Esotouric to offer Bukowski bus tour

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Expo Attendees Receive Unpublished Ltd.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

WHAT: Esotouric and City Lights Books present "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA" bus tour

WHEN: Saturday May 31, 5pm-9pm, departs from Arnie Morton's Steakhouse, 735 South Figueroa St., Downtown LA

COST: $55/person, snacks included

FREE SWAG: BookExpo attendees with badges who get on the bus will receive a complementary Tony Millionaire Bukbird beer coaster and a prerelease copy of City Lights' forthcoming Charles Bukowski anthology "Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944-1990"

MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

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

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

HAUNTS OF A DIRTY OLD MAN spans Bukowski's personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, favorite bars and liquor stores, "Barfly" locations to the downtown library, where he discovered his "God," novelist John Fante.

German born, Bukowski spent most of his life in L.A., working for the US Postal Service, as "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" columnist for the underground press and writing the screenplay for the autobiographical "Barfly." The cityand its characters are everywhere in the work, so this tour celebrates the artist within his city with visits to places that were important to him.

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

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

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

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

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