouric on Twitter to win free seats, no purchase necessary http://www.twitter.com/esotouric
COST: Tickets are $58 for one tour, solo 6-pack tickets on sale thru May for $210, shared 12-pack tickets on sale for $420.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- Esotouric, the offbeat bus adventure company that is transforming the group tour business with its provocative excursions, frequently offers unique promotions giving tour passengers discounts or special treats. This month, it's MAY MANIA, four Friday drawings in which every tour seat sold during the previous week becomes a raffle ticket good for a chance at winning a free Pair Pass (value $116).  Buy one seat and get a single raffle entry, buy a  6-Pack (which never expires) and get three, 12-Packs equal six raffle entries, or buy a Gift Certificate and get as many entries as the Certificate holds.

On May 1st, Esotouric offers its popular PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL crime bus tour with special guest host Crimebo the Clown. Flavorpill raves "Pasadena Confidential is easily one of Esotouric's most captivating jaunts to date, made all the more sinister and surreal with the addition of the Crimebo the Clown." And in a special May Mania promotional offer, passengers can ride for half-price ($29 per seat) when they email or call Esotouric with the secret phrase "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!" Additional discounts will be offered each week in May.

And each week in May, Esotouric's Twitter feed will include opportunities to win free seats on the bus and other surprises. Follow at http://www.twitter.com/esotouric

The Esotouric schedule is online through July, with seats on 9 regularly scheduled tours available for purchase today and more being added regularly. Upcoming tours include the WEIRD WEST ADAMS crime tour (6/5), a literary double bill of RAYMOND CHANDLER (7/10) and CHARLES BUKOWSKI (7/24) and THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA, the tour the L.A. Times calls " an L.A. classic" (5/15). Coming in August: a series of Reyner Banham Loves L.A. architecture tours.

May is a great time to plan on touring with Esotouric with special offers like half-price on Pasadena Confidential, deep discounts on 6- and 12-Packs and a chance to win additional tickets, so visit http://www.esotouric.com to learn more about all the tours through July and pick the one that will open your eyes to a different side of Los Angeles history.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule
Sat May 1 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour with Crimebo the Clown
Sat May 8 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 15 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
Sat June 5 - Weird Adams crime bus tour
Sat June 26 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sat July 10 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat July 24 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sun Aug 1- Reyner Banham Loves LA: South Los Angeles
Sat Aug 7- Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

Esotouric's Richard Schave and Kim Cooper are available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can usually be accommodated on bus tours. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 21, 2010

On 4/25 LAVA flows in Downtown LA with cultural salon, performing machines and historic walking tour

WHAT: On Sunday, April 25, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents an afternoon and evening of free cultural exploration in Downtown L.A. with the second monthly Sunday Salon gathering at Clifton's Cafeteria at 648 South Broadway (noon-2pm), followed by a walking tour from Richard Schave of Esotouric, "The Flâneur & The City: Dutch Chocolate Shoppe " (2:30pm, free, reservations required); followed by an evening multi-media War Child Show from David Caldwell in his Arts District loft (7:30pm, free).
SALON INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/salon410
WALKING TOUR INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/chocolateflaneur
WAR CHILD SHOW INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/warchild

LOS ANGELES- Launched in February by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper--the founding Director and Curator of the Downtown Art Walk non-profit--the creative consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is already making a splash with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban events and a growing list of Visionary contributors.

At the end of March, the new LAVA community came together in the first monthly Sunday Salon at historic Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown L.A. for the first showing anywhere of Visionary Gene Sculatti's outsider art scroll drawings of imaginary cities, a smash hit for the nearly 100 cultural explorers in attendance. Photos from the first Salon are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623729484726/

LAVA's Sunday Salon is fast becoming one of the hottest (free) tickets for urban explorers seeking intelligent conversation, connection and inspiration—not to mention Clifton's famous home cooking. The Sunday Salon returns to Clifton's Cafeteria this Sunday, April 25, and all are welcome. From noon to 1pm the schedule is open for dining, exploring the fantasy architecture and historic memorabilia of this landmark restaurant, and making new friends. Then from 1pm-2pm, select LAVA Visionaries will welcome guests to their tables to join them in curated conversations on themes that inspire them.

LAVA Visionaries hosting curated conversations include ALLON SCHOENER, the 80-something New York curator and social historian ("Harlem on My Mind") who recently relocated to Boyle Heights' historic Hollenbeck Palms retirement home and will be exploring the burning question "What is Los Angeles?" Visionary ANTHEA RAYMOND will explore her specialty, the use of oral history to tell the story of a community, as she did with Ocean Park in her Emmy-nominated documentary "Carnations, Ostriches and Condos." And LA's beloved weirdo and tour guide CRIMEBO THE CLOWN will strip off the grease paint and appear as his alterego Michael Perrick, in a free-flowing conversation on a topic to be announced. Guests are free to table hop, or settle in to enjoy their chosen conversation to the end.

