The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour January 8, 2011

Bus Tour Rolls On the 64th Anniversary Weekend of the Black Dahlia's Disappearance

WHAT: 64th Anniversary Edition of Esotouric's Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour
WHEN: Saturday January 8, 12pm-4pm
WHERE: Departing from The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, 5th & Olive, L.A.
WEEKEND NOIR PACKAGE: Enjoy two days of noir-era Los Angeles bus tourism with the Sunday January 9 RAYMOND CHANDLER tour, and save $30 with a weekend pass, details at the link below - http://esotouric.com/january2011noirweekend
COST: $58/person, or just $45 with a noir weekend pass
INFO: http://www.esotouric.com, 323-223-2767
LOS ANGELES- On January 8, the eclectic bus adventure company Esotouric offers a special anniversary edition of its most popular true crime tour, THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA, on the 64th Anniversary weekend of the notorious kidnapping. It was January 9, 1947 when Beth Short left the Biltmore Hotel for a nearby bar and vanished, only to be found cut in two in a vacant Crenshaw District lot six days later.

Esotouric's first tour of 2011 is also the debut of a new series of weekend packages, thematically-linked Saturday/Sunday bus excursions with a $30 discount off the regular ticket prices. Weekend packages include the January 8/9 Noir-themed weekend (The Real Black Dahlia / Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles), the February 5/6 Architecture-themed weekend (Reyner Banham Loves L.A.: The New Chinatowns / Reyner Banham Loves L.A.: South Los Angeles) and the March 12/13 True Crime-themed weekend (East Side Babylon / Blood & Dumplings).

ABOUT THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA TOUR: Since January 1947, this one iconic murder mystery has lingered unsolved at the forefront of the American imagination, with dozens of books, films and websites dedicated to solving the slaying of Beth Short, the Massachusetts girl who came to Hollywood hoping to make it, and ended up cut in two in a vacant lot. Suspects in the Black Dahlia murder have included L.A. Times publisher Norman Chandler and Orson Welles, crazed lesbians, twisted drifters and more than one writer's father, but still the mystery abides.

The Real Black Dahlia tour dedicates itself to revealing who victim Elizabeth Short really was by exploring her life in Los Angeles from mid 1946 to her January 1947 murder through examination of the police investigation and news coverage. The various theories are up for discussion during the onboard Q&A sections, and the hosts share their idea of who the killer might have been, but the focus is firmly on the 22-year-old woman whose death continues to fascinate. Along the way, passengers will explore the social history of postwar Los Angeles and its lively downtown scene and learn the role the city played in Short's mysterious death.

The tour begins at Downtown's Biltmore Hotel, where Beth Short went after checking her bags at the Greyhound Terminal. Passengers will tour the beautifully restored historic Olive Street lobby before heading south, to the low rent Olive Street bar where Short met her murderer. The Downtown portion of the tour includes the Examiner newspaper offices, where the crime became myth as pioneering female City Editor Aggie Underwood spun the case for weeks, and the Figueroa Hotel, where Short stayed in happier times. The bus then heads west towards Leimert Park and the formerly vacant lot where Short's bisected body was discovered on January 15, 1947. Also in this neighborhood, passengers visit the site of another unsolved 1947 kidnap-murder and the home of Dr. Walter Bayley, who has emerged in recent years as the most compelling suspect, with his personal ties to Beth Short's family and the crime scene, and the surgical skill needed to bisect the body. The tour includes a cop-approved snack stop for complementary Krispy Kreme donuts near the body dump site before concluding at the Biltmore, where passengers can reserve space to enjoy an elegant tea service in the second to last place Beth Short was seen alive.

Also featured: a special presentation from cosmetics historian Joan Renner exploring Beth Short's unusual proto-goth make up, so different from the popular girl next store look of 1947, and a key to understanding her psychology.

Passengers on this eye-opening and informative tour will leave with a new understanding of the Black Dahlia case and what it was like to be a single woman in 1940s Los Angeles. It is highly recommended for natives and newcomers, crime and history buffs and anyone who likes to seek out the unexpected.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour and special event schedule
Sat Dec 11 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Sun Dec 26- LAVA's free Sunday Salon (info at lavatransforms.org)
Sat Jan 8 - The Real Black Dahlia (weekend package available)
Sun Jan 9 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles (weekend package available)
Sat Jan 15 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's L.A.
Sat Jan 22 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal. Nightmare
Sat Feb 5 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: The New Chinatowns (weekend package available)
Sun Feb 6 - Reyner Banham Loves LA: South LA (weekend package available)
Sat Feb 19 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: Route 66
Sat Feb 26 - Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown-The Secret History of Los Angeles
Sat March 5 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus tour
Sat March 12 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour (weekend package available)
Sun March 13 - Blood & Dumplings crime bus tour (weekend package available)
Sat March 19 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour

Esotouric's Richard Schave, Kim Cooper and Joan Renner are proud members of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. http://www.lavatransforms.org

For more info on Esotouric, visit http://www.esotouric.com

For more on the Dr. Walter Bayley theory, visit Larry Harnisch's "Heaven is Here" website http://www.lmharnisch.com/

Official Website: http://esotouric.com/dahlia-1-8-11