June 14: Vroman's and Esotouric present The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain literary bus tour
WHAT: The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare tour
WHEN: Saturday June 14, 12-4pm
WHERE: Departs from Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena,tour covers Glendale and Hollywood locations
TICKETS: Available directly from Vroman's starting one month before tour date, call 626-449-5320
Southern California, 1931: Amongst the burgeoning urban sprawl built atop bulldozed orange groves and the bitter realization that you can't eat the sunshine, recent emigré James M. Cain found a kernel of truth and his voice. In June Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company that explores the secret heart of LA, partners with venerable Pasadena bookseller Vroman's for a special edition of THE BIRTH OF NOIR. This four-hour luxury bus tour celebrates the life, work, myths and passions of hard-boiled American novelist James M. Cain through his best known books, "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Mildred Pierce" and "Double Indemnity," and how their screen adaptations created a unique American genre: Film Noir. How did East Coast sophisticate Cain go from editor of "The New Yorker" to populist novelist accused of writing dirty books?
The tour explores the writer's life and work with a focus on his time in Southern California,where his observations on Malibu, Hollywood, Pasadena and the low rent 'burbs of Glendale are as provocative today as they were seventy years ago. The tour will also cover the artisans who transformed Cain's tales into movies, including Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner.
"The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare" is a complex portrait of a fascinating character who was seduced and transformed by his time in the Southland, a hard working movie industry professional who sank into drink and despair, ultimately a uniquely Californian artist.
Hosted by Esotouric's Richard Schave, the tour draws on Cain's essays, short stories, novels, films and the memories of his friends and colleagues to paint a portrait of LA in the 1930s and 1940s through the eyes of the writer. The tour spans Hollywood to Glendale and along old Route 66, and includes illuminating visits to Forest Lawn Memorial Park (site of the funeral of Mildred Pierce's "other" daughter, Ray), the Glendale Train Station where the "Double Indemnity" murder plot played out, and the punchline to a Billy Wilder joke so subtle, it's taken 63 years for anyone to get. Get on the bus to share in the laughter and the pathos of Cain's SoCal.
For more info on Esotouric, please visit http://www.esotouric.com
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule:
Sat April 5 Amoeba Music - 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
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