Esotouric offers twice the crime June 18 and 19

L.A. neighborhoods get the historic crimes they deserve in Esotouric's June crime bus weekend

WHAT: Esotouric, L.A.'s most eclectic tour company, reveals the criminal history of L.A.'s fascinating neighborhoods with the PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL /EAST SIDE BABYLON crime bus tour weekend

WHEN: "Pasadena Confidential with Crimebo the Clown" tour Saturday, June 18, 12-4pm; "East Side Babylon" tour Sunday, June 19, 12pm-4pm

WHERE: "Pasadena Confidential with Crimebo the Clown" departs from Fair Oaks and Arlington Street, Pasadena, CA 91105; "East Side Babylon" tour departs from Cafe Metropol, 923 E. 3rd. Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013

COST: Pasadena Confidential or East Side Babylon tickets $58/person;. Weekend pass for both tours $90/person.

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

Ask the average person to name a true crime location in Los Angeles and you'll hear about Nicole Brown's Brentwood condo, the Manson Murders scene in the Hollywood Hills, the Black Dahlia's disappearance from the Biltmore Hotel or Bugsy Siegel's Beverly Hills death house.

But when the crack researchers of Esotouric, L.A.'s most eclectic bus tour company, go crime hunting, they throw out the map to the stars homes and cast their eye to less glamorous L.A. neighborhoods that prove to be packed with bizarre crime histories. True crime buffs have already heard the famous stories a dozen times before on cable TV, but the forgotten crimes Esotouric digs up are fresh, fascinating and truly chilling. And in mid-June, Esotouric offers a weekend double feature packed with the weirdest crimes ever committed in two of L.A.'s most iconic communities: the old money suburb of Pasadena and the gritty working class neighborhoods on the East Side of the L.A. River.

TOUR #1: First up, on Saturday, June 18, it's Esotouric's popular, occasional PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL WITH CRIMEBO THE CLOWN tour, a true crime bus adventure delving deep into the weird and horrible past of one of L.A.'s most exclusive suburbs. Making a special appearance on this tour: it's Crimebo the Crime Clown capering as only Crimebo can. This is Crimebo's first appearance on the crime bus since he was featured in Daily Candy and gained thousands of new fans.

Crime fiends will enjoy a four-hour guided luxury bus tour to the darkest recesses of Pasadena history, with vintage photos and film clips show to set the scene. From celebrated cases like the Robert Kennedy assassination (Sirhan Sirhan was a local Pasadena resident), "Eraserhead" star Jack Nance's strange end, black magician/rocket scientist Jack Parsons' death-by-misadventure and the 1926 Rose Parade grand stand collapse, to fascinating obscurities, the tour's multitude of murders, arsons, kidnappings, robberies, suicides, auto wrecks and oddball happenings provide an alternate history of Pasadena that's as fascinating as it is creepy.

Crime Bus passengers will tour the old Millionaire's Row on Orange Grove, boggle at the shocking Sphinx Murder on the steps of the downtown Masonic Hall, thrill to the misadventures of one very poorly-behaved (but beautifully dressed!) chimpanzee and discover why people named Judd and rocket scientists should think twice before moving to Pasadena. They'll also enjoy the offbeat charms of Crimebo the Crime Clown as he leads passengers out onto Suicide Bridge for a personal look down into the gorge that tempted dozens of tormented souls to their demise. Riders on this eye-opening, funny and informative tour will forever see Pasadena in a new light. It is highly recommended for natives and newcomers alike, crime and history buffs and anyone who likes to seek out the unexpected.

Tour guide Kim Cooper, who researches and writes all of Esotouric's tru crime tours, says, "I believe every neighborhood gets the crimes it deserves, and Pasadena's dark side is suitably rife with rocket scientists driven mad by their work, wealthy eccentrics spoiling their pet chimps and bears, seemingly respectable families misbehaving behind tall hedges and a general air of genteel psychic decay."

TOUR #2: Then on June 19, a select crew of urban explorers will climb aboard for EAST SIDE BABYLON, the latest addition to Esotouric's popular crime bus tour series. Passengers on this unusual bus adventure 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, eggnog 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 offbeat oddities.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sat May 28 - Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' L.A.
Sun May 29 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon and L.A. Noire walking tour (info at www.lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 4 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat June 18 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour (weekend pass available)
Sun June 19 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour (weekend pass available)
Sun June 26 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat July 9 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat July 16 - Raymond Chandler's L.A.
Sat July 30 - Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release
Sun July 31 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat August 6 - Reyner Banham Loves L.A.: Route 66
Sun August 7 - Reyner Banham Loves L.A.: South L.A.
Sat August 20 - Charles Bukowski's L.A.: Haunts of a Dirty Old Man
Sat August 27 - Reyner Banham Loves L.A.: The Lowdown on Downtown
Sun August 28 - LAVA's free
Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat Sept 10 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat Sept 24 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare
Sun Sept 25 - LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)

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

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