For immediate release
 
August 11, 2009
 
Meet legendary striptease queen Betty "Ball of Fire" Rowland on Esotouric's Main Street Vice L.A. tour
 
WHAT: Esotouric presents Hotel Horrors and Main Street Vice, a downtown Los Angeles double feature bus tour, with honored guest Betty Rowland, burlesque's "Ball of Fire"
WHEN: Saturday August 22, 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
 
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 double feature of a bus tour meant to bring alive the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core.

And the August 22 edition of the tour is extra special, since several people with deep connections to downtown's incredible history will be riding along and sharing their stories. Among them: Miss BETTY ROWLAND, the legendary red-haired burlesque queen known as "Ball of Fire." Miss Rowland's return to Main Street--where starting in 1938 she was a headlining star occasionally busted by the vice squad--is sure to stir up fiery memories.

ABOUT THE TOUR:
The MAIN STREET VICE portion is a social history tour 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. On this tour, we'll visit the scenes of some more unforgettable debaucheries and share stories of crime, smut, passion and commerce.

The HOTEL HORRORS portion is a true crime and oddities tour featuring some of the wildest, weirdest, goriest and most memorable happenings in historic hotels like the Alexandria, Hayward, Barclay, King Edward and Cecil. Get on the bus and you'll get inside all of these legendary locales, and find out where Night Stalker Richard Ramirez liked to stay and the hotel that saw a visit from the Skid Row Slasher, plus which hotel was the choice of Columbian drug mules with cocaine in their platform shoes, what lobby hosted a small scale anarchist riot 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.

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

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Thurs Sept 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 12 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sat Sept 19 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir (debut)
Thurs Oct 8- The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 – Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 31 - Save the date for a Halloween surprise tour!
Sun Nov 1 – Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 – Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat December 12 – Blood & Dumplings

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 Esotouric bus. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release

5 August 2009

Downtown L.A. Art Walk 8/13 – Gallery Highlights  

WHAT: Downtown L.A. Art Walk, the hottest grassroots cultural event in Southern California.
WHEN: Every second Thursday from 12pm-late. August Art Walk is August 13.
WHERE: Downtown Los Angeles, 5th & Main and surrounding area.
COST: The Art Walk is always free.  
INFO: http://www.downtownartwalk.com or (213) 784-2598.

LOS ANGELES- The Downtown L.A. Art Walk, held on the second Thursday of the month year round, is one of the great success stories of the neighborhood's revival. Launched in 2004 by a small group of true believers in what was then the western edge of Skid Row, the event now draws upwards of 10,000 art enthusiasts, and includes live music, a thriving bar and restaurant scene, literary events, impromptu performances, and of course art on view in dozens of galleries.
 
In July, a new management team took over the Art Walk, to help steward an event that threatened to outgrow its borders. As a non-profit, the Art Walk is now run by Richard Schave, owner of Esotouric bus adventures and longtime host of the Art Walk's curated shuttle, The Hippodrome. With the aid of a passionate board of directors, Schave is dedicated to building on the community's good work and making downtown L.A. an even better cultural destination for great art, good company and exciting urban experiences.

The August 13 Art Walk might just be the biggest one yet, and art lovers will want to come early to make sure they see everything on their wish list.

To make the most of your visit, your first stop should be the Art Walk website: http://www.downtownartwalk.com

First click on the MAP link and print a guide to gallery hours and locations.  Next click on WALKING TOURS and sign up to explore the Art Walk, for free, with expert tour guides like Mike the PoeT (Museum of Neon Art), Anne Block (Take My Mother Please), Crimbo the Clown (Esotouric), Richard Schave (Esotouric/ Art Walk Director) and Boris Mayzels (Downtown's favorite chiropractor). Finally, come to the Art Walk and explore the dozens of independent art spaces packed with original, affordable work. There's sure to be something to suit every taste and pocketbook, and memorable adventures to be had along the way.