Following the Salon, LAVA founder RICHARD SCHAVE leads the second in a series of free LAVA walking tours, "The Flâneur & The City: Dutch Chocolate Shoppe." This exclusive LAVA tour series, inspired by the work of Water Benjamin and Charles Baudelaire, explores some of the more important issues revealed by the revitalization of Downtown, looking at how culture and history are treated as commodities to be packaged and promoted, while many fascinating aspects of urban life are forgotten. In this installment, we will visit the famous and much-transformed Batchelder-tiled Dutch Chocolate Shoppe. Topics include the proposed revisions to the city's Cultural Heritage Ordinance, the impact these would have on a space such as the Chocolate Shoppe, and a history of the storefront from 1914 to the present. To reserve space on Richard Schave's walking tour, visit http://lavatransforms.org/chocolateflaneur

Then once darkness falls, LAVA Visionary DAVID CALDWELL will be opening his Arts District loft for a free presentation (with complementary refreshments) of his legendary multi-media WAR CHILD SHOW, a sculptured altar embedded with light, sound and video. The artist says: "War Child is a monumental sculpture, an installation in the form of  a magically elaborate altar, 14 feet high, 40 feet wide, and 26 feet deep. It gives birth to a 40 minute experience, a video, sound, and light show performance. The video juxtaposes manipulated images of nature, civilization, creation, and destruction. "War Child's" 3-Dimensional and technical wizardry entice the audience on a journey.... "War Child" becomes a living, breathing, speaking, organic entity. All of the technology is embedded, and fully integrated into the performance. The living installation impacts space, sight, sound, and memory. A shifting, constantly changing environment envelops the audience, and transports them to another dimension." Doors open 7:30pm, show begins 8pm, no late entry, free at David Caldwell's Loft (454 Seaton St. Los Angeles, CA, 90013) Contact: David L Caldwell 213-999-7140. Info http://lavatransforms.org/warchild

ABOUT LAVA: Through participation in LAVA, a select group of creative professionals come together to promote cultural programming that speaks to the urban experience while promoting positive public space. LAVA's creative partners share a love for L.A. and unique ideas for exploring it in their work.  Formed by social historians RICHARD SCHAVE and KIM COOPER -- proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and until recently the Director and Curator of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk -- LAVA brings together L.A.'s most visionary promoters, artists, writers and thinkers. The first crop of Visionaries in the growing curated community includes cultural chronicler ADRIENNE CREW, Cacophony Society co-founder AL RIDENOUR, poet and publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ, back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, former Metropolitan Museum curator ALLON SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven ANNE BLOCK, documentarian and radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, master puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, 826LA's CHRISTINA GALANTE, performance artist CRIMEBO THE CLOWN, the NEA's outgoing Director of Literature DAVID KIPEN, author and educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY, documentarian and exploitation film historian ELIJAH DRENNER, musician and performance artist FEATHERBEARD, pop critic and outsider artist GENE SCULATTI, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER, no-longer-Teenage Glutster food blogger JAVIER CABRAL, horror film director JEREMY KASTEN, social historian JOAN RENNER, Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES, performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator and activist JULIE RICO, "Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, esoteric scholar and lecturer MAJA D'AOUST, poet and dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer and impresario NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, peace activist PAUL NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, filmmaker and preservationist ROSS LIPMAN, social networking mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, Warhold star and writer TERE TEREBA, metal artist TOM WALKER, and hat designer and multi-media artist YASMIN DIXON. Applications from prospective LAVA members are being taken at http://lavatransforms.org/apply

To learn more about LAVA, please visit http://www.lavatransforms.org
 
LAVA founders Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, Salon discussion hosts Allon Schoener, Anthea Raymond and Michael "Crimebo the Clown" Perrick, and War Child Show creator David Caldwell, and most of LAVA's Visionary members are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 20, 2010
 
Video captures the festivities at John Fante Square ceremony in Downtown L.A.

WHAT: Video shows Councilwoman Jan Perry, the author's family and scholars speaking and unveiling the commemorative JOHN FANTE SQUARE sign on 4/8/10, the 101st anniversary of the author's birth
WHERE: Fante Square is at the corner of 5th & Grand, downtown Los Angeles (next to the Central Library)
VIDEO LINK: http://www.archive.org/details/JohnFanteSquareCeremony
PHOTO SET: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623815232098/
RELATED NEWS: Esotouric & On Bunker Hill have launched a self-guided tour map of John Fante's Downtown – LINK: http://johnfantesdowntown.notlong.com

LOS ANGELES- John Fante (1909-1983) was Charles Bukowski's favorite writer, his "Ask the Dust" was the book Robert Towne wanted to film after "Chinatown" (it finally was made in 2006 starring Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, and Donald Sutherland) and he is honored with an annual festival in Italy—but in 21st Century Los Angeles, his name often gets a shrug. That's too bad, because Fante might be the funniest, most heartwarming, honest and appealing writer to ever take this city as his subject.

