Esotouric's Blood & Dumplings tour to include San Gabriel mayor

San Gabriel mayor's dumpling fight added to weird crime history tour Blood & Dumplings

WHAT: Esotouric's Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour of the San Gabriel Valley

WHEN: Saturday, November 20, 2010, 12pm-4pm

WHERE: Tour departs from Lincoln Heights/Cypress Gold Line Metro station, 370 W. Ave 26, LA, CA 90031

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

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

On Saturday, November 20, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric presents its most bizarre true crime and cultural history tour, BLOOD & DUMPLINGS. The tour celebrates a surprising side of Los Angeles history not found in tour books.

Newly added to the November 2010 edition of BLOOD & DUMPLINGS is the bizarre recent incident in which San Gabriel's mayor Albert Huang was pelted with hot dumplings by a woman not his wife, retaliated with a splash of vinegar, then sped away with the woman's purse while she clung to the side of his SUV. Mr. Huang is no longer Mayor of San Gabriel, but receives the dubious honor of joining many other outrageous and poorly behaved San Gabriel Valley denizens in Esotouric's most demented crime bus tour, BLOOD AND DUMPLINGS.

Starting from the premise that the secret heart of Southern California's weirdo pop culture beats strongest in the Eastern San Gabriel Valley, the tour introduces passengers to such fascinating local characters as the costumed Man from Mars Bandit, eccentric record producer and ladykiller Phil Spector, lion farmers Charles and Muriel Gay, and DIY filmmaking icon Timothy Carey, whose notorious "The World's Greatest Sinner" was shot onlocation 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 Los Angeles. Crime Bus passengers will discover notorious, strange, fascinating and 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 hippie-era 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 famous lion farm (home to every MGM lion) that served lion meat BBQ 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 and the original "little girl down a well" 1940s television sensation. 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

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sun Oct 31 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon & Ghost Hunt (info at www.lavatransforms.org)
Sat Nov 6 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place
Sun Nov 7 - CSULA crime lab tour (info at www.lavatransforms.org)
Sat Nov 13 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sat Nov 20 ­ Blood & Dumplings Crime Bus Tour
Sun Nov 28 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat Dec 4 - Pasadena Confidential with Crimebo the Clown
Sat Dec 11 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sun Dec 26- LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at www.lavatransforms.org)

2011 schedule coming soon!

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

Esotouric's Richard Schave , Kim Cooper and Joan Renner are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org