For immediate release
 
April 14, 2010
 
US Postal Service Considers Honoring LA Writer Charles Bukowski with a Stamp

LOS ANGELES- In 1969, when the 49-year-old underground poet and columnist Charles Bukowski quit his job at the Terminal Annex US Postal Service sorting facility, he was one step ahead of a pink slip. Offered $100 a month by an editor who believed in his work, Bukowski took the leap to become a professional writer, and in just a few weeks produced his first novel, the autobiographical "Post Office."  
 
Bukowski never held a day job again. He would go on to write six more novels, the screenplay to "Barfly" and thousands of poems, and to find international acclaim as one of the truly distinctive voices of Los Angeles literature. Although he died in 1994, his literary output continues with posthumous anthologies, and he is widely known among American booksellers as the most shoplifted author on their shelves. In 2006, Bukowski's archives were acquired by the Huntington Library, and in 2008 the modest East Hollywood cottage where he wrote "Post Office" was named one of the Historic-Cultural Monuments of the City of Los Angeles.

But one perfectly apt honor still eludes Bukowski: shouldn't the second most famous American postal worker after Benjamin Franklin have his own postage stamp?  

Richard Schave and Kim Cooper of the L.A.-based literary bus tour company Esotouric think so, and earlier this year circulated a petition asking the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee to consider issuing a commemorative Bukowski stamp. More than one thousand Bukowski fans signed on to show their support, and the petition was submitted in March.

The US Postal Service's Stamp Development Manager Terrence W. McCaffrey has received the petition, and writes back to say "I am pleased to inform you this proposal will be submitted for review and consideration before the Committee..." The 2012 series of about 25 commemorative postage stamps is now being selected, and Bukowski fans worldwide will eagerly await their announcement in Fall 2011.

Esotouric's celebrations of Bukowski's life and work include the bus tour "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA" (next scheduled on April 24), working on the campaign to have his home landmarked, and inviting journalist Marco Mannone to host a Bukowski Salon at the October 2009 Downtown LA Art Walk. They also spearheaded the successful campaign to have the corner of Fifth and Grand, at the LA Central Library, designated John Fante Square, after the writer who Bukowski called "my God."  

For the official letter from the US Postal Service, see
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/4520700041/

To view the petition, please visit:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/bukowskistamp

For more on the process for recommending new postage stamps, see:
http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm

To learn about Esotouric's repertoire of offbeat Los Angeles bus tours, visit:
http://www.esotouric.com

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

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

For immediate release
 
April 12, 2010
 
L.A.'s most famous "unknown" author John Fante gets a 101st birthday bus tour

WHAT: Esotouric's "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" bus and walking tour with the author's daughter Vickie Fante Cohen along for the ride
WHEN: Saturday April 17, 12pm-4pm, departs from Clifton's Cafeteria, 648 South Broadway, Los Angeles, California 90014
COST: $58/person
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

LOS ANGELES- On April 8, the 101st birthday of L.A. author John Fante, the City of Los Angeles officially designated the intersection of 5th & Grand, beside the Central Library, as John Fante Square. After many decades as the obscure favorite of literary insiders, Fante has made a quantum leap into public awareness, with tens of thousands of Angelenos passing through his Square each day. Come celebrate John Fante's new-found fame with L.A.'s most interesting bus tour company, Esotouric, and their once-a-year tour JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 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. And while his fame in his adopted city has been slow to arrive, Fante might be the funniest, most heartwarming, honest and appealing writer to ever take this city as his subject.

ABOUT THE TOUR: On April 17, Esotouric rolls out its annual literary bus and walking tour, JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL, a chance to discover a great writer and the lost downtown he celebrated, through the narration of Esotouric's Richard Schave, the L.A. historian who proposed the Fante Square designation. Downtown Los Angeles is a neighborhood to watch, but the New Downtown exists on the footprint of a fascinating old neighborhood whose stories are in danger of being lost.  Many of Esotouric's tours are devoted to revealing this lost downtown, from the burlesque and freak show delights of Main Street Vice to the secret post war woman's history of The Real Black Dahlia to the architectural anthropology of The Lowdown on Downtown.  On JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS OF BUNKER HILL, passengers walk and ride in the footsteps of Fante and his anti-hero Arturo Bandini, from the lost Bunker Hill Victorian rooming houses where Fante starved and dreamed of fame, the main library where he roamed the stacks (and later, where Bukowski discovered "Ask the Dust"), the Skid Row bars where b-girls pocketed his royalty payments, on the newly restored Angels Flight Railway, the Grand Central Market where kindly Japanese farmers gave the poor writer free oranges, to the retirement home Angelus Plaza to see Kay Martin's stunning paintings of Bunker Hill's mansions just before the city condemned them.

