Announcing fall tours: Alvarado Terrace & South Bonnie Brae Tract, Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue, plus Halloween at Evergreen Cemetery and a free El Pino webinar tonight

Gentle reader,

When we get into a creative groove, we’d just as soon make a canyon as a stream bed. So instead of repeating the walking tours we’ve launched over the past few months, we’re still writing new ones…

Except for Halloween Saturday (October 29) that is, when we’ll return to Evergreen Cemetery for a second spooky stroll through the city’s biggest, oldest and most eclectic burial ground, a graveyard that represents in its 300,000+ monuments the mix of cultures and pioneering spirit that is uniquely Los Angeles. And there’s just something a little weirder about the people who settle here, and we’ll share some of those stories, too. This tour was an absolute blast when we gave it in June, and we’d love to see you there.

Just announced for Saturday, October 22 is a tour we conceived of while hashing out the route for the Westlake Park walk. There are two exquisite National Register historic districts not far from the lake that are so rich in beauty and offbeat history we felt they deserved a tour of their own. Come join us on a time travel trip to Alvarado Terrace & the South Bonnie Brae Tract, and the commercial corridors that connect them, for a stroll packed with a colorful cast of self-dealing politicians, crooked cops, gay physique photographers, cult leaders, civil rights activists, wild teens, do-gooders and lost souls whose stories will stick with you.

Then on Saturday, November 12, we’ll take a trek through the early streetcar suburb Angelino Heights to discover stunning architecture, curious characters, relics of horse-and-buggy era infrastructure and some of the prettiest crime scenes in town. And when you pull back the curtain on the neighborhood’s time capsule perfection, there’s a tale of artifice, activism and community driven preservation that’s one of the great Los Angeles stories, taking inspiration from the gorgeous, nostalgic illustrations of neighbor Leo Politi. Plus, a somewhat shocking mid-century modern landmark nestled among the Victorians.

And this Saturday, October 1, we’ll gather in the shadow of Hollywood’s tiny Taj Mahal, Vedanta, for the debut of the Franklin Village Old Hollywood Time Travel Trip, a slightly more hilly stroll than usual which will take us to the heights of spiritual ascension and down into the flats for weird tales from the dark side of the dream factory. To learn more about Saturday’s tour, or book your spot, click here.

We hope to see you on one of these immersive cultural history walks. And if you can’t wait until tour time, tune in tonight at 7pm for El Pino in Peril, #4 in a free series of webinars about current historic preservation issues that need your help, as tree expert Dr. Don Hodel pays a visit to the famous El Pino in East Los Angeles and declares the politically connected redevelopment plan for the site a no go, for the health of the century old Bunya Pine tree, or for any human being standing underneath it. But there is a way to save the great tree. Join us live, or later on demand, to be part of that preservation effort.

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 on demand, in-person walking tours, gift certificates and a souvenir shop you can browse in. Or just share this link with other people who care.