Esotouric offers James M. Cain bus tour

L.A. Bus Tour Traces Film Noir's Path from James M. Cain's Fiction to the
Screen

WHAT: Esotouric's The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California
Nightmare tour
WHEN: Saturday January 26, 12pm-4pm
WHERE: Departing from The Daily Dose, 1820 Industrial St., Los Angeles, CA
90021
COST: $58/person, includes coffee and cookies
TOUR INFO: http://www.esotouric.com, 213-373-1947

 Southern California, 1931: Musing over fresh urban sprawl atop
bulldozed orange groves and the bitter realization that you can't eat the
sunshine, newly arrived writer James M. Cain found a kernel of truth and his
voice. That voice would become the dominant note in the development of a
unique American genre, Film Noir, which spawned the abiding Los Angeles myth
of the solitary, relentless detective.

THE BIRTH OF NOIR is a four-hour luxury bus tour celebrating 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 shaped 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, Skid Row and the low
rent 'burbs of Glendale are as provocative today as they were seventy years
ago.

The tour also covers the gifted people who transformed Cain's tales into
movies, among them Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, Joan Crawford and Luchino
Visconti. "The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare"
is a complex portrait of a fascinating character who was seduced and
transformed 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 Richard Schave, curator of the LAVA Literary Salon at Musso &
Frank named "Best of L.A." by Los Angeles Magazine, 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 the actual "Mildred Pierce" house,
the Glendale Train Station where the "Double Indemnity" murder plot played
out, and the punch line to a Billy Wilder joke so subtle, it's taken six
decades for anyone to get. Get on the bus to share in the laughter and the
pathos of Cain's Southern California.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule (free events starred)
Sat January 26 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California
Nightmare
Sat Feb 2 -  Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66 (weekend pass
available)
Sun Feb 3 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South LA (weekend pass
available)
Sat Feb 16 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown
Sat Feb 23 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Boyle Heights & the San
Gabriel Valley
Sat March 2 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
*Sat March 9 ­ Behind the Scenes tour of the Southwest Museum (info at
lavatransforms.org)
Sat March 16 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour (weekend pass available)
Sun March 17 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour (weekend pass available)
Sat March 23 - Weird West Adams  crime bus tour
Sat April 6 - John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill (weekend pass available)
Sun April 7 - Charles Bukowski's LA (weekend pass available)
Sat April 13 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California
Nightmare
Sat April 20 - SPECIAL EVENT: Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' LA
Sun April 21 - Crime lab seminar: Insights in Criminal Investigation and the
Secret World of Street Gangs with Nick Guskos (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat April 27 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat May 4 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 18 -  Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles

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

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