ABOUT THE TOUR GUESTS: Special guests on the April 17 tour are John Fante's daughter, Vickie Fante Cohen, and Gordon Pattison, whose family was the last hold out against eminent domain of historic Bunker Hill and owned the last two houses on the hill, the Saltbox and the Castle.
 
Get on the bus to bask in the spirit of the weird old L.A. that's not there anymore, where a poor Italian-American Colorado kid could sell a novel, become a screenwriter, and inspire a new generation of writers just by telling the raw and funny truth. And eventually, even get a street corner outside the main city library named in his honor!

To learn more about Esotouric's forthcoming tour of John Fante's Bunker Hill, visit
http://www.esotouric.com/fante

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

Photographs from the John Fante Square designation ceremony are available on request. See the set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623815232098/

Journalists on assignment can usually be accomodated on the Esotouric bus. John Fante bus tour host and Fante Square nominator Richard Schave is available for interviews, as are John Fante's children. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
April 6, 2010
 
Explore L.A.'s oddball criminal history on the Blood & Dumplings bus tour
 
WHAT: Esotouric's Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour of the San Gabriel Valley
WHEN: Saturday, May 8, 2010, 12pm-4pm  
WHERE: Tour departs from Lincoln Heights/Cypress Gold Line Metro station, 370 W. Ave 26, LA, CA 90031
COST: $63, includes dumplings (vegetarian options available on request)
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
 
LOS ANGELES- On Saturday, May 8, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric presents its most bizarre true crime and cultural history tour, BLOOD & DUMPLINGS. The tour celebrates a surprising side of Los Angeles history not found in tour books.
 
Starting from the premise that the secret heart of Southern California's weirdo pop culture beats strongest in the Eastern San Gabriel Valley, the tour introduces passengers to such fascinating local characters as the costumed Man from Mars Bandit, eccentric record producer and ladykiller Phil Spector, lion farmers Charles and Muriel Gay, and DIY filmmaking icon Timothy Carey, whose notorious "The World's Greatest Sinner" was shot on location in 1960s El Monte.
 
Heading due East out of downtown, the tour explores several historic communities that reflect the growth and eccentricity that are hallmarks of 20th century Los Angeles. Crime Bus passengers will discover notorious, strange, fascinating and forgotten tales from the past hundred years, each told at the scene of the crime. They'll thrill to the freakish case of the Man from Mars Bandit who stalked area supermarkets for months in 1951 before meeting his match in a police sharpshooter, shock to discover the deadly infighting among El Monte's hippie-era American Nazi Party members, mourn the Case of the Buried Bride dragged beneath her home on her wedding day by her secret lover, gnash teeth at the famous lion farm (home to every MGM lion) that served lion meat BBQ on special occasions, and view scenes of notorious cases including Phil Spector's spooky hilltop castle and James Ellroy's slain mother Geneva (the true-life inspiration for his Black Dahlia novel).
 
And since no visit to the San Gabriel Valley is complete without a delicious Chinese meal, the Crime Bus will stop at 101 Noodle Express (one of L.A. Weekly critic Jonathan Gold's picks for 99 L.A. restaurants not to be missed) to pick up a dumpling feast, which will be enjoyed picnic-style at Monster Park, a remarkable sea-themed folk art environment recently saved from demolition. There passengers can enjoy their snack in the mouth of a concrete whale, or under a grinning octopus, then pose for photos with the creatures.
 
All this, plus wild shootouts, dope-dealing druggists, missing Salvador Dali paintings and the original "little girl down a well" 1940s television sensation. Don't miss the Crime Bus tour that guide Kim Cooper calls "My personal favorite of all our tours, packed with more offbeat history, horror, roadside architecture and fabulous Route 66 vistas than any other."
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit
http://www.esotouric.com
 
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Thurs April 8 - John Fante Square designation  (info at lavatransforms.org)
Thurs April 8 - FREE John Buntin lecture (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 10 – John Buntin's L.A. Noir crime bus tour
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 12 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice 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
 
Tour hosts Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are available for interviews. Members of the press on assignment are always welcome on the bus, space permitting. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.
 

For immediate release
 
April 4, 2010

LAVA Does the Downtown L.A. Art Walk with a day of free cultural and literary events

WHAT: On Thursday, April 8, during the Downtown LA Art Walk, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents a day-long series of free cultural and literary events, including the unveiling of John Fante Square (11am), an Esotouric walking tour of lost Bunker Hill & the Historic Core (noon) and author John Buntin's lecture on Mickey Cohen and the LAPD at the L.A. Athletic Club (7pm)
MORE INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/johnfantesquare and http://lavatransforms.org/lanoir

LOS ANGELES- In 2009, under the Directorship of Richard Schave and his Curator wife Kim Cooper, the Downtown Art Walk rolled out some very popular official Art Walk programming that was attended by thousands of visitors, including guided walking tours, the psychedelic Hippodrome performance shuttle and curated salon-style conversations by noted experts. Those programs ended when Schave and Cooper stepped down from the Art Walk in November, but for the April 8 Art Walk, they're bringing some of these exciting programs back under the banner of their new independent cultural consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association).

Launched in February 2010, LAVA is already making a splash with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban events and a growing list of Visionary contributors.  On Thursday, April 8, LAVA enlivens the Downtown Art Walk with a day full of provocative events celebrating the rich culture, architecture and urban fabric of Downtown Los Angeles.

LAVA's April 8 Art Walk schedule kicks off at 11am, when Councilwoman Jan Perry will unveil 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 Charles Bukowski discovered Fante's classic "Ask the Dust" -- as JOHN FANTE SQUARE. Speakers at the dedication ceremony are scheduled to include John Fante's daughter Victoria Fante Cohen and son Dan Fante (reading original poems about his father), biographer Stephen Cooper, Fante Square nominator Richard Schave, Director Tom Hyry of Library Special Collections at UCLA (which recently obtained the Fante Papers), former resident of historic Bunker Hill Gordon Pattison and Councilwoman Jan Perry.

Immediately following the dedication (approximately noon), LAVA founder Richard Schave will lead a free lunchtime walking tour of John Fante's downtown, adapted from his Esotouric bus adventure JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL (next scheduled April 17). Walking tour locations will include the site of the lost Bunker Hill neighborhood, a ride on the newly restored Angels Flight Railway, a lunch break in Grand Central Market, and a toast to John Fante in the last Skid Row bar, the King Edward Saloon, which has declared April 8 to be John Fante Day with $2 draft beer for visitors bearing fliers. The walking tour ends at 5th and Los Angeles Streets, and attendees can then return to John Fante Square via the Gallery Row district, where Art Walk exhibits will be on display in various galleries.

MORE INFO ON THE DEDICATION AND TOUR: http://lavatransforms.org/johnfantesquare

By 7pm, the Art Walk street scene will be in full force, with thousands of urban explorers strolling the sidewalks of the Historic Core. LAVA invites savvy Art Walkers to take a break from the sidewalk crush and experience a fascinating lecture on historic crime and punishment, held in the plush, historic environment of the private Los Angeles Athletic Club, as best-selling "L.A. Noir" author John Buntin presents "Just the Facts: Chief William Parker's War on Mickey Cohen and the Los Angeles Underworld." In his talk, which is a preview of his April 10 Esotouric bus adventure "John Buntin's L.A. Noir," Buntin will explain how the bitter rivalry between these two very different men shaped the culture of the LAPD and the history of 20th century Los Angeles, first as lieutenants to older, more powerful men, then directly with each other. In the process, the two men intersected with the agenda’s of some of the most powerful and colorful figures of the twentieth century, from Robert Kennedy  to J. Edgar Hoover to press magnates Harry Chandler and his nemesis, William Randolph Hearst; from studio head Harry Cohn of Columbia to entertainers Jack Webb, Frank Sinatra, Lana Turner, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Reservations are required for this free lecture.

TO RESERVE OR FOR MORE INFO visit the event page on the LAVA website - http://lavatransforms.org/lanoir

LAVA is dedicated to celebrating the possibilities of positive public space, so LAVA celebrates the Downtown Art Walk as one of L.A.'s urban treasures. Stay tuned for more LAVA happenings during future Art Walks and throughout the month.

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 events manager 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, 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 and most of LAVA's Visionary members are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
March 31, 2010
 
NOTE TIME CHANGE: Family, scholars and fans of Downtown L.A. novelist John Fante gather for Fante Square unveiling

WHAT: Councilwoman Jan Perry unveils the commemorative JOHN FANTE SQUARE sign on the 101st anniversary of the author's birth, followed by a FREE ESOTOURIC WALKING TOUR of Fante's lost L.A. including Angels Flight railway, lunch at Grand Central Market and a toast to the author at the last Skid Row Bar The King Eddy Saloon
WHERE: Starting on the corner of 5th & Grand, downtown LA (next to the Central Library)
WHEN: Thursday, April 8, starting at 11am – John Fante's 101st birthday
RELATED NEWS: Esotouric & On Bunker Hill have launched a self-guided tour map of John Fante's Downtown – LINK: http://johnfantesdowntown.notlong.com . And on Saturday, April 17, 12 noon Esotouric offers its occasional bus tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" – LINK: http://www.esotouric.com/fante

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 will get a big jolt. That's when Councilwoman Jan Perry unveils 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. Speakers at the dedication ceremony are scheduled to include John Fante's daughter Victoria Fante Cohen and son Dan Fante (reading original poems about his father), biographer Stephen Cooper, Esotouric's Fante bus tour host and Fante Square nominator Richard Schave, representatives from UCLA's special collections which recently obtained the Fante Papers, former historic Bunker Hill resident Gordon Pattison and Councilwoman Jan Perry.

Following the formal dedication, Richard Schave of Esotouric will lead an informal, FREE WALKING TOUR of John Fante's lost and surviving downtown: up to Bunker Hill and down again on the newly reopened Angels Flight Railway, a no-host lunch break in Grand Central Market, then east to the last surviving Skid Row bar the King Edward Saloon, which has declared April 8 to be John Fante Day in honor of the writer who wrote of the bar's notorious b-girls hustling his unforgettable anti-hero Arturo Bandini out of his first royalty check. Bring a flier from the dedication for a discount on draft beer.

The April 8 event takes place on the 101st anniversary of John Fante's birth, the perfect date to recognize his literary legacy and continued influence on the culture of downtown Los Angeles. Come celebrate Fante's birthday and this wonderful honor with members of the Fante family, city officials, scholars and fans.

Journalists interested in covering this occasion can request pre- or post-event interviews with a number of notable individuals, most of whom will also be in attendance and speaking at the April 8 dedication and taking the walking tour. Potential interview subjects include:

STEPHEN COOPER (Author of John Fante's biography "Full of Life," and professor of writing at Cal State Long Beach)

DAN FANTE (John Fante's son and himself an acclaimed author and playwright currently working on poems about his father, and occasional guest speaker on Esotouric's tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill")

VICKIE FANTE COHEN (John Fante's daughter, inspiration for the bratty teenage daughter character in Fante's late novels, and regular guest speaker on Esotouric's tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill")

GENIE GUERARD & DANIEL GARDNER (Ms. Guerard is the UCLA Special Collections Librarian who accessioned the recently-acquired John Fante Papers after many years of discussion between the University and the Fante family, and can speak of their significance within the University's collections of historic archives; Mr. Gardner is the graduate student who processed them and is most familiar with their contents and what will soon be made available to scholars and interested members of the public)

GORDON PATTISON (Mr. Pattison grew up on Bunker Hill, and his family was the last hold out against eminent domain claims from the city, not wanting to part with their rooming houses The Castle and The Saltbox, the last two buildings left standing when Bunker Hill was leveled in 1969; Gordon speaks eloquently of the lost history of Bunker Hill and the type of neighborhood it was in Fante's and Arturo Bandini's day)

JAN PERRY (Los Angeles City CD9 Councilwoman who formally proposed John Fante Square and hosts the dedication ceremony outside Central Library)

