Route 66 bus adventure tour February 13, 2010

For immediate release
January 12, 2010
Staycation, Route 66 Style: Valentine's Day weekend tour reveals the retro jewels in L.A.'s backyard
WHAT: Esotouric presents Route 66, a San Gabriel Valley bus tour in the "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" architecture and urbanism series
WHEN: Saturday February 13, 11am-4pm
COST: $58, or save $47 on all four Esotouric February architecture tours with a Banham Bundle
WHERE: Tour departs from Clifton's Cafeteria, 648 South Broadway, Los Angeles, California 90014

LOS ANGELES- Savvy travelers know that the most incredible adventures are often found close to home. This February 13, join Esotouric, the offbeat bus adventure company whose tours reveal the secret heart of Los Angeles, as they host an excursion deep into the suburban San Gabriel Valley just east of Los Angeles, along America's most historic highway, Route 66.

Because if you think the best of Route 66 is hundreds of miles from L.A., you'd best think again. When Esotouric's Route 66 bus tour departs from Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown on February 13 – from the corner of 7th & Broadway, the original end-point of the famous highway -- passengers are in for a five-hour tour packed with stunning retro jewels plucked from L.A.'s own backyard.

On the ROUTE 66 tour, hosted by Richard Schave, several dozen intrepid urban explorers will board a luxury coach class bus and head due East along the old Mother Road (an affectionate nickname for historic Route 66) to explore how Southern California welcomed newcomers for much of the 20th Century. Route 66 only exists today in small fragments, but many of the unique attractions that dotted its length survive and flourish today.

Get on the bus to explore the real Southland, as no one but Esotouric's Richard Schave can reveal it. Richard's unique expertise on unknown Los Angeles has seen him as a featured guide on television's "Globe Trekker" (Grand Central Market) and "Cities of the Underworld" (downtown's prohibition-era tunnels) and speaking at the Canadian Centre for Architecture and Hammer Museum. And each weekend in February, he'll be exploring a different section of the city, following in the footsteps of his mentor Reyner Banham.

Esotouric's February architecture tour series includes SOUTH LA (Sunday, February 7), THE NEW CHINATOWNS (Saturday, February 20) and THE LOWDOWN ON DOWNTOWN (Saturday, February 27), with a $185 four-tour discount ticket that saves $47 off the regular price. The ROUTE 66 (Saturday, February 13) tour explores California's original mass transit corridor and the building of its dream, from climate to citrus industry, TB hospitals to candyflake car culture.

Highlights in the February 2010 edition of ROUTE 66 include a tour of E. WALDO WARD FARM (the oldest surviving commercial citrus facility in LA, where passengers can buy scrumptious preserves and almond-filled olives to take home), a stroll through the halls and private rooms of Robert Stacy Judd's 1924 masterpiece THE AZTEC HOTEL (and yes, it's haunted), a visit to the astonishing Egypto-manic COVINA BOWL bowling alley (once the 24-hour hub of community entertainment and still a popular destination), and tucked among vast cleared fields awaiting new development a swing around the homes of the feuding SLAUSON SISTERS (hidden gems of Azusa lore and family dynamics, and a reminder of how fragile ecologies fall to the incessant crush of progress). Passengers will also tour the seldom-seen Civil War-era FAIRMOUNT CEMETERY and view the evocative BUNGALOWS of old Monrovia accompanied by host Richard Schave's lively rendition of a vintage bungalow booster tune.

The Reyner Banham Loves LA series of Esotouric bus adventures provides fresh ways of seeing the Southland and mingling with fascinating fellow travelers, and are a must for urban explorers, architecture buffs, curious locals, daring tourists, and anyone who enjoys turning over rocks to reveal the secrets beneath. Come ride and see for yourself.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule:
Sat January 16 - Wild Wild West Side crime bus tour
Sat January 23 – Weird West Adams crime bus tour
Sat January 30 - East Side Babylon crime bus tour
Sun Feb 7 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: South LA
Sat Feb 13 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Thurs Feb 18 – Jeremy Kasten presents "Spider Baby" with director Jack Hill
Sat Feb 20 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns
Sun Feb 21 - Joan Renner lecture "How the 'Bob' Changed History" (tentative)
Sat Feb 27 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of LA
Sat March 6 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat March 13 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sat March 20 - Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release (debut)
Sat March 27 - Raymond Chandler's Bay City
Sat April 3 – Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' L.A.
Sat April 10 – John Buntin's L.A. Noir
Sat April 24 – Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sat May 1 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour with Crimebo the Clown
Sat May 8 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour
Sat May 15 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat May 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal Nightmare
For more info on Esotouric, please visit http://www.esotouric.com

For discount tickets for all four tours, http://www.esotouric.com/banhambundle

For more on Reyner Banham, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reyner_Banham

And the BBC documentary "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles"
http://reyner.notlong.com