Esotouric offers Reyner Banham and Route 66 tours in August

Staycation alert: Esotouric's August bus tour weekend reveals the retro
jewels in L.A.'s backyard

WHAT: Esotouric's summer architecture and urbanism tour series, REYNER
BANHAM LOVES L.A., packs the August 6-7 weekend with ROUTE 66 (8/6,
11am-3pm) and SOUTH L.A. (8/7, 11am-3pm)

WHERE/WHEN: ROUTE 66 departs 11am from Cafe Metropol, 923 E. 3rd. Street,
Downtown; SOUTH L.A. departs from Philippe The Original, 1001 N. Alameda,
Chinatown

COST: $58/person, or just $45 with a weekend pass (see below)
WEEKEND TOUR PACKAGES: Enjoy two days of architectural Los Angeles bus
tourism, and save with a weekend pass ($90, regularly $116) , details at the
link below:
http://esotouric.com/route66-soutla-weekend-may-11

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

Savvy travelers know that the most incredible adventures are often found close to home. This August (Saturday, August 6 and Sunday, August 7), join Esotouric, the offbeat bus adventure company whose tours reveal the secret heart of Los Angeles, as they host twin excursions deep
into the city's most fascinating crannies: along ROUTE 66 in the San Gabriel Valley, and out into the history-drenched zones of SOUTH L.A. Both tours depart from downtown.

ABOUT THE ROUTE 66 TOUR (August 6):
It's a common misconception that ROUTE 66 only gets interesting in Arizona.
But when Esotouric's Route 66 bus tour departs from downtown Los Angeles,
passengers are in for a four-hour tour packed with stunning retro jewels
plucked from L.A.'s own backyard. ROUTE 66 only exists today in small
fragments, but many of the unique attractions that dotted its length survive
and flourish today. Get on the bus to explore the real Southland, as no one
but Esotouric's Richard Schave can reveal it. Richard's unique expertise on
unknown Los Angeles has seen him as a featured guide on television's "Globe
Trekker" (Grand Central Market) and "Cities of the Underworld" (downtown's
prohibition-era tunnels) and speaking at the Canadian Centre for
Architecture and Hammer Museum.

The ROUTE 66 tour explores California's
original mass transit corridor and the building of its dream, from climate
to citrus industry, Kalifornia Krazy architectural novelties to bucolic
bungalows. Highlights in this edition of ROUTE 66 include a tour of E. WALDO
WARD FARM (the oldest surviving commercial citrus facility in LA, where
passengers can buy scrumptious preserves and almond-filled olives to take
home), a stroll through Robert Stacy Judd's 1924 masterpiece THE AZTEC HOTEL
(and yes, it's haunted), a swing around the homes of the feuding SLAUSON
SISTERS tucked among vast cleared fields awaiting new development (hidden
gems of Azusa lore and family dynamics, and a reminder of how fragile
ecologies fall to the incessant crush of progress).

Passengers will also
tour the seldom-seen Civil War-era FAIRMOUNT CEMETERY and view the evocative
BUNGALOWS of old Monrovia accompanied by host Richard Schave's lively
rendition of a vintage bungalow booster tune.

ABOUT THE SOUTH L.A. TOUR (August 7):
Architecture critic Reyner Banham called them "The Plains of Id"‹those vast,
uncharted flatlands between the freeways of Los Angeles, home to millions of
L.A. residents but rarely talked about unless something extraordinary
happens--like the recent scandal over outrageous city salaries in poor, tiny
Bell. But to Esotouric, The Plains of Id are among the most fascinating
parts of Los Angeles, deserving more attention than a brief, scandalous
blip. And with their SOUTH L.A. tour, they delve deep into the uncharted
wonders of two centuries of history through the neglected neighborhoods
where some of the city's most compelling and unexpected landmarks rub elbows
with stucco taquerias and seemingly endless sprawl.

The tour rolls through VERNON (the controversial zone of industry with a lively Prohibition-era
past), SANTA FE SPRINGS (a bucolic retreat destroyed when oil was discovered
-- but not before Irving Gill built one of the most beautiful and
little-known houses in Southern California, THE CLARKE ESTATE), BELL GARDENS
(site of GOVERNOR GAGE'S MANSION, a boggling architectural layer cake of an
adobe-wrapped-in-a-Victorian-wrapped-in-a-trailer-park), EAST L.A. (site of
THE EAST LOS ANGELES TRAIN STATION, important in the history of Southland
rail transit) and DOWNEY (home of the Carpenters, Kustom Kar Kulture and the
newly restored JOHNIE'S BROILER / BOB'S BIG BOY DRIVE-IN, as featured in Tom
Wolfe's "The Pump House Gang"). The SOUTH L.A. Esotouric bus adventure
begins downtown and works its way south through the past two centuries,
exploring some of L.A.'s seldom-seen gems. The bus goes into areas not
traditionally associated with the important, beautiful or significant,
raising issues of preservation, adaptive reuse and the evolution of the city
from Spanish ranchos to the 'burbs. The locations all speak to the power,
mutability and reach of the Southern California Dream.

ABOUT THE REYNER BANHAM LOVES L.A. TOUR SERIES:
In addition to the upcoming SOUTH L.A. and ROUTE 66 tours, Esotouric's
ongoing architecture and urbanism tour series includes THE NEW CHINATOWNS,
BOYLE HEIGHTS and THE LOWDOWN ON DOWNTOWN. Inspired by the British
architectural critic Reyner Banham, who host Richard Schave studied under at
UC Santa Cruz, the REYNER BANHAM LOVES LOS ANGELES series offers a fresh way
of looking at the urban web of history, mass transit, migration and mystery
that somehow holds L.A. together. The Reyner Banham Loves LA series of
Esotouric bus adventures provides fresh ways of seeing the Southland and
mingling with fascinating fellow travelers, and are a must for urban
explorers, architecture buffs, curious locals, daring tourists, and anyone
who enjoys turning over rocks to reveal the secrets beneath. Come ride and
see for yourself.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sat July 9 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour (SOLD OUT ­ repeats 10/1)
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 www.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)
Sat Oct 1- The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour

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

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