RICHARD SCHAVE (Mr. Schave is host of the Esotouric bus and walking tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" and co-creator of the time travel blog OnBunkerHill.org which is dedicated to the history of the lost neighborhood, he also wrote the nomination for the city to designate 5th & Grand as John Fante Square; Mr. Schave is a social, literary and architectural historian with a special interest in Downtown Los Angeles)

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

ABOUT ESOTOURIC'S TOUR: On JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS OF BUNKER HILL (April 17), passengers walk and ride in the footsteps of Fante and his anti-hero Arturo Bandini, from the lost Bunker Hill Victorian rooming houses where Fante starved and dreamed of fame, the main library where he roamed the stacks (and later, where Bukowski discovered "Ask the Dust"), the Skid Row bars where b-girls pocketed his royalty payments, the Grand Central Market where kindly Japanese farmers gave the poor writer free oranges, to the retirement home Angelus Plaza to see Kay Martin's stunning paintings of Bunker Hill's mansions just before the city condemned them, to the newly restored Angels Flight Railway. This is a tour celebrating the weird old L.A. that's not there anymore, where a poor Italian-American Colorado kid could sell a novel, become a screenwriter, and inspire a new generation of writers just by telling the raw and funny truth. And eventually, even get a street corner outside the main city library named in his honor! To learn more about Esotouric's forthcoming tour of John Fante's Bunker Hill, visit http://www.esotouric.com/fante

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
 
March 30, 2010
 
Esotouric's Pasadena Confidential Crime Bus Tour Explores the Crown City's Dark Side
 
WHAT: Esotouric presents the Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour with Crimebo the Clown
WHEN: Saturday May 1, 12pm-4pm
COST: $58, which includes coffee and cookies  
WHERE: Departs from Fair Oaks and Arlington Street, South Pasadena.  
 
LOS ANGELES- On May Day, Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company whose offbeat tours expose L.A.'s secret history, offers its popular, occasional Pasadena Confidential tour, a true crime bus adventure delving deep into the weird and horrible past of one of L.A.'s most exclusive suburbs. Making a special appearance on this tour: it's Crimebo the Crime Clown capering as only Crimebo can.
 
Tour guide Kim Cooper, who also researched and wrote the tour, says, "I believe every neighborhood gets the crimes it deserves, and Pasadena's dark side is suitably rife with rocket scientists driven mad by their work, wealthy eccentrics spoiling their pet chimps and bears, seemingly respectable families misbehaving behind tall hedges and a general air of genteel psychic decay."

Crime fiends will enjoy a four-hour guided luxury bus tour to the darkest recesses of Pasadena history, with vintage photos and film clips show to set the scene. From celebrated cases like the Robert Kennedy assassination (Sirhan Sirhan was a local Pasadena resident), "Eraserhead" star Jack Nance's strange end, black magician/rocket scientist Jack Parsons' death-by-misadventure and the 1926 Rose Parade grand stand collapse, to fascinating obscurities, the tour's multitude of murders, arsons, kidnappings, robberies, suicides, auto wrecks and oddball happenings provide an alternate history of Pasadena that's as fascinating as it is creepy.
 
Crime Bus passengers will tour the old Millionaire's Row on Orange Grove, boggle at the shocking Sphinx Murder on the steps of the downtown Masonic Hall, thrill to the misadventures of one very poorly-behaved (but beautifully dressed!) chimpanzee and discover why people named Judd and rocket scientists should think twice before moving to Pasadena. They'll also enjoy the offbeat charms of Crimebo the Crime Clown as he leads passengers out onto Suicide Bridge for a personal look down into the gorge that tempted dozens of tormented souls to their demise.
 