Selected exhibits on view during the August 13 Art Walk include:

CREWEST (110 Winston St., LA, CA 90013, 213-627-8272) presents "Love and Guts," a continuing exhibition of artwork created by some of the most important pro-skaters and innovators of this influential branch of street culture. http://www.crewest.com

DEBORAH MARTIN GALLERY (209 West 5th Street, LA, CA 90013, 310-428-6464) shows French artist Valerie Daval, whose new American painting series " Les Grandes Vacances," invokes the luminosity of childhood memories -- intimate moments of grace where time seems suspended in space and light. http://www.deborahmartingallery.com

FIDM MUSEUM AND GALLERIES (919 South Grand Avenue, LA, CA 90015, 213-623-5821) hosts the 4th Annual "Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design" exhibition, featuring some of the best costumes from television's past and present. Featured productions include "Gossip Girl" (designer Eric Daman), "Coco Chanel" (Pierre-Yves Gayraud and Stephano DeNardis), "Grey Gardens" (Catherine Marie Thomas) and designs by Leanne Marshall, "Project Runway, Season 5" winner and FIDM graduate. http://www.fashionmuseum.org

JULIE RICO GALLERY (118 Fifth Street/ 500 South Spring Street, LA CA 90013, 213-817-6002) will exhibit paintings by Natalie Hile Cross, a downtown L.A. artist whose works are rooted in a representation of organic abstraction. In the adjacent Weeneez space, see contemporary photographs in the vintage tintype technique by Allan J. Barnes. http://juliericogallery.com

MORONO KIANG GALLERY (218 West 3rd Street, Bradbury Building, LA, CA 90013, 213-628-8208) presents "Traces of Being: Iran in the Passage of Memories," an interactive exhibition of new mixed media and installation works exploring the primacy of personal memory against a backdrop of divergent cultural experiences and collective histories.  http://www.moronokiang.com

And on THE FREE HIPPODROME SHUTTLE (6pm-10pm) passengers will enjoy performances from GRETHEL BONILLA, CRIMEBO THE CLOWN and JANE CANTILLON, PICARD MANEUVER, FORT KING and RUTHAN FRIEDMAN, and DICK 'N' JANE. http://www.esotouric.com/hippodrome

Journalists on assignment are encouraged to come Downtown and learn all about the Art Walk on the public walking tours on August 13, or to schedule a private tour with Art Walk Director Richard Schave on another date. Contact Kim at downtownartwalkATgmailDOTcom or call (213) 784-2598 for more info.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
New Esotouric bus tour explores the historic L.A. NOIR world of mobster Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief Parker

WHAT:  Debut excursion of Esotouric's "L.A. Noir" bus and walking tour
WHEN:  Saturday September 19, 12pm-4pm, departing from Clifton's Cafeteria, 648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014
COST:  $62/person including hard-cover copy of "L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City," signed by author John Buntin.
MORE INFO:  visit http://www.esotouric.com/lanoir or call 323-223-2767
RELATED TOURS:  Esotouric's Noir September series also includes "The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare" on 9/12.
 
LOS ANGELES, CA, JULY 31, 2009  --  Other cities have histories. Los Angeles has legends. For more than sixty years, writers and directors from Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder to Roman Polanski and James Ellroy have explored L.A.'s origins, its underbelly, and (yes) its blondes in fiction and films like "The Big Sleep," "Double Indemnity," "Chinatown," and "L.A. Confidential." Yet this preoccupation with a mythic past has obscured something important  --  the true history of noir Los Angeles.

Now John Buntin, the author of the forthcoming "L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City" (Crown/Harmony), and Esotouric, L.A.'s most eclectic bus adventure company, have teamed up to explore the forgotten haunts, hits, and harems of underworld L.A. and the rivalry between the two men who shaped it -- one L.A.'s most notorious gangster, the other its most controversial police chief.

Featherweight boxer Mickey Cohen left the ring for the rackets, first as mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's enforcer, then as his protégé and successor. Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, and Sammy Davis, Jr. palled around with him; TV journalist Mike Wallace wanted his stories; evangelist Billy Graham sought his soul.

William H. Parker was the proud son of a pioneering law enforcement family from the fabled frontier town of Deadwood. As a rookie patrolman in the Roaring Twenties, he discovered that L.A. was ruled by a shadowy "Combination" of tycoons, politicians, and underworld bosses. His life mission became to topple it -- and to create a police force that would never answer to elected officials again. In the process, he created the modern LAPD and unwittingly paved the way for the city's greatest tragedy, the Watts riots, saddling Los Angeles with a legacy of racial mistrust that endures to this day.

Novelist Michael Connelly calls "L.A. Noir" "fascinating, flat out entertaining." Kirkus Reviews raves, "A roller coaster ride…. gripping social history and a feast for aficionados of cops-and-robbers stories, both real and imagined," and USC historian Kevin Starr says the book is "a tour de force of non-fiction narrative." Together, Buntin and Esotouric take you on a journey to the sites where Hollywood madam Brenda Allen played and where Mickey's enforcers killed to enforce his will.

From Clifton's redwood-themed Brookdale Cafeteria downtown, L.A. Noir passengers will proceed on foot to the movie palace where 17-year-old Bill Parker worked as an usher --  and fell into a disastrous love affair --  as well as the site of 9-year-old Mickey Cohen's first holdup. Boarding a luxurious coach class bus, the tour will visit Mickey Cohen's childhood haunts in the old Jewish neighborhood Boyle Heights, as well as the site of one of L.A.'s most notorious attempted assassinations, en route to significant spots in LAPD and mob history. We'll stop by "the glass house," visit one of fashion plate madam Brenda Allen former haunts, revisit Billy Graham's "canvass cathedral" and discuss the evangelist's decade long effort to "save" Mickey Cohen, stop by Cohen's old commission office, hear a first-hand account of how Mickey operated, and visit the old Lincoln Heights jail, site of the brutal Christmas 1951 events that inspired the opening of James Ellroy's "L.A. Confidential."  

With Kim Cooper, the creator of Esotouric's true crime tours and creator of the new L.A. time travel blog In SRO Land (http://www.insroland.org) riding shotgun, there will also be plenty of surprises. So get on the bus as the whole filthy truth is spread out before you, on the first new Esotouric bus adventure of 2009.

Author John Buntin's additional L.A. events include:
September 15, 7pm  - Vroman's,
695 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91101, (626) 449-5320, http://www.vromansbookstore.com  
September 16th, 7pm  - EsoWon Books,
4331 Degnan Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90008,
(323) 290-1048
September 17th, 7pm - Barnes & Noble,
Third Street Promenade and Arizona,
Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 260-9110
September 21, 7:30pm - Writers Bloc at Temple Emanuel, 8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90211, http://www.tebh.org   

Esotouric's Fall schedule: The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare (Sat Sept 12), John Buntin's L.A. Noir (Sat Sept 19), Wild Wild West Side (Sat Oct 10), Raymond Chandler's Bay City (Sat Oct 17), Halloween Surprise Tour (Sat Oct 31), South LA architecture tour (Sun Nov 1), Charles Bukowski's L.A. (Sat Nov 7), The Real Black Dahlia (Sat Nov 14), Pasadena Confidential (Sat Dec 5), Blood & Dumplings (Sat Dec 12)

ABOUT ESOTOURIC: Founded in 2007 by newlyweds Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, the company quickly cornered the market on offbeat true crime history tours and highbrow literary and architectural explorations. From their "Real Black Dahlia" tour ("an L.A. classic" -- Los Angeles Times) to "Raymond Chandler's L.A.," sold-out personal history tours guest hosted by James Ellroy to alternative neighborhood guides like "Pasadena Confidential," Esotouric's weekly bus adventure has become a must for locals seeking to know their city better, and a lucky find for savvy travelers.

A limited number of journalists on assignment can be accommodated on the bus. For interviews with John Buntin or review copies of "L.A. Noir," contact Penny Simon at psimonATrandomhouseDOTcom or at (865) 675-1705. Esotouric founders Kim Cooper and Richard Schave are also available for interviews, contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

                        ###

For immediate release
 
July 20, 2009
 
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 August 8, 12pm-4pm
COST: $58, which includes snacks and beverages  
WHERE: Departs from Fair Oaks and Arlington Street, South Pasadena.  
 
LOS ANGELES- On August 8, 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.
 
Tour guide Kim Cooper 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 coddling pet chimps and bears, seemingly respectable families misbehaving behind tall hedges and a general air of genteel psychic decay."
 
