In Loving Memory of LAist (2004-2017) - a local news source, murdered

Gentle reader...

Almost since the word "blog" entered the vernacular—1999, if you're keeping track—young L.A. writers have been chronicling the pulse of the city at LAist.com, finding a voice and building up their clips before spinning off to take (usually) paying gigs.

You never knew what you'd find when visiting the site, but could always count on a passionate take on things worth noting in the city we love. LAist could inspire you to take a detour, discover a new artist, eat something strange, submit a story, think.

And in 2005, Adrienne Crew conducted the best Q&A ever about Kim's & Nathan Marsak's 1947project time travel blog, helping us conceive of the multifaceted cultural mission that would become Esotouric.

After a few sleepy years, LAist had recently become, under Editor-in-Chief Julia Wick, a bold news source, breaking important political stories that resonated far beyond the reach of the L.A. blogosphere.

Unfortunately, LAist was just one site in a hyper-local news network that sometimes critiqued a Chicago billionaire named Joe Ricketts. And because suing to try to suppress accurate reporting just draws attention to it, old man Ricketts simply bought the network from its founders. In March, as his check cleared, those embarrassing stories vanished from the web. Then last week, miffed by an attempt by the New York staff to unionize, he shut the whole network down, deleting years of archives and replacing them with his own petulant op-ed. For the first time, clicking LAist.com returned a passionate take that made us wish we could dunk the writer in a tank of ice water.

If you'd like to know more about what happened and why it matters, we recommend Julia Wick's fine piece on the sudden shutdown and her editorial philosophy, summed up as "If we thought something was meaningful—even to an extremely small contingent of people—we published it."

The most important thing to note is that this was a profitable model, and we have faith it will return in some form, perhaps as a writer-owned collective, safe from meddling hands. But for now it's Farewell, LAist, and thanks for everything. (Thanks, too, to the Internet Archive, which preserves a copy of the site.) Let's not say goodbye forever, but until we meet again.

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Have you been thinking about joining us on The Lowdown on Downtown in January? Word is out about the rare opportunity to visit Ernest Batchelder's Dutch Chocolate Shop and the bus is filling up. Book soon to avoid disappointment. And back by popular demand in February, we've scheduled a second edition of the sold out Two Days in South LA: The 1974 SLA Shootout tour, and this time author Brad Schreiber is joined by Detective Mike Digby for even more lost 1970s revolutionary crime lore!

We're back on the bus this Saturday with Eastside Babylon, perhaps our most unhinged crime tour, with colorful historic preservation lore and a landmark Evergreen Cemetery stroll to boot. Join us, do!

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RECENTLY TOURED

The most beautiful place to view the Los Angeles sunset might be the balcony at Bob Hope Patriotic Hall.

LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 3/4

Four times a year, we gather in the teaching crime labs of Cal State L.A. to explore the history and future of American forensic science. On March 4, 2018, join us for Wrongful Convictions: Investigatory Case Studies from the California Innocence Project. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research.

RECOMMENDED READING

Martin Turnbull isn't a native Angeleno, but his passion for our cultural history and built environment have earned him honorary status. The Red Scare-themed Tinseltown Confidential is #7 in his Garden of Allah novel series, tracking a trio of ambitious youngsters through the trenches of 20th century Hollywood success. Coming soon: City of Myths. Start at the beginning (for free) and get caught up on a time travel trip you might not want to end.

COMING SOON

EASTSIDE BABYLON - SAT. 11/11... Go East, young ghoul, to Boyle Heights, where the Night Stalker was captured and to Evergreen, L.A.'s oldest cemetery. To East L.A., where a deranged radio shop employee made mince meat of his boss and bride in the shadow of the world's biggest tamale. To Commerce, where one small neighborhood's myriad crimes will shock and surprise. To Montebello, scene of a horrifying case of child murder. That's Eastside Babylon, our most unhinged crime bus tour. (Buy tickets here.)

CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S L.A. - SAT. 11/18... Come explore Charles Bukowski's lost Los Angeles and the fascinating contradictions that make this great local writer such a hoot to explore. Haunts of a Dirty Old Man is a raucous day out celebrating liquor, ladies, pimps and poets. The tour includes a visit to Buk's DeLongpre bungalow, where you'll see the Cultural-Historic Monument sign that we helped to get approved, and a mid-tour provisions stop at Pink Elephant Liquor. New: souvenir Bukowski's L.A. booklet available. (Buy tickets here.)

SPECIAL EVENT: RICHARD'S BIRTHDAY BUS - IN SEARCH OF IMPERIAL CALIFORNIA - SAT. 11/25... Join us for a full day exploring the the history, landscape and built environment of Irvine, Lake Forest, Norwalk and Downey. From ancient eucalyptus groves to historic psychiatric institutions to the mid-century master plans of William Pereira (this portion led by architect and historian Alan Hess) to delicious birthday cake, it's bound to be an illuminating bus adventure. (Learn more about this one-time-only tour, or reserve your spot, here.)

PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 12/2... 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. 12/9... 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.)

THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 1/6... Our traditional first tour of the year, which falls on or near the anniversary of Beth Short's kidnapping. 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 usually sells out, so don't wait to reserve. (Buy tickets here.)

RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LOS ANGELES - SAT. 1/13... 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 (1/20), The Lowdown on Downtown (1/27), Special Event: Two Days in South LA: The 1974 SLA Shootout (2/10).

OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST

In Episode #122: Bunker Hill & The French Village: Two Lost Los Angeles Neighborhoods Taken By Eminent Domain, two stories of families torn from the places they loved, and the memories that survive. Plus another Pereira in Peril, Ports O' Call shopkeepers & more. Click here to tune in. New: find stories on the map!

AND FINALLY, LINKS

A groovy Eastside tidbit from the Sesame Street archives. That's old Brooklyn Avenue in Boyle Heights.

He's coming, Los Angeles. Put a bloody red claw print on the calendar (12/2) for The Krampus Ball at Alpine Village.

A modern day Hardy Boy sleuths the mystery of the maker of the peristyle mural at Memorial Coliseum.

Scenes from a fascinating day spent in the teaching crime lab, studying 1970s-era crime through a 21st century lens.

The most beautiful hospital in Long Beach, a city landmark, threatened with closure due to new seismic standards. (Yet it survived the ’33 quake.) We hope the fine buildings can be repurposed.

The historic tax credit is too precious to lose.

The wait may soon be over for a meal in Union Station's historic Harvey House.

Road trip? The little Arizona town of Casa Grande is aiming to become a vintage neon destination.

Before Grand Central Market was sold, a tenant leased the Million Dollar Theater. Their plans are mysterious.

Once again, Union Rescue Mission delivers shelter and services where they're most needed. 200 beds for single women, in a big tent! So why can’t the city do this?

Meet Chipped Stone Bear, the Official California State Prehistoric Artifact. It must have been a thrill to find.

Now a city landmark, but still threatened with demolition, the derelict Hollywood Reporter Building needs a break.

If the past is another country, the ceramics of Schafer and Vater are that country's Mars.

yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric