We'll see you on the bus and L.A. sidewalks... and in the Virgin Atlantic cabin, if you fly in May
Gentle reader,
It is our pleasure to share Esotouric’s L.A. history tour schedule through mid-August, including our first bus tours since the world went all screwy in 2020. At last!
In addition to bus tours, we will continue hosting walks. We’ve enjoyed getting to know historic neighborhoods on foot, and hearing from attendees how much they enjoy the opportunity to get their daily steps in, while learning about local history, architecture, true crime and heritage landscapes. So starting in June, you can pick from both types of tour.
And if you happen to be flying on Virgin Atlantic this month, dig into your seat back to find the May issue of Vera monthly magazine, also available online. We’re featured on pages 44-51 with a wonderful feature story about our tours, preservation and affordable housing advocacy. Writer Jessica Prupas and photographer Mathew Scott joined a public tour for the Franklin Village Old Hollywood walk, then enjoyed a private tour of some of our favorite subterranean time capsules in Downtown Los Angeles.
Cavernous old basements can blend together when you’re seeing them for the first time, and the story misidentifies the Prohibition-era speakeasy with its saucy restroom relics as being under the Hotel Barclay (1896). It is actually beneath the King Edward (1906), and you can experience it for yourself on the debut edition of The Run: Gay Downtown History Walk in July.
For The Run and other tours, click below for more info or to sign up. Questions? Let us know!
• All Around the Auto Club West Adams Walk (Saturday, May 13)
• Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 Walk (Saturday, May 27)
• Highland Park Arroyo Walk (Saturday, June 10)
• Bunker Hill’s Modernist Marvels with Nathan Marsak Walk (Saturday, June 17)
• The Real Black Dahlia Bus Tour (Saturday, June 24)
• Echo Park Book of the Dead Bus Tour (Saturday, July 1)
• New! The Run: Gay Downtown History Walk (Saturday, July 8)
•Westlake Park Walk (Saturday, July 15)
• Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles Bus Tour (Saturday, July 22)
• Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue Walk (Saturday, August 5)
• Charles Bukowski’s Los Angeles Bus Tour (Saturday, August 12)
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 walking tours, gift certificates and a souvenir shop you can browse in. Or just share this link with other people who care.
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
Confidential to bungalow court lovers who have clicked around our ever-expanding map dreaming of calling one of these old Hollywood communities home: a rare unit in the gated paradise of 5535 Harold Way is now available!
Horrible news that Suehiro Cafe, the sweetest spot in Little Tokyo, is being displaced by landlord Anthony Sperl for a speculative weed venture. This 51 year old, family owned legacy business deserves so much better, especially since the family that owns the restaurant and the one that owns the building go back so many years.
A troubling Craigslist ad offers free roof tiles from master architect Arthur R. Kelly's National Register eligible El Adobe Market in Hollywood. There are no permits. We informed the Office of Historic Resources, who will try to get an inspector out. Til then, please do not take this tile!
In early 2022, councilman Kevin de Leon's Planning Director Emma Howard asked us if author John Rechy's Cooper's Do-Nuts story was true, as some community members wanted to put up a sign. We shared Nathan Marsak's debunking and suggested instead designating Blanchard Hall, where ONE Magazine and the Mattachine Society fought successfully for gay civil rights in the courts. Today de Leon made a motion to honor a myth. History matters and this is embarrassing!
The landmark nomination for the Cornelius Johnson's Olympic Oak and family residence finally came up for a vote at the PLUM Committee (agenda, hearing audio). Now it's on to full City Council for what will almost certainly be a quick landmarking. Then the house and neglected tree need to find new owners who love them!
We were saddened by the news of a fire fatality in the apartments above the beautiful "Doc" Rosecrans' Broadway Bowling Academy (1928) at 8604 S. Broadway.
Did the L.A. Times put real estate reporter Liam Dillon on the prestigious Sunday morning corpse identification and Yosemite reopening beat in response to Housing is a Human Right’s investigation of his industry bias, including accepting payment to speak at events? (With apologies to those who loved Shalynn Jones, may she rest in peace.)
A tragic and infuriating addition to the L.A. Bungalow Courts map is 5944-50 W. Barton (1927). Now taxpayers are on the hook to fence the blighted lot. The owner is the notorious James Karubian, of 7070 Franklin infamy.
A little birdie shares the stunning Sunfreze ice cream ghost sign exposed when Wally's wine shop on Westwood Blvd. was demolished. This brand was distributed by Western Dairy circa 1933, and Dick Whittington shot the delivery truck! Hoping the new project preserves this treasure.