But on April 8 John Fante's local fame got a big jolt. That's when Councilwoman Jan Perry unveiled an official City of Los Angeles sign designating the highly-trafficked intersection of 5th Street and Grand Avenue (at the foot of Fante's beloved Bunker Hill and next to the Central Library where Bukowski discovered "Ask the Dust") as JOHN FANTE SQUARE. April 8 was also the 101st anniversary of John Fante's birth, and the perfect date to recognize his literary legacy and continued influence on the culture of downtown Los Angeles.

The Fante Square unveiling ceremony was presided over by Councilwoman JAN PERRY, and organized by Esotouric's RICHARD SCHAVE, who proposed the monument. Highlights of the half hour ceremony include the author's daughter VICKIE FANTE COHEN reading her father's most famous lines about Los Angeles the "sad flower in the sand;" the author's son JIM FANTE sharing touching memories of childhood trips with his father back to Bunker Hill; the author's son DAN FANTE reading his own raw and powerful poems about John Fante's literary legacy followed by a literary feeding frenzy when Dan gave away a pile of his own books in his father's honor; GORDON PATTISON, whose family owned the last two houses to be removed from Bunker Hill in the 1960s, speaking eloquently of the extraordinary lost community of artists, writers, working folks and retirees where he lived and played as a child; the author's biographer STEPHEN COOPER placing Fante's work in its proper historical context; TOM HYRY from UCLA Special Collections reading an enthusiastic 1979 letter from Charles Bukowski to his hero John Fante, from the University's recently acquired collection of John Fante's papers; and the LA Public Library's Aloud curator LOUISE STEINMAN describing how Bukowski's literary world was transformed when he discovered Fante's "Ask the Dust" at the Central Library, and how each day readers lives are changed in public libraries.

The video of the Fante Square unveiling ceremony was prepared by Esotouric, and is hosted on the Internet Archive, where it will be permanently available for the free enjoyment of Fante fans worldwide who were unable to attend the unveiling ceremony. It's hoped that many people will be able to virtually share this wonderful with members of the Fante family, city officials, scholars and fans of the author's unforgettable downtown anti-hero Arturo Bandini.

ABOUT THE SELF-GUIDED TOUR OF JOHN FANTE'S DOWNTOWN: In honor of the dedication of John Fante Square and the author's 101st birthday, Esotouric and On Bunker Hill have created a digital map to a selection of Downtown locations that played a significant role in Fante's life and work, and can be easily visited on foot. To explore the annotated map of Fante-related locations, including locations from "Ask The Dust" and the little known last remaining stone retaining wall from old Bunker Hill, visit - http://johnfantesdowntown.notlong.com

Esotouric's Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org

To schedule an interview with any of the above named individuals with the exception of Councilwoman Jan Perry, Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.  Contact Jan Perry's office at (213) 473-7009.

For immediate release
 
April 20, 2010
 
L.A. Bus Tour Traces Film Noir's Path from James M. Cain's Fiction to the Screen

WHAT: Esotouric's The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare tour
WHEN: Saturday May 22, 12pm-4pm  
WHERE: Departing from Philippe The Original, 1001 Alameda, downtown LA
COST: $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members)
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com, 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- Southern California, 1931: Musing over fresh urban sprawl atop bulldozed orange groves and the bitter realization that you can't eat the sunshine, newly arrived writer James M. Cain found a kernel of truth and his voice. That voice would become the dominant note in the development of a unique American genre, Film Noir, which spawned the abiding Los Angeles myth of the solitary, relentless detective.

THE BIRTH OF NOIR is a four-hour luxury bus tour celebrating the life, work, myths and passions of hard-boiled American novelist James M. Cain through his best known books, "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Mildred Pierce" and "Double Indemnity," and how their screen adaptations shaped Film Noir.
 
How did East Coat sophisticate Cain go from editor of "The New Yorker" to populist novelist accused of writing dirty books? The tour explores the writer's life and work with a focus on his time in Southern California, where his observations on Malibu, Hollywood, Pasadena and the low rent 'burbs of Glendale are as provocative today as they were seventy years ago.

The tour also covers the gifted people who transformed Cain's tales into movies, among them Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner. "The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare" is a complex portrait of a fascinating character who was seduced and transformed by his time in the Southland, a hard working movie industry professional who sank into drink and despair, ultimately a uniquely Californian artist.
 
