Saturday's crime bus tour reveals the weird, horrible and delightful lost histories of Downtown Los Angeles
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Saturday's crime bus tour reveals the weird, horrible and delightful lost histories of Downtown Los Angeles
Gentle reader,
We’re buzzing with excitement about our first Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice tour since the before times, and wanted share a sneak peek at one of the locations we’ll visit tomorrow.
Underneath Skid Row’s oldest bar, in the National Register King Edward Hotel, a Prohibition-era speakeasy was decorated with charming murals of storybook cottages and foaming kegs of beer. When booze became legal again, the speakeasy was turned into storage, with all the original art left intact… though one treasure was recently stolen by sneaks!
We went by earlier today to make sure the lights were working, and shot a wee preview video of just some of the offbeat relics, including the B-Girl Gum Wall, that you’ll see if you sign up to attend Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice.
The tour is something of an old-time double feature, with one half focusing on blood curdling tales of historic murders and mayhem, and the other our attempt to conjure up the lost world of lowlife kicks and weird amusements that could be found on Downtown’s 24 hour carnival midway, Main Street. Both parts show off some of the loveliest time capsule landmarks to be found anywhere in Los Angeles.
Joining us on this tour is crime buddy Joan “Red” Renner, who the ghouls among you will know from her many appearances on true crime television, and her own blog, Deranged L.A. Crimes. She’s got a wonderful tale of trouble at the taxi dance hall to share with you tomorrow.
Plus we’ll spiel all about the Hotel Cecil’s dark lore, a serial killer who hunted vulnerable alcoholics, cocaine fueled mutilation sprees, a man made of stone, a psychedelic outlaw, tattoos that pointed straight to the slammer and the wildest popcorn party ever held on Main Street.
And the tour starts and ends at Grand Central Market, with a street party closing Broadway all day long. So join us, do!
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking and bus tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
• Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 8/26) • Pasadena Confidential Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 9/9) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood Walking Tour (Sat. 9/16) • University Park Walking Tour (Sat. 9/23) • Weird West Adams Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 9/30) • Eastside Babylon Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 10/14) • The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain’s Southern California Nightmare Bus Tour (Sat. 10/21) • The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour (Sat. 10/28) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 Walking Tour (Sun. 10/29) • The Run: Gay Downtown History Walking Tour (Sat. 11/4)
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