Making a special appearance on this tour: Crimebo the Crime Clown capering as only Crimebo can. 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 RFK assassination, "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 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 schedule
Sat July 25 – John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat Aug 1 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat Aug 8 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Thurs Sept 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 12 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sat Sept 19 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir (debut)
Thurs Oct 8- The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 – Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 31 - Save the date for a Halloween surprise tour!
Sun Nov 1 – Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 – Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat December 12 – Blood & Dumplings
 
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
 
July 18, 2009
 
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 August 1, 12pm-4pm  
WHERE: Departing from The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, 5th & Olive, L.A.
FYI: 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 August 1, 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 July 18  - Charles Bukowski's LA
Sat July 25 – John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat Aug 1 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat Aug 8 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Thurs Sept 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 12 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sat Sept 19 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir (debut)
Thurs Oct 8- The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 – Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 31 - Save the date for a Halloween surprise tour!
Sun Nov 1 – Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 – Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat December 12 – Blood & Dumplings

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.

For immediate release
 
July 14, 2009
 
Meet the children of Downtown L.A. novelist John Fante on his centennial bus tour
 
WHAT: Esotouric's "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" bus and walking tour
JUST ADDED: Dan Fante, acclaimed author, joins his sister Vickie Fante Cohen on the bus to share fascinating family stories and read poems inspired by his father.
WHEN: Saturday July 25, 12pm-4pm, departs from Lincoln Heights/ Cypress Gold Line Metro station
COST: $58/person.
SPECIAL OFFER: ride any two July literary tours for $96 (save $20) or ride all three for $134 (save $40). Contact Esotouric to reserve.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
RELATED TOURS: Esotouric's July literary series also includes RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LA on July 11 and CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S LA on July 18.
 
LOS ANGELES- This July, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric offers three bookish tours of L.A. literary landmarks, focusing on the lives and work of Raymond Chandler, Charles Bukowski and John Fante. A special promotional ticket celebrating the city's literary legacy lets passengers ride any one of the tours at the regular $58 rate, ride two and save $20, or ride all three and save $40. For more info or to reserve visit http://www.esotouric.com and see the "July Literary Tour Discounts" links in the left sidebar.
 
SPECIAL GUESTS DAN FANTE AND VICKIE FANTE COHEN:
Newly added to the July 25 tour lineup is Dan Fante, himself an acclaimed author currently working on a memoir about his relationship with father, who will be on the bus reading poems about John Fante. Dan joins his sister Vickie Fante Cohen on the bus to follow in their father's footsteps and answer questions from his fans.
 
PRAISE FOR DAN FANTE'S WRITING:
"Dan Fante allows us a glimpse of the Southern California demimonde that surely escaped his father's attention." (Los Angeles Times Book Review); "Fante offers moments that brush the genius of Bukowski and Hubert Selby, Jr." (Elle); "Like Bukowski... Fante is an authentic literary outlaw." (New York Times Book Review); "Dark and bleak, dirty and real. . . . Dan Fante's style is raw, insightful, and deftly realized." (Time Out New York ); "Breathtaking writing... Angry, acerbic, self-pitying and often painfully funny... Read it at your peril." (Anthony Bourdain )
 
ABOUT THE TOUR:
On July 25 Esotouric rolls out its very occasional literary bus and walking tour, JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL. Public interest is high, as John Fante's 100th birthday in April was the occasion of a sold-out Zocolo panel discussion at the Hammer Museum and one of the more eclectic and lively gatherings ever seen at the last Skid Row bar, the King Edward Saloon.
 
This tour is 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 is the new Director of the Downtown L.A. Art Walk, with his special guests Vickie Fante Cohen, the author's daughter (and bratty teenage heroine of his late short stories) and Dan Fante, the author's son (and author of "Chump Change," "Short Dog," and "Kissed By A Fat Waitress").
 
John Fante was cult hero Charles Bukowski's favorite writer, his "Ask the Dust" was the film Robert Towne wanted to make 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.
 
Downtown Los Angeles is a neighborhood to watch, with huge crowds attending the monthly Art Walk, and some of the hottest bars and restaurants in the city. 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 crimes of Hotel Horrors to the burlesque and freak show delights of Main Street Vice, the secret post war woman's history of The Real Black Dahlia to the architectural anthropology of The Many Downtowns. 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, 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
 
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.
 
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 July 18  - Charles Bukowski's LA
Sat July 25 – John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat Aug 1 - The Real Black Dahlia Saturday
Sat Aug 8 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Thurs Sept 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 12 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sat Sept 19 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir (debut)
Thurs Oct 8- The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 – Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 31 - Save the date for a Halloween surprise tour!
Sun Nov 1 – Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 – Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat December 12 – Blood & Dumplings
 
For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews, as is John Fante's daughter Vickie Fante Cohen and his son Dan Fante. Journalists and photographers on assignment can often be accommodated on Esotouric bus tours. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.
 
 
 

For immediate release
 
July 7, 2009
 
Downtown L.A. tour celebrates of novelist John Fante's centennial

WHAT: Esotouric's "John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill" bus and walking tour
WHEN: Saturday July 25, 12pm-4pm, departs from Lincoln Heights/ Cypress Gold Line Metro station
COST: $58/person.
SPECIAL OFFER: ride any two July literary tours for $96 (save $20) or ride all three for $134 (save $40). Contact Esotouric to reserve.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
RELATED TOURS: Esotouric's July literary series also includes RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LA on July 11 and CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S LA on July 18.
 
LOS ANGELES- This July, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric offers three bookish tours of L.A. literary landmarks, focusing on the lives and work of Raymond Chandler, Charles Bukowski and John Fante. A special promotional ticket celebrating the city's literary legacy lets passengers ride any one of the tours at the regular $58 rate, ride two and save $20, or ride all three and save $40. For more info or to reserve visit http://www.esotouric.com and see the "July Literary Tour Discounts" links in the left sidebar.

On July 25 Esotouric rolls out its very occasional literary bus and walking tour, JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL. Public interest is high, as John Fante's 100th birthday in April was the occasion of a sold-out Zocolo panel discussion at the Hammer Museum and a lively and one of the more eclectic gatherings ever seen at the last Skid Row bar, the King Edward Saloon.

This tour is 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 is the new Director of the Downtown L.A. Art Walk, with his special guest Vickie Fante Cohen, the author's daughter (and bratty teenage heroine of his late short stories).

John Fante was cult hero Charles Bukowski's favorite writer, his "Ask the Dust" was the film Robert Towne wanted to make 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.

Downtown Los Angeles is a neighborhood to watch, with huge crowds attending the monthly Art Walk, and some of the hottest bars and restaurants in the city. 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 crimes of Hotel Horrors to the burlesque and freak show delights of Main Street Vice, the secret post war woman's history of The Real Black Dahlia to the architectural anthropology of The Many Downtowns. 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, 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
 
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.

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
Thurs July 9 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat July 11 - Raymond Chandler's LA
Sat July 18  - Charles Bukowski's LA
Sat July 25 – John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat Aug 1 - The Real Black Dahlia Saturday
Sat Aug 8 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Thurs Sept 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 12 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sat Sept 19 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir (debut)
Thurs Oct 8- The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 – Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 31 - Save the date for a Halloween surprise tour!
Sun Nov 1 – Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 – Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat December 12 – Blood & Dumplings

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com
 
Tour host Richard Schave is available for interviews, as is John Fante's daughter Vickie Fante Cohen. Journalists and photographers on assignment can often be accommodated on Esotouric bus tours. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release

3 July 2009

Guided walking tours of the Downtown Art Walk with L.A.'s favorite tour guides

WHAT: Downtown LA Art Walk, the hottest grassroots cultural event in Southern California has become a Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation
WHEN: Art Walk is every second Thursday from 12pm-9pm with free walking tours starting at 6:30pm; private tours from Director Richard Schave are available on request throughout the month
WHO: Free public tours from Art Walk Director Richard Schave (Esotouric bus adventures), Anne Block (Take My Mother Please) and Mike the PoeT (Museum of Neon Art)
WHERE: Tours depart from Lost Souls Cafe, 124 W. 4th Street, LA, CA 90013
WHEN: July 9 - Richard's tour (6:30-7:30pm), Mike's tour (7:30-8:30pm), Anne's tour (8:00-9:00pm)
COST: The Art Walk is always free, so are the walking tours  
INFO: http://www.downtownartwalk.com/artwalks-7-7-09 or (213) 784-2598.

LOS ANGELES- The Downtown L.A. Art Walk, held on the second Thursday of the month year round, is the great success stories of the neighborhood's revival. Launched in 2004 by a small group of true believers in what was then the western edge of Skid Row, the event now draws upwards of 6000 people, and includes live music, a thriving bar and restaurant scene, book signings, and of course art on view in dozens of galleries.
 
Five years on, the Art Walk has just become a non-profit organization dedicated to building on the community's good work and making downtown Los Angeles even more of a cultural destination for great art, good company and exciting urban experiences.

To celebrate Art Walk's fresh direction, the July 9 Art Walk features the debut of a series of free guided walking tours hosted by some of L.A.'s favorite tour guides: Richard Schave (incoming Director of the Art Walk, and co-owner of Esotouric bus adventures), Mike the PoeT (the rhyming author of "I Am Alive in Los Angeles" and host of the Museum of Neon Art bus tour) and Anne Block (owner of the Take My Mother Please custom tour service). Each tour guide brings their unique spin to the neighborhood, and will show Art Walk regulars or first-timers a side of the Art Walk sure to fascinate and inspire.

For more about the tour guides or to reserve, visit the Walking Tour page
http://www.downtownartwalk.com/artwalks-7-7-09

Also see Richard Schave's Esotouric, http://www.esotouric.com
Anne Block's Take My Mother Please, http://www.takemymotherplease.com/
And Mike the PoeT's myspace, http://www.myspace.com/mikethepoet

Journalists on assignment are encouraged to come Downtown and learn all about the Art Walk on the public walking tours (just visit the link above and reserve your spot on one or more tours) or to schedule a private tour with Art Walk Director Richard Schave. And all three tour guides are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.

For immediate release
 
July 1, 2009
 
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 July 18, 12pm-4pm, departs from Philippe The Original, 1001 N Alameda, Downtown LA
COST: $58/person, includes coffee and donuts served at Bukowski's favorite Pink Elephant Liquor Store.
SPECIAL OFFER: ride any two July literary tours for $96 (save $20) or ride all three for $134 (save $40). Contact Esotouric to reserve.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767
RELATED TOURS: Esotouric's July literary series also includes RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LA on July 11 and JOHN FANTE'S DREAMS FROM BUNKER HILL on July 25.
 
LOS ANGELES- This July, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric offers three bookish bus tours of LA literary landmarks, focusing on the lives and work of Raymond Chandler, Charles Bukowski and John Fante. A special promotional ticket celebrating LA's literary legacy lets passengers ride any one of the tours at the regular $58 rate, ride two and save $20, or ride all three and save $40. For more info or to reserve visit http://www.esotouric.com and see the "July Literary Tour Discounts" links in the left sidebar.

The second tour in the series rolls on July 18, when 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. 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). Now they turn their creative attentions to Bukowski, the prolific poet, novelist and screenwriter whose rough-hewn tales of boozing, wild women and rotten jobs never obscure the deep vein of sweetness and hope that runs through all his work.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule
Thurs July 9 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat July 11 - Raymond Chandler's LA
Sat July 18  - Charles Bukowski's LA
Sat July 25 – John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat Aug 1 - The Real Black Dahlia Saturday
Sat Aug 8 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Thurs Sept 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 12 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sat Sept 19 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir (debut)
Thurs Oct 8- The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 – Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sun Nov 1 – Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 – Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat December 12 – Blood & Dumplings

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

For immediate release                                                    
 
June 29, 2009                                                                              
 
No community support for $30M Discovery Center at EIR meeting
 
Project that would demolish existing nature center and destroy wildlife habitat in Whittier Narrows is roundly criticized. Natural Area is 'my Yosemite,' says one speaker.   
 
SOUTH EL MONTE, Calif. (June 29, 2009) — Residents of area communities and supporters of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area strongly criticized and rejected a controversial $30 million regional watershed visitor center proposed for the county Natural Area during a public meeting held Wednesday at South El Monte High School to discuss the project and its recently released draft environmental impact report.
 
No member of the community spoke in favor of the proposal during the meeting.
 
The project, the San Gabriel River Discovery Center, would dramatically increase the human footprint within the only wildlife sanctuary on the San Gabriel River, located between the Montebello and Puente Hills. It would replace the existing 2,000-square-foot nature center with a building nearly 10 times bigger, and it would destroy important wildlife habitat within a county Significant Ecological Area to build a 150-car parking lot and other manmade features.
 