Riders on this eye-opening, funny and informative tour will forever see Pasadena 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 and special event schedule
Sat April 3 – Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' L.A.
Thurs April 8 - John Fante Square designation  (info at lavatransforms.org)
Thurs April 8 - FREE John Buntin lecture (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 10 – John Buntin's L.A. Noir crime bus tour
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 12 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice 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

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Tour hosts Kim Cooper, Richard Schave and Crimebo the Clown are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
March 23, 2010
 
Family, scholars and fans of Downtown L.A. novelist John Fante gather for 101st birthday and Fante Square unveiling

WHAT: Councilwoman Jan Perry unveils the commemorative JOHN FANTE SQUARE sign on the 101st anniversary of the author's birth
WHERE: Corner of 5th & Grand, downtown LA (next to the Central Library)
WHEN: Thursday, April 8, 12 noon – John Fante's 101st birthday
RELATED NEWS: Esotouric & On Bunker Hill have launched a self-guided tour map of John Fante's Downtown – LINK: http://johnfantesdowntown.notlong.com . And on Saturday, April 17, 12 noon Esotouric offers its occasional bus tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" – LINK: http://www.esotouric.com/fante

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 will get a big jolt. That's when Councilwoman Jan Perry unveils 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 is 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. Come celebrate Fante's birthday and this wonderful honor with members of the Fante family, city officials, scholars and fans of the author's unforgettable downtown anti-hero Arturo Bandini.

Journalists interested in covering this occasion can request pre- or post-event interviews with a number of notable individuals, most of whom will also be in attendance and speaking at the April 8 dedication. Potential interview subjects include:

STEPHEN COOPER (Author of John Fante's biography "Full of Life," and professor of writing at Cal State Long Beach)

DAN FANTE (John Fante's son and himself an acclaimed author and playwright currently working on poems about his father, and occasional guest speaker on Esotouric's tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill")

VICKIE FANTE COHEN (John Fante's daughter, inspiration for the bratty teenage daughter character in Fante's late novels, and regular guest speaker on Esotouric's tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill")

GENIE GUERARD & DANIEL GARDNER (Ms. Guerard is the UCLA Special Collections Librarian who accessioned the recently-acquired John Fante Papers after many years of discussion between the University and the Fante family, and can speak of their significance within the University's collections of historic archives; Mr. Gardner is the graduate student who processed them and is most familiar with their contents and what will soon be made available to scholars and interested members of the public)

GORDON PATTISON (Mr. Pattison grew up on Bunker Hill, and his family was the last hold out against eminent domain claims from the city, not wanting to part with their rooming houses The Castle and The Saltbox, the last two buildings left standing when Bunker Hill was leveled in 1969; Gordon speaks eloquently of the lost history of Bunker Hill and the type of neighborhood it was in Fante's and Arturo Bandini's day)

JAN PERRY (Los Angeles City CD9 Councilwoman who formally proposed John Fante Square and hosts the dedication ceremony outside Central Library)

RICHARD SCHAVE (Mr. Schave is host of the Esotouric bus and walking tour "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" and co-creator of the time travel blog OnBunkerHill.org which is dedicated to the history of the lost neighborhood, he also wrote the nomination for the city to designate 5th & Grand as John Fante Square; Mr. Schave is a social, literary and architectural historian with a special interest in Downtown Los Angeles)

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

ABOUT ESOTOURIC'S TOUR: On JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS OF BUNKER HILL (April 17), passengers walk and ride in the footsteps of Fante and his anti-hero Arturo Bandini, from the lost Bunker Hill Victorian rooming houses where Fante starved and dreamed of fame, the main library where he roamed the stacks (and later, where Bukowski discovered "Ask the Dust"), the Skid Row bars where b-girls pocketed his royalty payments, the Grand Central Market where kindly Japanese farmers gave the poor writer free oranges, to the retirement home Angelus Plaza to see Kay Martin's stunning paintings of Bunker Hill's mansions just before the city condemned them, to the newly restored Angels Flight Railway. This is a tour celebrating the weird old L.A. that's not there anymore, where a poor Italian-American Colorado kid could sell a novel, become a screenwriter, and inspire a new generation of writers just by telling the raw and funny truth. And eventually, even get a street corner outside the main city library named in his honor! To learn more about Esotouric's forthcoming tour of John Fante's Bunker Hill, visit http://www.esotouric.com/fante

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
 
March 22, 2010

On 3/28 LAVA flows in Downtown LA with cultural salon, artist talk and historic walking tour

WHAT: On Sunday, March 28, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents an afternoon of free cultural exploration in Downtown L.A. with the first monthly Sunday Salon gathering at Clifton's Cafeteria (noon-2pm, 648 South Broadway) including the 1pm display of Visionary Gene Sculatti's fantasy cityscape scroll drawings, followed by the debut of a walking tour series from Visionary Richard Schave of Esotouric, "The Flâneur & The City: Historic Core" (2:30pm, LA Athletic Club, 7th & Olive, free, reservations required).
MORE INFO: http://www.lavatransforms.org

LOS ANGELES- Launched one month ago 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. And on Sunday, March 28, the new LAVA community comes together in the first monthly Sunday Salon at historic Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown L.A., in what is sure to become one of the hottest (free) tickets for urban explorers seeking intelligent conversation, connection and inspiration—not to mention Clifton's famous home cooking.

Each monthly LAVA Sunday Salon is an opportunity for one LAVA Visionary to shine, and on March 28 the spotlight falls on writer and artist GENE SCULATTI, who will be exhibiting and talking about his extraordinary body of outsider artwork for the first time anywhere. Since the age of 9, the untrained Sculatti (now 63) has been drawing and coloring imaginary cities on sheets of paper up to 60 yards long, the contents of the fantasy locales reflecting the changing interests of the artist as a child (schools and ball fields), teen (rock clubs and highways) and adult (bridges, vintage signage, historic downtown redevelopments). These scrolls are enormously engaging works, and the artist will be unfurling two of them from different periods to share details on his working methods and favorite sections and answer questions from the audience.

Artist Gene Sculatti says of his cityscapes, "They're full of streets and buildings, people, freeways and beaches, power plants and broad, palm-lined arterials. Because they were drawn over many years, they in effect comprise a rough chronological snapshot of what (mostly) Cali has looked like to me: sprawling suburban tracts announced by "Vets No Down!" billboards (60s), the mansard-roofs of fast-food franchises (70s), theater and concert venues whose marquees hype long gone films and idealized pop-music bills. Somehow, though, it is, like the weekly radio show I do, all sort of contemporaneous, the accretion of architecture, signage and sensibility all meant to bear the time signature of the eternal Now, which, I suppose, is a key part of the California Dream that informed my growing up and lifelong residence here."

Gene Sculatti will roll up his scrolls as the Salon concludes at 2pm. Then a select group of LAVA guests who have made reservations will continue a few blocks west to the historic Los Angeles Athletic Club, where LAVA founder and Esotouric bus adventures co-owner RICHARD SCHAVE will present the first in a series of free LAVA walking tours, "The Flâneur & The City: Historic Core."

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. The tour begins on the roof of the Los Angeles Athletic Club for a general overview of the forces at play within the Historic Core and a basic orientation to the geography of the neighborhood, followed by a stroll along Broadway and Spring Streets to discuss the finer points of the impact of recent public policy on urban renewal, gentrification and positive public space on the fragile ecologies of these two important thoroughfares. To reserve space on Richard Schave's walking tour, visit http://lavatransforms.org/flaneur310

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, master puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, 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, 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, scroll artist / LAVA blogger Gene Sculatti, and most of LAVA's Visionary members are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
March 22, 2010
 
The OGs, L.A.'s oldest bloggers tell Mayor Villaraigosa: Hands off L.A. Libraries

LINK - http://the-ogs.com/savelapl

LOS ANGELES- As City Hall's lights burn late into the night with city workers struggling to manage the worst budget crisis in decades, across the river in Boyle Heights the sassy Jewish grandparents known as The OGs (which stands for "original grandparents" and is a play on "original gangsters") have been thinking, too.

Videobloggers Barbara (93) and Harry (97) Cooper have lived through the Depression, multiple housing bubbles, inflation, stagflation, two world wars, gasoline and food rationing and have seen nine different men serve as L.A.'s mayor. They also raised two children and seven grandchildren in Los Angeles, and they know what city services a parent or grandparent can't live without—without going nuts.

That's why Barbara Cooper sat down with granddaughter Kim Cooper, co-creator with her husband Richard Schave of the SaveLAPL.org website, to give Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa the benefit of her nine decades of wisdom in a special video message reminding him that free public libraries are essential to the health of a community and families.

Listen up, Mr. Mayor: this grandma knows a thing or two about good government!

