Gentle reader,
Here’s something delightful and weird to brighten your day: a mid-century contractor’s building decorated with sweet little critter feet.
It’s a reminder that this city is vast and full of surprises, and when you slow down to really take it in, you’ll be rewarded beyond all expectations.
One reason we love giving walking tours is that no matter how many times we’ve followed (more or less) the same route, every walk has the potential to surprise us, too. Our guests know or notice things we don’t, or the light hits just right and we stop in our tracks, communing with the past.
And we’ve got a bunch of walks newly listed through Christmas week, so we hope you’ll sign up and join us on an adventure into the secret heart of the City we love.
You’ll find us trekking around Charles Bukowski’s Westlake, walking off Christmas dinner with a rare weekday true crime tour, and reuniting with our bomb and arson detective friend Mike Digby to explore the 1910 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times, its investigation and prosecution and how that ghastly crime changed Los Angeles forever.
This Saturday, it’s Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop, a third summer date added by popular demand because so many people have asked to visit the landmark, shuttered Dutch Chocolate Shop. We don’t know when we’ll be offering this tour again, so if you’ve been thinking about it, join us, do!
We don’t presently offer any walking tours in South L.A., but should you wish to visit the H.A. Nichols / Raccoon Building on your own, you’ll find it on Slauson just west of Central. If you’re hungry, visit the burrito bar in Northgate Market on the corner, and have a picnic at Augustus Hawkins Nature Park. Then you’ll be experiencing the city a bit like we do, and if you write back with something cool you discovered, we’d love to hear about it!
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles' past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city's soul and body. 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. You can share this post to win subscriber perks. 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
• Know Your Downtown L.A.: Tunnels To Towers To The Dutch Chocolate Shop (Sat. 8/17) • Broadway: Downtown Los Angeles’ Beautiful, Magical Mess (Sun. 8/25) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 8/31)• Alvarado Terrace & South Bonnie Brae Tract (Sat. 9/7) • Highland Park Arroyo (Sat. 9/21) • The Real Black Dahlia (Sat. 9/29) • The Run: Gay Downtown L.A. History (Sun. 10/13) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (Sun. 10/27) • Westlake Park Time Travel Trip (Sun. 11/3) • The 1910 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times Walking Tour with Detective Mike Digby (Sat. 11/9) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice Downtown L.A. (Sat. 11/16) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake (Sat. 11/23) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (Sat. 12/7) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (Sat. 12/14) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sun. 12/22) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher (Thurs. 12/26)
A South L.A. Oddity: The Raccoon Building