The New Chinatowns bus tour reveals the hidden history of the San Gabriel Valley
WHAT: Esotouric debuts THE NEW CHINATOWNS a new bus tour in the "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" architecture and urbanism series
WHEN: Saturday July 12, 11am-4pm
COST: $68, price includes dim sum and wine pairing and tea tasting at WingHop Fung
WHERE: Tours departs from Philippe the Original, opposite Union Station in L.A.'s historic Chinatown
Start at the Old Chinatown downtown, hop on the 10 Freeway East, and within minutes you'll find yourself in America's most vibrant and sprawling New Chinatown, a place far different from the compact, urban bargain-shopping zone you've left behind. In recent decades the San Gabriel Valley, long a sleepy suburban backwater, has been transformed by the injection of cash from Hong Kong and Taipei and an energetic pool of young business owners into something unrecognizable. The best Chinese food in the world is served in nondescript mini-malls, home values are solid and school test scores are strong. It's the Immigrant American Dream, laid on top of some of the Southland's most historic neighborhoods.
For many residents, Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead and San Gabriel have always been Asian towns. They don't know about the early efforts to turn Monterey Park into the Beverly Hills of the East, how local gal Laura Scudder revolutionized the potato chip industry, about the failed 1920s oil boom or that great Wham-O brand toys like the Hula Hoop and Frisbee were invented here. And to many American-born San Gabriel Valley natives, the recent changes to their neighborhoods are baffling.
This tour aims to put the San Gabriel Valley in context, from its suburban origins to its current boom time, celebrating the hardworking immigrant families (mainly Italian in the mid 20th century, mainly Chinese today) who have made the Valley their home and built its culture.
Hosted by Richard Schave, the Esotouric founder recently featured as Downtown L.A. ambassador on the BBC's "Globe Trekker" series, THE NEW CHINATOWNS is an entertaining and illuminating historical and cultural bus tour that rolls through Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead and (mainly) Monterey Park exploring significant people, remarkable places and delicious delicacies, including:
1) Paradise Trailer Park (Rosemead), a picture perfect time capsule of gracious, tree-shaded mobile home living in the postwar Southland.
2) Case Study House #7 by Thornton Abell (San Gabriel), a forgotten touchstone in mid-century modern architecture.
3) Site of the Wham-O toys manufacturing plant (San Gabriel), birthplace of millions of Hula Hoops, Frisbees, Superballs and Water Wiggles.
4) The Venice Room (Monterey Park), a groovy grill-your-own-steak bar, still family-run after forty years.
5) Browning Realty (Monterey Park), site of the 1920s oil mania and still a family enterprise after eighty-plus years.
6) El Encanto (Monterey Park), exquisite showplace of the failed 1920s luxury housing development intended as the Beverly Hills of the East.
7) Mission Superhardware (San Gabriel), still run by the Fabriano family after more than seven decades, and previously where Howard Roach built some of the Southland's first television sets.
8) Site of the Laura Scudder potato chip factory.
9) Pioneering purveyors of high quality Asian herbs, teas and notions Wing Hop Fung (Monterey Park), where French-born wine dealer Guillaume Galand will host a pairing of savory dim sum and wines.
Esotouric's REYNER BANHAM LOVES LOS ANGELES tour series is named in honor of host Richard Schave's college architecture instructor, and includes bus tours exploring the sad history of downtown's depopulation (THE MANY DOWNTOWNS), the offbeat wonders still to be found along the old Mother Road (ROUTE 66) and the underappreciated communities of Vernon, Downey and Santa Fe Springs (SOUTH LA). These Esotouric bus adventures provide fresh ways of seeing the Southlandand mingling with fascinating fellow travelers, and are a must for urban explorers, architecture buffs, San Gabriel Valley dwellers and anyone who enjoys turning over rocks to reveal the secrets beneath.
Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat May 31 Esotouric & City Lights Books present Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA (BookExpo edition)
*Sat June 7- Visionary Hollywood hosted by author Erik Davis
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 (composer of "Windy")
Tues July 1 American Library Association Edition: Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
*Sat July 12 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
Sat July 26 - Pasadena Confidential
Sat Aug.2 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat Aug 9- Vroman's Bookstore Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowki's LA
Sat Aug 16 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat Aug 23 John Fante's Bunker Hill
Sun Sept 7 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South LA
Sat Sept 20 Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns / Main Street Vice
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
Sat Oct 18- Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 25 Halloween Horrors
For more info on Esotouric, please visit http://www.esotouric.com
For more on Reyner Banham, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reyner_Banham
And the BBC documentary "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" http://reyner.notlong.com
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