In her short 2:15 video message to Mayor Villaraigoisa, the eloquent and persuasive Barbara (with some input from Harry, her loving husband of 73 years) hits all the right notes, from pleading ("don't take it away, it is a very important part in the culture of this city and the culture of our future generations") to forceful ("there must be other places where they can cut the fat") to humorous ("if our kids wanted to run away from home, they'd run to the library"). Check out the OGs' video message to Mayor Villaraigosa at the link below - http://the-ogs.com/savelapl

ABOUT THE OGs: Barbara and Harry Cooper live at Hollenbeck Palms, the oldest retirement home in California, in historic Boyle Heights, just east of the L.A. River. By the time Barbara and Harry married in 1937, the Jewish community was fleeing the old neighborhood for points west, and they never expected to come back. But when their grandchildren were looking for the best place for them to live, nothing could compare to the not-for-profit Hollenbeck. And so these two 90-something west L.A. Jews came back to the old neighborhood—and grandma Barbara started her online career with husband Harry on The OGs blog, and her side career as one of Yelp.com's most popular food bloggers, with three coveted citywide Review of the Day honors.

ABOUT SAVELAPL: Launched in Spring 2008 in response to deep threatened budget cuts and a $1-per-book inter-branch loan fee, in just one month response to Kim Cooper and Richard Schave's SaveLAPL.org website convinced the L.A. City Council's Budget & Finance Committee to leave the Los Angeles Public Library alone. Now, with 11% cuts being proposed for an already under-funded department that serves hundreds of thousands of Angelenos, SaveLAPL is back online providing a 1-click email solution for sending messages of library support to Mayor Villaraigosa and all members of City Council. More than 600 people have used the site in the past two weeks.

For a feel-good family story with a an original twist, check out Barbara and Harry Cooper, the original grandparent bloggers, and a combined 190 years of wisdom that is at the disposal of L.A.'s Mayor if he'll just listen. They care about much more than just libraries, and Grandma Barbara loves to talk about how things would be different if she was in charge. Come visit and see for yourself.

LINKS
Barbara's Yelp reviews - http://barbaracooper.yelp.com/
The OGs' blog - http://www.the-ogs.com/
The OGs' message to Mayor Villaraigosa - http://the-ogs.com/savelapl
Granddaughter Kim Cooper's Save LAPL website - http://www.savelapl.org

The OGs, Barbara and Harry Cooper, are available for interviews, and journalists on assignment can get a tour of their retirement community Hollenbeck Palms. Contact their granddaughter/publicist/SaveLAPL founder Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
March 18, 2010
 
Explore the Gritty Side of L.A. Literature With A Charles Bukowski Bus Tour

WHAT: Esotouric's "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A." bus tour
WHEN: Saturday April 24, 12pm-4pm, departs from Philippe The Original, 1001 N Alameda, Downtown LA (repeats July 24)
COST: $58/person, includes coffee and donuts served at Bukowski's favorite Pink Elephant Liquor Store.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
RELATED TOURS: Esotouric's April literary series also includes JOHN BUNTIN'S L.A. NOIR on April 10 and JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL on April 17.
 
LOS ANGELES- On April 24, with a repeat engagement scheduled for July 24, Esotouric rolls out its popular and occasional Charles Bukowski bus tour, HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN. The tour departs from Philippe The Original, the legendary downtown sandwich shop where postal worker Bukowski often ate while employed across the street at the brutal Terminal Annex sorting facility.
 
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.

HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN spans Bukowski's personal city, from the Skid Row bars where he tuned his young writer's ear to the voices of old rummies to the once-genteel Crown Hill apartments where he fought with his first love Jane, favorite bars and liquor stores, "Barfly" locations to the downtown library, where he discovered his "God," novelist John Fante (subject of Esotouric's April 17 tour).

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 and to his work. The tour includes a stop at Pink Elephant Liquor in East Hollywood for complementary coffee and donuts, though many riders also pick up a little something stronger for the road.

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). Next month they'll 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.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sat March 20 - Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release (debut)
Sat March 27 - Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sun March 28 - LAVA Sunday Salon gathering at Clifton's Cafeteria  
Sun March 28 - FREE tour The Flâneur & The City (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 3 – Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' L.A.
Thurs April 8 - John Fante Square designation (noon)
Thurs April 8 - FREE John Buntin lecture (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 10 – John Buntin's L.A. Noir crime bus tour
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 12 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice 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

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Esotouric's Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org

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.