Estouric offers Renyer Banham's L.A. architecture tour

Offbeat South L.A. architecture bus tour featured in Montreal lecture series

"I learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original" -Reyner
Banham, "Architecture of Four Ecologies" (1971)

WHAT: Esotouric presents "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South Los
Angeles" architecture / urbanism bus tour and Richard Schave's tour-inspired
lecture

WHEN: Bus tour is Sunday, June 7 from 11am-4pm; "Learning from... Los
Angeles" lecture at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal on
Thursday, May 28 at 7pm

COST: bus tour costs $58, lecture is free

WHERE: Bus tour departs from Philippe's downtown, tour covers Vernon, Bell
Gardens, Santa Fe Springs, Downey, East L.A.; lecture at Canadian Centre for
Architecture in Montreal

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

LECTURE INFO: http://montrealtalk.notlong.com , 514-939-7000

There is no urban experience as location-based as a guided bus
tour, and yet on May 28, one of L.A.'s most provocative bus tours goes
international, as Esotouric's Richard Schave presents a lecture at
Montreal's prestigious Canadian Centre for Architecture based on his "Reyner
Banham Loves Los Angeles: South Los Angeles" tour. The bus tour itself rolls
on Sunday, June 7.

Turning the notion of an L.A. architecture tour on its ear, Esotouric's
least predictable bus adventure delves deep into the uncharted wonders of
South Los Angeles, where some of the city's most compelling and unexpected
landmarks rub elbows with stucco taquerias and seemingly endless sprawl.

Inspired by the British architectural critic Reyner Banham, who host Richard
Schave studied under at UC Santa Cruz, the four tours in the REYNER BANHAM
LOVES LOS ANGELES series (South LA, Route 66, The New Chinatowns and The
Lowdown On Downtown) offer a fresh way of looking at the urban web of
history, mass transit, migration and mystery that somehow holds L.A.
together.

This Esotouric bus adventure begins downtown and works its way south through
Vernon, Bell Gardens, Santa Fe Springs and Downey, and 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.

Tour stops include:

Pueblo del Rio (1942). The first African-American housing development in LA,
this mass-produced International Style public project was partly designed by
Paul Williams and Richard Neutra.

The Gage Mansion (1808). The oldest adobe structure in L.A. County, this
fascinating home sits in the middle of a 65-year-old trailer park on the
banks of the Rio Hondo River in Bell Gardens. Between the layers of context
at this site is the history of migration and growth in the Southland, from
Spanish land grants to the dust bowl to the vast waves of stucco suburbs.

The Clarke Estate (1919). A recently rediscovered masterpiece by tilt-slab
concrete innovator Irving Gill, this Mission Revival-inspired dwelling
features symbolic leaves pressed into the walls and feels like a time
capsule from a simpler California.

The Downey Space Plant (1929-present). It began as airplane factory carved
out of a castor bean field and grew to be the hub of North American
Aerospace development, before being sold off in pieces in the early 2000s.
Currently it's a motion picture sound stage. Is the only long-term solution
for this awe-inspiring, 160-acre space a vertically-integrated condominium
and retail development?

East Los Angeles Train Station (1932). A prominent location in the 1946 film
"The Postman Always Rings Twice," it was built to deal with congestion and
overcrowding in the existing downtown terminals. Currently a picturesque
Mission-style ruin in the shadow of the wacky Citadel shopping center, will
it rise again as the rail lines reassert themselves?

Johnie's Broiler (1958/2009). A cautionary tale about historic preservation,
this beloved Downey diner with its landmark neon sign was illegally
demolished by a renter who wanted to park use cars in its place. The site
was barred from further commercial use due to public outcry, and is now
being restored as a Bob's Big Boy.

Tropicana Bakery. Downey's most beloved Cuban sandwich and sweet shop,
creators of such temptations as the Choco-Flan, the giant
cake-and-fruit-filled Florentine cookie, and the Flan/Cheesecake layer cake.
Passengers will enjoy a snack and conversation stop in this charming
establishment.

These are just a few of the extraordinary buildings and stories passengers
explore on the South L.A. edition of "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles,"
Esotouric's unique architectural tour series. The tour stops will also be
explored in Richard Schave's May 28 lecture "Learning from... Los Angeles"
at Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and event schedule:
Sat May 23 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs May 28 - Richard Schave lectures at Canadian Centre for Architecture,
Montreal
Sat May 30 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's SoCal Nightmare
Sun June 7 - South LA architecture tour
Thurs June 11 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat June 13 - Vroman's edition: Blood & Dumplings
Sat June 20 - Route 66 architecture tour
Thurs July 9 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat July 11 - Raymond Chandler's LA
Sat July 18 - Charles Bukowski's LA
Sat July 25 ­ John Fante's Dreams from Bunker Hill
Sat Aug 1 - The Real Black Dahlia Saturday
Sat Aug 8 - Pasadena Confidential
Thurs Aug 13 - The Hippodrome (Downtown Art Walk Shuttle, free)
Sat Aug 15 - Blood & Dumplings
Sat Aug 22 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat Aug 29 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown-The
Secret History of LA

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

For more on Richard Schave's lecture about this tour in Montreal, visit
http://montrealtalk.notlong.com

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