Check out Esotouric's Noir November bus tours

L.A. Weather "Cloudy With A Chance of Mayhem" On Noir November Bus Tours

WHAT: Esotouric features five of their darkest bus tours in November 2008

WHEN: Sat Nov 1 (The Real Black Dahlia);
Sat Nov 8 (The Birth of Noir: JamesM. Cain's Southern California Nightmare);
Sat Nov 15 (Wild Wild West Side);
Sat Nov 22 (Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice);
Sat Nov 29 (Blood & Dumplings-Thanksgiving edition)

WHERE: Various departure locations downtown and in Culver City

COST: Most tours cost $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members). Or save with a Noir November sampler pack, any three of the five tours for $135.

MORE: Esotouric's October looks plenty noirish, too, with Raymond Chandler's LA (Sat Oct 11); Raymond Chandler's Bay City (Sat Oct 18) and Halloween Horrors with Crimebo the Clown (Sat Oct 25).

INFO: http://www.esotouric.com/noirnovembersampler, 323-223-2767

"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen." -Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind."

In November, as the shadows lengthen and the summer sun gives way to eerie winds, it's easier to imagine the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, a city of stark moral blacks and whites, men in topcoats and fedoras, women whose gorgeous faces hide a litany of sins. Esotouric, the offbeat bus adventure company whose tours explore the hidden Los Angeles celebrates this fall with NOIR NOVEMBER, a five weekend series of dark explorations of the Los Angeles myth, from James M. Cain's early contributions to the noir genre to young Beth Short's heart rending passage from Main Street hustler to iconic L.A. murder victim The Black Dahlia.

Also featured: downtown tales of crime and rascality, high weirdness in Santa Monica, and a chance to escape the family during Thanksgiving weekend on an especially outrageous true crime tour. And as a special offer to passengers looking to steep themselves in the Esotouric mindset, a $135 sampler pack offers $40 off any three of the five Noir November tours.

ABOUT THE TOURS:

THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA (Sat Nov 1):
A guided tour into the hard life of women on the make in postwar Los Angeles, starting at the Biltmore Hotel and following the twin paths of victim Beth Short and ace newspaperwoman Aggie Underwood as they converge on the vacant lot where Beth's severed body was found in January 1947. The L.A. Times says: "This bus tour... has established itself as an L.A. classic."
More info http://www.esotouric.com/blackdahlia

THE BIRTH OF NOIR: JAMES M. CAIN'S SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NIGHTMARE (Sat Nov8):
This vintage-clothing-optional (but not clothing-optional!) edition of the literary tour offered in conjunction with movie listings web site Film Radar explores how New Yorker editor Cain invented the Noir genre in a series of L.A.-inspired short stories, novels and screenplays, including "Mildred Pierce," "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice."
More info http://www.esotouric.com/cain

WILD WILD WEST SIDE (Sat Nov 15):
Featuring the weirdest crimes from the annals of Venice and Santa Monica, including a mummified teenage cult priestess, tortured tots in a seaside House of Horrors, LSD-fueled evil spirits, and a murderess who willed herself into a coma rather than face the judge.
More info http://www.esotouric.com/wildwestside

HOTEL HORRORS & MAIN STREET VICE (Sat Nov 22):
Celebrating the worst downtown L.A. has to offer, this double feature tour explores notorious historic happenings in hotels great and modest and the lost world of vice along Main Street, from freak shows to burlesque queens.
More info http://www.esotouric.com/mainhotel

BLOOD & DUMPLINGS (Sat Nov 29):
Thanksgiving weekend criminal and gastronomical excursion into the Eastern San Gabriel Valley, a hotbed of weird behavior, hideous happenings and mad genius sure to make your own family look (almost) normal.
More info http://www.esotouric.com/bnd

So climb aboard an Esotouric bus adventure this November and discover the tours Lonely Planet calls "hip, offbeat, insightful and entertaining." They are highly recommended for natives and newcomers, crime and history buffs and anyone who likes to seek out the unexpected.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (new tours starred):
Sat Aug 30 - Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' LA
Sun Sept 7 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South LA
Thurs Sept 11 - The Hippodrome (Downtown LA Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Sept 13 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Sept 20 ­ Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns
Sat Oct 4 ­ Bodhi Tree ­ Visionary Hollywood
Thurs Oct 9 - The Hippodrome (Downtown LA Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Oct 11- Vroman's Bookstore - Raymond Chandler's LA
Sat Oct 18- Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 25 ­ Halloween Horrors with Crimebo the Clown
Sat Nov 1- Noir November: The Real Black Dahlia
Sat Nov 8- Noir November: The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Thurs Nov 13 ­The Hippodrome (Downtown LA Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Nov 15- Noir November: Wild Wild West Side
Sat Nov 22- Noir November: Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Nov 29- Noir November: Blood & Dumplings
Sat Dec 6- Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Dec 11- The Hippodrome (Downtown LA Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Dec 13- Pasadena Confidential

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