Esotouric to offer Halloween crime bus tour

Halloween Crime Bus Adventure Explores Darkest East Los Angeles

WHAT: Esotouric, L.A.'s most eclectic tour company, launches new Halloween weekend adventure, the EAST SIDE BABYLON crime bus tour

WHEN: Sunday November 1, 11am-3pm

WHERE: Tour departs from Philippe The Original, 1001 Alameda, Chinatown

COST: $58/person

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

When your business model is taking natives (and a few savvy tourists) deep inside the dark and secret history of their own city, the stakes are especially high come Halloween. For Esotouric's first two Octobers, the bus adventure company took to the road with Crimebo the Clown on a grisly tour of Hollywood crime scenes. But with Crimebo playing San Francisco this year, Esotouric's fans demanded fresh blood.

On Sunday, November 1, a select crew of urban explorers will climb aboardfor the debut of EAST SIDE BABYLON, the latest addition to Esotouric's popular crime bus tour series. The first of November is traditionally the day when the dead are said to walk the earth, so what better time to stir up dark memories at sites where lives were violently lost and doomed bodiesb uried?Passengers on this debut excursion will discover fascinating, little-known historic neighborhoods and the grim memories they hold. With crimes spanning the 20th Century, some hideously gruesome, others weird and frankly unbelievable, the tour provides a new way of discovering the city, via crime scenes and oddities that make ordinary houses and intersections seem to vibrate with a mysterious energy.

Come visit Boyle Heights, where Night Stalker Richard Ramirez was captured and a mad dad ran amok. Roam the hallowed lawns of Evergreen, L.A.'s oldest cemetery and home of some memorable haunts and strange burials. Visit East Los Angeles, where a deranged radio shop employee made mince meat of his boss and bride-- and you can get your hair done in a building shaped like a giant tamale. Explore the ghastly streets of Commerce, where one small neighborhood's myriad crimes will shock and surprise. Visit Montebello, for scrumptious milk, egg nog and cookies at Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy washed down with a horrifying case of child murder. All this, and so much more on EAST SIDE BABYLON, Esotouric's exploration of L.A.'s most horrifying forgotten crimes.

And on Halloween day, October 31, Esotouric offers another new tour, MAJA'S MYSTERIES, an exploration of some of L.A.'s most eclectic, historic spiritual sites hosted by Maja D'Aoust, the White Witch of Los Angeles.

Tour creator Kim Cooper says, "After years spent collecting dreadful tales from the east side of the L.A. River, I'm thrilled to unleash them as part of a weekend of Halloween happenings. With Maja's tour on Saturday, we pay proper respect to the mysteries of the universe, and then my Sunday tour is all about wallowing in the dark side and scaring ourselves half to death. And as awful as the crimes are, they happened in such interesting, seldom-seen neighborhoods! I think we've got something for everyone this Halloween weekend, and can't wait to see what ghouls turn up to go exploring with us."

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and event schedule
Thurs Oct 8- Art Walk w/ FREE Hippodrome shuttle, Salons & walking tours
Sat Oct 10 - Wild Wild West Side
Sat Oct 17 ­ Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat Oct 24­ Raymond Chandler's L.A.
Sat Oct 31 ­ Maja's Mysteries spiritual L.A. tour (debut)
Sun Nov 1 ­ East Side Babylon crime bus tour (debut)
Sat Nov 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Thurs Nov 12 - Art Walk w/ FREE Hippodrome shuttle, Salons & walking tours
Sat Nov 14 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat December 5 ­ Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Dec 10 - Art Walk w/ FREE Hippodrome shuttle, Salons & walking tours
Sat December 12 ­ Blood & Dumplings

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

For East Side Babylon (11/1 tour) info, visit
http://www.esotouric.com/eastsidebabylon

For Maja's Mysteries (10/31 tour) info, visit
http://www.esotouric.com/maja