Crime Bus Tours Give An Interesting Look At L.A.

CA Places to Visit
Crime Bus Tours Give An Interesting Look At L.A.
By Cynthia Kirkeby
Jan 3, 2008, 09:32 PST

Esotouric tour guide, Nathan Marsak

If you have an interest in the dark side of history, then these unique crime bus tours of Los Angeles by Esotouric might be just perfect past time for your next visit to Southern California. Traveling through some of the more historic Southland communities travelers are treated to detailed descriptions of some of the most notorious, strange and fascinating forgotten tales from the past hundred years, each told at the scene of the crime.

Examples of the delights in store from the Blood & Dumplings Crime Bus Tour of the San Gabriel Valley include:

the freakish case of the Man from Mars Bandit who stalked area supermarkets for months in 1951 before meeting his match in a police sharpshooter
the deadly infighting among El Monte's American Nazi Party members
the Case of the Buried Bride dragged beneath her home on her wedding day by her secret lover
the weird lion farm (home to every MGM lion) that served lion meat barbecues on special occasions
Phil Spector's spooky hilltop castle
James Ellroy's murder victim mother Geneva (the true-life inspiration for his Black Dahlia novel)
the neglected Manson victim Steve Parent
and even an obscure East LA link to the JFK assassination.

Kelly Kuvo at the Monser Park in San Gabriel Valley

Since you'd undoubtedly get hungry during the four hour tour, the Crime Bus stops at 101 Noodle Express for a dumpling feast, which the guests eat picnic-style at Monster Park, a remarkable sea-themed folk art environment recently saved from demolition. Why not eat your snack in the mouth of a concrete whale, or under a grinning octopus?

These are just a few of the places, stories, and people you may see on one of these tours, and if crime doesn't excite you, they also run Rock and Roll, literary, and architectural tours focusing on individuals such as Charles Bukowski, Raymond Chandler, and Reyner Banham. With tour guides like Nathan Marsak, Kelly Kuvo, and Crimebo (the crime clown) who are as unusual and eccentric as the tours they run, the Esotouric Bus Tours may be one of the more interesting things to do on a chilly Saturday afternoon in Southern California. For more information on the Blood and Dumpling Tour and other Esotouric Bus tours, please visit www.esotouric.com .

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