Hosted by Esotouric's Richard Schave, the tour departs from beloved dining landmark Philippe the Original, where passengers can enjoy delicious pie in honor of legendary baking mama Mildred Pierce. The tour itself draws on Cain's essays, short stories, novels, films and the memories of his friends and colleagues to paint a portrait of LA in the 1930s and 1940s through the eyes of the writer. The tour spans Hollywood to Glendale and along old Route 66, and includes illuminating visits to the actual "Mildred Pierce" house, the Glendale Train Station where the "Double Indemnity" murder plot played out, and the punch line to a Billy Wilder joke so subtle, it's taken six decades for anyone to get. Get on the bus to share in the laughter and the pathos of Cain's Southern California.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule
Sat April 24 – Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sat May 1 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour with Crimebo the Clown
Sat May 8 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 15 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
Sat June 5 - Weird Adams crime bus tour
Sat June 26 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sat July 10 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat July 24 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sun Aug 1- Reyner Banham Loves LA: South Los Angeles
Sat Aug 7- Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can often be accommodated on the Esotouric bus. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 15, 2010
 
Black Dahlia bus tour gets into the heads of the lonely girls of WW2 L.A.

WHAT: Esotouric's Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour
WHEN: Saturday May 15, 12pm-4pm  
WHERE: Departing from The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, 5th & Olive, L.A.
FYI: Esotouric is the only tour company invited to begin its tours in the historic Biltmore Hotel. Despite the myths, the Biltmore was the actually second-to-last place Beth Short was seen alive; this tour goes to the real last spot as well.
COST: $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members)
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com, 323-223-2767
 
LOS ANGELES- On May 15, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric offers its most popular true crime tour, THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA.

Since January 1947, this one iconic murder mystery has lingered unsolved at the forefront of the American imagination, with dozens of books, films and websites dedicated to solving the slaying of Beth Short, the Massachusetts girl who came to Hollywood hoping to make it, and ended up cut in two in a vacant lot. Suspects in the Black Dahlia murder have included L.A. Times publisher Norman Chandler and Orson Welles, crazed lesbians, twisted drifters and more than one writer's father, but still the mystery abides.

The Real Black Dahlia tour dedicates itself to revealing who victim Elizabeth Short really was by exploring her life in Los Angeles from mid 1946 to her January 1947 murder through examination of the police investigation and news coverage. The various theories are up for discussion during the onboard Q&A sections, and the hosts share their idea of who the killer might have been, but the focus is firmly on the 22-year-old woman whose death continues to fascinate. Along the way, passengers will explore the social history of postwar Los Angeles and its lively downtown scene and learn the role the city played in Short's mysterious death.
 
The tour begins at the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, where Beth Short went after checking her bags at the Greyhound Terminal. Passengers will tour the beautifully restored hotel before heading south, to the low rent Olive Street bar where she met her murderer. The Downtown portion of the tour includes the Examiner newspaper offices, where the crime became myth as pioneering female City Editor Aggie Underwood spun the case for weeks, and the Figueroa Hotel, where Short stayed in happier times.
 
The bus then heads west towards Leimert Park and the formerly vacant lot where Short's bisected body was discovered on January 15, 1947. Also in this neighborhood, passengers visit the site of another unsolved 1947 kidnap-murder and the home of Dr. Walter Bayley, who has emerged in recent years as the most compelling suspect, with his personal ties to Beth Short's family and the crime scene, and the surgical skill needed to bisect the body. The tour includes a cop-approved snack stop for Krispy Kreme donuts near the body dump site.
 
Also featured: a special presentation from cosmetics historian Joan Renner exploring Beth Short's unusual proto-goth make up, so different from the popular girl next store look of 1947, and a key to understanding her psychology.
 
Passengers on this eye-opening and informative tour will leave with a new understanding of the Black Dahlia case and what it was like to be a single woman in 1940s Los Angeles. It is highly recommended for natives and newcomers, crime and history buffs and anyone who likes to seek out the unexpected.
 
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule
Sat April 17 - John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat April 24 – Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sat May 1 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour with Crimebo the Clown
Sat May 8 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 15 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
Sat June 5 - Weird Adams crime bus tour
Sat June 26 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sat July 10 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat July 24 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sun Aug 1- Reyner Banham Loves LA: South Los Angeles
Sat Aug 7- Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns
Sat Aug 14 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: Route 66
Sat Aug 28 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown

Esotouric's Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

For more on the Dr. Walter Bayley theory, visit Larry Harnisch's "Heaven is Here" website http://www.lmharnisch.com/
 
Tour hosts Kim Cooper, Richard Schave and Joan Renner are available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can often be accommodated on the Esotouric bus. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.