Esotouric

"This bus tour... has established itself as an L.A. classic." -The Los Angeles Times

The Black Dahlia murder in 1947 is the most compelling unsolved crime Los Angeles has ever known. What Jack the Ripper is to London, the Torso Killer to Cleveland, the Black Dahlia is to L.A. And yet unlike those other cases, the name Black Dahlia refers not to the killer, but to the victim. What was it about Elizabeth Short that keeps her the object of obsessive fascination by writers, musicians, artists, filmmakers, cops and readers, more than sixty years after she was slain?

The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour seeks to answer this question by intimately exploring the last weeks of Elizabeth Short's life, asking not "who killed her?" but "who was she?"

The tour takes us from the human hustle of Main Street to the serene lobby of the Biltmore (the second-to-last place she was seen alive), to the newspaper offices and the Greyhound station where she checked her bags, and concludes at the site where her bisected body was found in Leimert Park and with a little known suspect who lived nearby.

From the few personal possessions she left behind to the friends who scarcely knew her, from the mass hysteria of the investigation with its fruitless leads, wacko suspects and false confessions, the tour reveals all that's known about this enigmatic black-haired girl who reinvented herself at whim, and shows how she came to be the unfortunate symbol of her time and place.

For the first time, the true crime archeologists of the 1947project have set their sights on points west of Robertson, and the results are truly astonishing. In this new tour spotlighting some of the weirdest, most horrific and downright unbelievable crimes of historic West Los Angeles, you’ll thrill and shudder to tales of teenage girl gangs, tortured tots, wicked wives, evil spirits, cults, creeps and assorted maniacs on a tour so wild, we had to say it twice.

On this tour, you'll meet Weird Ward, the boy husband of the nefarious cult leader who made her followers carry their mummified daughter all across 1920s L.A. You'll meet the peculiar Helen Love, who nearly escaped justice when she willed herself into a coma during her very odd murder trial. Along the Venice shore you'll see where a pair of real life witches tortured their own Hansels and Gretels for decades as neighbors pretended not to hear their cries, and visit the grand hotel that was formally a flop house for ex-junkies in the Synanon Cult. Wild Wild West Side offers a new way of looking at West Los Angeles, and a tour recommended for residents, tourists and anyone who likes to explore the unexpected.

Esotouric is thrilled to announce a very special tour for everyone seeking some blood, guts and swagger in their Christmas week: "James Ellroy Digs L.A."

Passengers on “James Ellroy Digs L.A.” will accompany the author on an uncensored time travel journey to tony Hancock Park, where he stalked his teenage classmates and later broke into houses. . . to the Hollywood flats to explore some of the heinous 1950s murder cases that fascinated him as a youth and continue to feed his obsessions. . . and out to El Monte, where his mother Geneva was murdered, the unsolved crime that runs through all his work, from “The Black Dahlia” to “My Dark Places.”

We are unable to honor any of our regular tour discounts (including KCRW or Season Passes) on special event tour.

From the founding of the city through the 1940s, downtown was the true center of Los Angeles, a lively, densely populated, exciting and sometimes dangerous place. After many quiet decades, downtown is making an incredible return. But while many of the historic buildings remain, their human context has been lost.

This downtown double feature tour, hosted by Kim Cooper, Joan Renner and Richard Schave, 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.

The Hotel Horrors portion is a true crime and oddities tour featuring some of the wildest, weirdest, goriest and most memorable happenings in historic hotels like the Alexandria, Rosslyn, Barclay and Cecil. Get on the bus to see inside some of these legendary locales and find out where Night Stalker Richard Ramirez liked to stay and the hotel that saw a visit from the Skid Row Slasher, plus which hotel was the choice of Columbian drug mules with cocaine in their platform shoes, what lobby hosted a small scale anarchist riot and where two traveling chocolate salesmen laughed so hard they fell backwards out a window to their deaths. Plus, you'll learn the truth about the myth that Beth "The Black Dahlia" Short was last seen alive at the Biltmore and explore the fiery curse that repeatedly leveled the St. George Hotel. Also included are some light hearted stories to help the blood and gore go down.

The Main Street Vice portion is a social history tour celebrating the ribald, racy, raunchy old promenade where the better people simply did not travel, but kicks were had by all who did. Burlesque babes and dirty picture parlors, mummified western outlaws and old time tattoo parlors, wax museums and pawn brokers, "professors" offering sex lectures and magazine peddlers with nudie Marilyn Monroe calendars under the counter, sophisticated steak houses and nickel donut dives -- these were the pleasures and the people to be found along Main during the first half of the 20th century, a street that every Angeleno knew offered more (yet less) of what could be seen anywhere else. On this tour, we'll visit the scenes of some more unforgettable debaucheries and share stories of crime, smut, passion and commerce.

Climb aboard for a time travel journey back to the downtown that's not there anymore, and the surprising amount of gems that survive.

