Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Join Esotouric for a Charles Bukowski bus tour

Writer Charles Bukowski's Home Landmarking Celebrated with Memorial Bus Tour

WHAT: "Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A." bus tour
WHEN: Sunday March 9, 1pm-6pm, departs from Philippe the Original, downtown L.A.
COST: $55/person (15% off for KCRW members)
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

Acting on the recommendation of the Cultural Heritage Commission, the L.A. City Council today voted to name the longtime East Hollywood home of poet and novelist Charles Bukowski an official Historic-Cultural monument. This protects the modest, now-vacant bungalow court from demolition and ensures future generations of fans will be able to visit the site where a disgruntled 50-something postal worker made the leap to international celebrated writer.
On March 9, Richard Schave, one of the organizers of the preservation campaign, hosts a very special memorial edition of the Esotouric bus tour "Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A." on the anniversary of Buk's 1994 death. This is a chance for Bukowski lovers to come together to celebrate the landmarking, which was dogged by false accusations of Nazism from the building's owners, but which garnered widespread support from the preservation and literary communities and city officials.
Esotouric has made its name with true crime bus tours (Black Dahlia, Pasadena Confidential) and explorations of literary L.A. (Raymond Chandler, John Fante, James M. Cain). Here 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. "Haunts of a Dirty Old Man" spans Bukowski's personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, favorite bars and liquor stores, "Barfly" locations to the downtown library, where he discovered his "God," novelist John Fante.
German born, Bukowski spent most of his life in L.A., working for the US Postal Service, as "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" columnist for the underground press and writing the screenplay for the autobiographical "Barfly." The city and its characters are everywhere in the work, so this tour celebrates the artist within his city with visits to places that were important to him.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
*Sat Mar 1- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
*Sat Mar 8- Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sun Mar 9- Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's Los Angeles
Sat Mar 15- Vroman's Bookstore - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Mar 29 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat April 5 ­ Where the Action Was rock history tour
Sat April 12 - Wild Wild West Side
*Sat April 26 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns
Sat April 26 - Main Street Vice (90 minute tour, $30)
Sat May 3 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sat May 10 - Blood & Dumplings
*Sat May 17- Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat June 14- Vroman's - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore - Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA

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

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