Esotouric ot offer James M. Cain noir bus tour June 16

Father's Day Special: L.A. bus tour traces film noir's path from James M.
Cain's fiction to the screen

WHAT: Father's Day weekend edition of Esotouric's The Birth of Noir: James
M. Cain's Southern California Nightmare tour

WHEN: Saturday June 16, 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

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: Birth of Noir host Richard Schave presents a free LAVA
tour of Pio Pico's historic Whittier Adobe El Ranchito on Sunday at 1pm. For
details or to reserve http://lavatransforms.org/elranchito

This Father's Day weekend, why not take dad on a guided tour of
the dark side of American letters as Esotouric offers its occasional BIRTH
OF NOIR bus adventure?

ABOUT THE TOUR: 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"
(coming to HBO as a new Todd Haynes-directed mini-series starring Kate
Winslet in Spring 2011) 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 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 Lana
Turner. "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 Esotouric's Richard Schave, the tour departs from downtown L.A.'s
historic produce district, in honor of the doomed Frank Chambers, who found
love, death and day labor work toting fruit boxes in "The Postman Always
Rings Twice."

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)
*Thurs May 17 - Union Rescue Mission Walking Tour: 121 years on Skid Row
(info at lavatransforms.org)
*Thurs May 17 - Of Scrap & Steel: free rooftop screening of rare 1949 color
film (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat May 19 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sun May 20 ­ Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
*Sun May 27 - The Flâneur & The City: Dutch Chocolate Shoppe Redux (info at
lavatransforms.org)
*Sun May 27 - The Flâneur & The City: Hill Street walking tour (info at
lavatransforms.org)
*Mon May 28 - Savannah Cemetery tour (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 2 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown
Sun June 3 - Crime lab seminar: The Killer Behind the Camera (info at
lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 9 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice
Sat June 16 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California
Nightmare
*Sun June 17 - El Ranchito: Tour of Pio Pico's Historic Whittier Adobe (info
at lavatransforms.org)
Sat June 23 - Weird West Adams
Sat July 14 - Pasadena Confidential (weekend pass available)
Sun July 15 - Eastside Babylon (weekend pass available)
Mon July 23- The LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank: Dorothy Parker & F. Scott
Fitzgerald (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat July 28 - The Real Black Dahlia
Sat August 4 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66 (weekend pass
available)
Sun August 5 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South LA (weekend pass
available)
Sat August 11 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat August 18 - Haunts of A Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's Los Angeles
Sat August 25 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Boyle Heights & The San
Gabriel Valley

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