A criminal and gastronomical excursion into the San Gabriel Valley, Blood & Dumplings rolls through Alhambra, Temple City, Monterey Park, Rosemead and El Monte, revealing dozens of weird, forgotten crimes and oddities from the valley's past. Highlights include the mysterious Man from Mars Bandit, the lesbian couple whose bickering over spending cash resulted in one pumping the other full of downers until she died, the young bride who spent her wedding day buried under her parents' house, the battling neo-Nazis of El Monte, Phil Spector's spooky castle and the little bar where James Ellroy's murdered mother Jean had her last drink. The tour includes a selection of dumplings from one of the San Gabriel Valley's best Chinese restaurants.(Vegetarian passengers, please let us know your food preference several days before we depart.) If using a gift certificate, please note that this tour has an additional $5 dumpling fee, payable in cash or check at the bus door.

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 with our special guest, Crimebo the Clown, and meet assassins and oddballs, kidnappers and slashers, Satanists and all manner of maniac in a delightful little tour you WON'T find recommended by the better class of people! From celebrated cases like the RFK assassination (with a visit to Sirhan Sirhan's folks' house), "Eraserhead" star Jack Nance's strange end, black magician/rocket scientist Jack Parsons' death-by-misadventure and the 1926 Rose Parade grand stand collapse, to fascinating obscurities, the tour's dozens of murders, arsons, kidnappings, robberies, suicides, auto wrecks and oddball happening sites provide a alternate history of Pasadena that's as fascinating as it is creepy. Passengers will tour the old Millionaire's Row on Orange Grove, thrill to the shocking Sphinx Murder on the steps of the downtown Masonic Hall and discover why people named Judd should think twice before moving to Pasadena.

On this tour through the Beverly Hills of the early 20th Century, passengers thrill to the carjacking horror of silent film starlet Myrtle Gonzalez, shiver as Dream Killer Otto Parzyjegla chops his newspaper publisher boss to pieces with the paper-cutting blade, marvel at the Krazy Kafitz family and their litany of murder-suicides, attempted husband slayings, Byzantine estate battles and mad bombings, then gag at terrible fate visited on kidnap victim Marion Parker by The Fox. There will be some celebrity sites along the route, including the death scenes of Motown soul sensation Marvin Gaye and 1920s star Angels baseball catcher Gus Sandberg. And the architecture too is to die for.

The most grisly Crime Bus tour, this seasonal confection rolls from Echo Park to the San Fernando Valley and back through Hollywood, stopping at the sites of the weirdest and most disgusting crimes in LA's history, and a few with a Halloween theme. Halloween Horrors features lurid crime scene photos and more sick jokes per mile than the other Crime Bus tours, and is the only no-kids-allowed tour on the schedule. Vintage crime scene photos are featured, with passengers urged to BYOBB (bring your own barf bag), always a smart idea when Crimebo the Crime Clown is in attendance.

Ghost Hosts Kim Cooper and Richard Schave have dug into the archives to uncover such terrible tales as the lady dope dealer left with her eyes gouged out on Echo Park's Lovers' Lane, the one-time silent screen star who died alone and was gnawed on by her doggy, the trick or treat murder of the handsome hairstylist, an astrologer and a palm reader who didn't foresee being killed by the women they loved, Silver Lake's exploding gun shop, the poignant death of the bravest dog in Hollywood, plus visits to Bela Lugosi's home, Crimebo's tales of Halloween celebrations gone terribly wrong and history of holiday pranks in Los Angeles, plus light-hearted oddities like the mysterious midnight disappearance of thousands of cucumbers from a Hollywood farm.

The 2008 edition of Halloween Horrors features a super spooky guest star. Jeremy Kasten is a horror filmmaker and a fetishist of all things related to Los Angeles’ past. Jeremy’s film’s include "The Attic Expeditions" starring Seth Green, Alice Cooper, Ted Raimi and Jeffrey Combs. "Attic" premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival and played at dozens of film festivals around the world and is considered a cult favorite among horror fans. Jeremy’s second film, "All Souls Day: Dias De Los Muertos" (David Keith, Laura Harring, Danny Trejo) premiered at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival and his third film, "The Thirst", (Jeremy Sisto and Matt Keslar) is notoriously one of the most bloody modern vampire exploitation films. Jeremy has just released his latest, a remake of H.G Lewis’ "The Wizard of Gore," starring Crispin Glover, Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips, Brad Dourif, Jeffrey Combs and featuring the Suicide Girls. "Wizard" premiered to sold out crowds at the Los Angeles Film Festival and is a love letter to post-punk Los Angeles. Jeremy will be showing and discussing favorite disturbing clips from horror films featuring Los Angeles. We will see the city as a background to heinous crimes as well as a stand-in for everything from sleepy suburbs to a post- apocalyptic nightmare world. Not for the squeamish.

Passengers on this eye-opening, funny and informative tour will leave with a new understanding of Halloween in old Los Angeles, and the promise of nightmares. It is highly recommended for natives and newcomers, crime and history buffs and anyone who likes to seek out the unexpected.