May You Live in Interesting Times... in California edition

Gentle reader...

Call us corny, but we're so looking forward to celebrating the season with our friends at the Esotouric holiday party at historic Lummis House on Sunday, December 18. Space is limited for this free event, so you'll want to RSVP ASAP!

Will we see you next Sunday, December 11, in the teaching crime labs of Cal State Los Angeles for the latest LAVA forensic science seminar? The Spider-Man Bandit & The Artificial Human Head: Breakthroughs in Crime Scene Investigation promises to be an eye-opening experience.

Through Christmas Eve, you can take advantage of a special sale on Esotouric gift certificates with deep discounts on bus adventures into the secret heart of LA when purchased in bulk. Also available, themed packages for fans of Raymond Chandler and Charles Bukowski, and copies of our newest guidebook, How To Find Old Los Angeles. Orders are coming in from all over the globe, proving you don't have to live here to love Los Angeles (but it helps).

We're back on the bus this Saturday with Pasadena Confidential, a wild crime bus adventure featuring an all-new stop at the iconic Pasadena Playhouse, which turns 99 this year. Join us, do!

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RECENTLY TOURED

On Richard's birthday bus adventure, we closed a day of South Bay discovery with a visit to a Wilmington dive bar possessed of some remarkable artwork.

LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 12/11 & 1/22

Four times a year, we gather in the teaching crime labs of Cal State Los Angeles under the direction of Professor Donald Johnson to explore the history and future of American forensic science. On December 11, 2016 join us for The Spider-Man Bandit & The Artificial Human Head: Breakthroughs in Crime Scene Investigation. Track a fearless cat burglar/killer through the decades, as his 1970s-era crimes are exposed when the cold case unit tests old DNA. Then learn about new research in blunt force injury, with a chance to perform a hands-on assault on a head built for breaking. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. For more info, click here. Then on January 22, 2017, arson detective Ed Nordskog shares his most fascinating recent case, The Hollywood Fire Devil. Click here to reserve.

RECOMMENDED READING

New from our Kim Cooper and U.K. travel guide mavens Herb Lester is How To Find Old Los Angeles, a glove box companion for urban time travelers. Included within are 153 historic sites where you can eat, drink, wander and fall in love with our city's rich and often oddball history. Let Kim be your guide as you stamp your Angeleno's passport with giant donuts, notable neon, shadowy dive bars and secret gardens. Available as a souvenir on our bus tours or by mail, and wherever fine paperbacks are sold.

COMING SOON

PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 12/3... The Crown City masquerades as a calm and refined retreat, where well-bred ladies glide around their perfect bungalows and everyone knows what fork to use first. But don't be fooled by appearances. Dip into the confidential files of old Pasadena and meet assassins and oddballs, kidnappers and slashers, black magicians and all manner of maniac in a delightful little tour you won't find recommended by the better class of people. (Buy tickets here.)

HOTEL HORRORS & MAIN STREET VICE - SAT. 12/10... Through the 1940s, downtown was the true city center, a lively, densely populated, exciting and sometimes dangerous place. But while many of the historic buildings remain, their human context has been lost. This downtown double feature tour is meant to bring alive the old ghosts and memories that cling to the streets and structures of the historic core, and is especially recommended for downtown residents curious about their neighborhood's neglected history. (Buy tickets here.)

FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR AT CAL STATE LOS ANGELES - SUN. 12/11... Professor Donald Johnson hosts The Spider-Man Bandit & The Artificial Human Head: Breakthroughs in Crime Scene Investigation. Track a fearless cat burglar/killer through the decades, as his 1970s-era crimes are exposed when the cold case unit tests old DNA. Then learn about new research in blunt force injury, with a chance to perform a hands-on assault on a head built for breaking. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. (Buy tickets here.)

ESOTOURIC'S HOLIDAY PARTY - SUN. 12/18... A potluck and mixer at historic Lummis House in Highland Park. Free with RSVP.

THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 1/7... Join us on this iconic, unsolved Los Angeles murder mystery tour, from the throbbing boulevards of a postwar Downtown to the quiet suburban avenue where horror came calling. After multiple revisions, this is less a true crime tour than a social history of 1940s Hollywood female culture, mass media and madness, and we welcome you to join us for the ride. This tour always sells out, so don't wait to reserve. (Buy tickets here.)

RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LOS ANGELES - SAT. 1/14... Follow in the young writer's footsteps near his downtown oil company offices to sites from The Lady in the Lake and The Little Sister, meet several real inspirations for the Philip Marlowe character and get the skinny on Chandler's secret comic operetta that we discovered in the Library of Congress nearly a century after it was written. Plus a stop at Scoops for noirish gelato creations and a visit to Larry Edmunds Bookshop. (Buy tickets here.)

Additional upcoming tours: The Birth of Noir (1/21), The Lowdown on Downtown (1/28), South L.A. Road Trip (2/5), Special Event: Two Days in South LA: The 1974 SLA Shootout (2/11), Boyle Heights & The San Gabriel Valley (2/18) and Weird West Adams (2/25).

OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST

Episode #115, Hollywood Book Culture & Downtown’s Chimney Swifts, we talk about the golden age of bookshops with film historian Bob Birchard, then visit the Ornithology section of the Natural History Museum for an insider's look at Vaux' swifts, tiny travelers who nest in landmarks. Click here to tune in. New: find stories on the map!

AND FINALLY, LINKS

PLUM Committee admits something very weird is happening to stymie preservation of mid-century modern landmark Lytton Savings. Could it be $$$?!

No billboard blight at the National Register streamline moderne Hollywood High School campus.

Sign the petition to save the historic Old Ridge Route Road, accidentally vacated by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

The Mayfair Hotel, site of some of Raymond Chandler’s wildest benders, is getting a long overdue face lift.

Remembering Daniel Crespo, who reached out to us seeking an answer for the hauntings that plagued his unhappy home. His wife pleaded out to his killing this week.

Wilshire Boulevard’s mysterious Masonic Temple to open to the public after all. We just hope the interior is restored rather than modernized.

yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric