Esotouric offers two fun tours

Bus tour explores the San Gabriel Valley's legacy of weird crimes, madgenius and great eats

WHAT: Esotouric's Blood & Dumplings Crime Bus Tour

WHEN: Saturday September 13 2008, 12pm-4pm (repeats 11/29 in a special Thanksgiving edition as part of the Noir November series)

WHERE: Tour departs from Philippe the Original, 1001 N. Alameda Street

COST: $63, including dumplings (vegetarian options available on request)

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

On Saturday, September 13 (repeating 11/29), offbeat bus tour company Esotouric presents its most bizarre true crime and cultural history tour, BLOOD & DUMPLINGS. Starting from the premise that the secret heart of Southern California's weirdo culture beats strongest in the Eastern San Gabriel Valley, the tour introduces passengers to such fascinating local characters as the Man from Mars Bandit, record producer Phil Spector, lion tamers Charles and Muriel Gay, and indie filmmaking icon Timothy Carey, whose notorious "The World's Greatest Sinner" was shot on location in 1960s El Monte.

Heading due East out of downtown, the tour explores several historic communities that reflect the growth and eccentricity that are hallmarks of 20th century L.A.

Crime Bus passengers will be explore notorious, strange and fascinating forgotten tales from the past hundred years, each told at the scene of the crime. They'll thrill to the freakish case of the Man from Mars Bandit who stalked area supermarkets for months in 1951 before meeting his match in a police sharpshooter, shock to discover the deadly infighting among El Monte's American Nazi Party members, mourn the Case of the Buried Bride dragged beneath her home on her wedding day by her secret lover, gnash teeth at the weird lion farm (home to every MGM lion) that served lion meat barbecues on special occasions, and view scenes of notorious cases including Phil Spector's spooky hilltop castle and James Ellroy's slain mother Geneva (the true-life inspiration for his Black Dahlia novel).

And since no visit to the San Gabriel Valley is complete without a delicious Chinese meal, the Crime Bus will stop at 101 Noodle Express (one of L.A.Weekly critic Jonathan Gold's picks for 99 L.A. restaurants not to be missed) to pick up a dumpling feast, which will be enjoyed picnic-style at Monster Park, a remarkable sea-themed folk art environment recently saved from demolition. There passengers can enjoy their snack in the mouth of a concrete whale, or under a grinning octopus, then pose for photos with the creatures.

All this, plus wild shootouts, dope-dealing druggists, missing Salvador Dali paintings, the original "little girl down a well" 1940s television sensation, and a very strange story about ducks. Don't miss the Crime Bus tour that guide Kim Cooper calls "My personal favorite of all our tours, packed with more offbeat history, horror, roadside architecture and fabulous Route 66 vistas than any other."

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

Explore A Century of L.A. Secrets on Esotouric's Many Downtowns Bus Tour

WHAT: Esotouric presents The Many Downtowns urban history bus tour with guests Terry Ellsworth, Bert Green, Emmeric Konrad and Christine Silvestri

WHEN: Saturday September 20, 11am-3:00pm

COST: $58, includes snacks

WHERE: Departs from Philippe the Original, 1001 N. Alameda Street

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

It seems like the whole world is interested in Downtown L.A.‹the Germans have commissioned a neighborhood travel guide, overseas visitors fill the hotels, and folks from the Westside have even been spotted making the trek out to Art Walk. But few people really understand how Downtown LA works and where it comes from. That's why Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company whose tours reveal the secret history of L.A. through crime, culture, literature and architecture, is offering THE MANY DOWNTOWNS, a provocative tour in the "Reyner Banham Loves L.A." architecture and urbanism series, meant to put the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core into context.

Esotouric is uniquely suited to explain Downtown, since they were named purveyors of the Best Downtown Tours by the Downtown News, guested on the BBC's "Globe Trekker L.A." episode, host the Art Walk Hippodrome shuttle and are the creators of the On Bunker Hill and 1947project time travel blogs.

THE MANY DOWNTOWNS is a guided social history of the mysterious, complex and rapidly evolving center of L.A., a thriving neighborhood that was intentionally depopulated in the 1950s and is currently experiencing an extraordinary rebirth. Everyone complains L.A. lacks a center‹this tour explains why. Passengers will visit exquisite architectural gems, including some seldom seen by the general public, but they'll also enjoy a sophisticated analysis of the economic and social tools used to rebuild downtown, meet creative residents and explore unique destinations.

Featured locations include the intentionally depopulated Bunker Hill and its Angels flight funicular railway, Grand Central Market, Title Guarantee Building (including its landmark Hugo Ballin murals), Pershing Square (with its tribute to novelist John Fante), the European-style dining alley St.Vincent's Court, the Mercantile Arcade Building (an exact replica of a London landmark), Bert Green Fine Art (for a chat with the creator of Art Walk), a circuit of the Santee Alley shopping zone with Urban Shopping Adventures proprietor Christine Silverstri (no time for bargain hunting, sorry), and an insider's tour of the Arts District including Al's Bar, Bloom's General Store and a reception in artist Emmeric Konrad's studio.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

Painter EMMERIC KONRAD is downtown's signature artist, a 1980s Marine Corps vet whose experience working an Arizona rescue squad auto wreck continues to inform his neo-expressionist paintings packed with raw American symbolism, incorporating the blues, cinema, Mad Magazine, Walt Disney and iconoclasm.

CHRISTINE SILVESTRI runs Urban Shopping Adventures, offering individualized tours of the complex and confusing Fashion District (and points west) since 2003.

Gallery owner BERT GREEN is the architect of the hugely popular monthly Downtown Art Walk.

Promoter TERRY ELLSWORTH has been a seminal Arts District figure for decades, curating the underground Bedlam space, hosting exhibitions at Bloom's General Store and presenting original film programs.

So climb aboard THE MANY DOWNTOWNS tour and explore one of America's most fascinating neighborhoods with the tour company Lonely Planet calls "hip, offbeat, insightful and entertaining.

"Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule
Sat Aug 23 ­ Skylight Books - John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
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, 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