Esotouric to host L.A. film noir tour focused on novelist James M. Cain

Bus Tour Traces Los Angeles Film Noir from Fiction to the Silver Screen

WHAT: Esotouric's The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare tour

WHEN: Saturday November 8, 12pm-4pm

WHERE: Departing from Philippe The Original, 1001 Alameda, LA

COST: $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members, or save $39 on any three of five Esotouric Noir November Saturday tours with a $135 pass)

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

This November, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric offers a special Noir November discount package. For just $135 a savings of $39 or $44 if they pick the Blood & Dumplings tour passengers can ride three our of five dark and outrageous November tours of their choice (see full list in the calendar section below), including the popular BIRTH OF NOIR tour, which combines film history, literature and architecture into an eclectic, provocative afternoon adventure.

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.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 Coat 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 andtransformed 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 departs from beloved dining landmark Philippe the Original, where passengers can enjoy delicious pie in honor of Mildred Pierce. The tour itself 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.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule (Noir November tours starred):
*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 & Hazard's Pavilion (Downtown LA Art Walk Shuttles, 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 & Hazard's Pavilion (Downtown LA Art Walk Shuttles, free)
Sat Dec 13- Pasadena Confidential

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