The project is being pushed by a four-agency joint powers authority, which consists of two municipal water districts, a state conservancy and the county department of parks and recreation.
 
After a summary of the project and the EIR given by county staff and employees of the firm that prepared the report, 12 individuals spoke during the meeting's public comment period.
 
Citing a wide-range of concerns, the speakers questioned not only the conclusions drawn by the report and its methodology but many of the assumptions and objectives underlying the discovery center project.
 
Jessica Olive Nava, of Pico Rivera, said she took exception with the characterization of local residents as underserved and disadvantaged. Rather, Nava said, she felt privileged to live so close to the Natural Area.
 
"I feel the Natural Area is my Yosemite," she said. "I have found that it is not only a sanctuary for wildlife but for myself as well as many others."
 
Nava and other speakers also expressed concern about the possible loss of existing outdoor education and recreation programs and opportunities.
 
"I have seen beautiful birds, colorful butterflies, flowers and families having lunch" at the Natural Area, Nava said.
 
Susan McLean said many school-age children visit the Natural Area, "seeing for the first time what wildlife looks like up close."
 
They can "walk on a trail, hear an owl hooting high up in the tree, see a hawk circling in the updraft and, if they are lucky, watch one swoop down from the sky to fetch its next meal," she said.
 
Other speakers criticized the proposal on its likely high costs for construction, operation and maintenance; its probable introduction of user fees; and the failure of discovery center member agencies to look at more economical alternatives.
 
Julio Bermejo, of San Gabriel, said that it was unlikely that member agencies would be able or willing to fully pay the costs of the discovery center as claimed in the EIR and that fees likely would be charged, as they are in other areas of the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area and at some county museums.
 
"If fees are introduced," he said, "access will be reduced to the community."
 
Henrietta Correa Salazar and Michael Barba, both of Pico Rivera, said existing water education programs in southeast Los Angeles County and in Orange County showed that the discovery center is unnecessary.
 
Correa Salazar showed colorful inserts from the local daily newspaper that discussed local watersheds and encouraged water conservation. "All they need now is a mobile exhibit, and you've got the discovery center," she said.
 
Barba said three Orange County and Los Angeles County water agencies are successfully using a mobile water education program to reach tens of thousands of students in their schools.
 
In FY 2008, two municipal water districts used the program to provide science education to approximately 90,000 students. In FY 2009, the third water company joined the mobile education program, and the goal was increased to 110,000 students.
 
The discovery center would see a maximum of 25,000 students annually, according to the EIR.
 
Other speakers said they did not see the sense in building a nature center that would destroy the nature the facility is supposed to interpret and open to the community.
 
The criticism echoed the views of the county's Significant Ecological Areas Technical Advisory Committee, which said "there is an irony in ripping out nature to make it available."
 
On May 5, 2008, the committee rejected the discovery center proposal as being "incompatible" with the Whittier Narrows SEA, criticizing the size and location of the project and the apparent failure to consider alternative sites adequately.
 
Maria Sauceda, of El Monte, told Wednesday's audience and county and Discovery Center Authority staff that she questioned the joint powers authority's commitment to meeting the needs and desires of the community.
 
She said the community had expressed its opposition to the project on previous occasions, but that it appears to be proceeding in spite of the community's wishes.
 
"You hear all the public comments: 'Don't do this,' 'Leave it alone,' 'Let it be,'" she said. "Are you really listening to the public, or is it just what the agencies want to do and not hear what the people say who live here?"
 
The public comment period for the discovery center EIR closes on Aug. 3, 2009.  
      
Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area
Campaign to save Whittier Narrows Natural Area
 
About the Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area
The Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area and neighboring lands as open space corridors. We promote and assist with restoration and educational uses of the Natural Area that are compatible with the conservation of plant and animal habitat and migration, historical resources, water quality, and public health and safety. Web site: http://naturalareafriends.net
 
Contact: Jim Odling, (323) 227-1822                               
P.O. Box 3522
South El Monte, CA 91733
http://naturalareafriends.net
infoATnaturalareafriendsDOTnet