Take advantage of Esotouric's Solo 6-Pack offer and save $100+ off the regular ticket price. The Shareable 12-Pack lets you mix and match, riding solo or with friends on any regular Esotouric bus adventure.
L.A. on a 6-Pack
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KIM COOPER
( categories: Tour Guides )
RICHARD SCHAVE
( categories: Tour Guides )
Jim Linderman's offbeat American photo books, free for a limited timeSubmitted by rss on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 7:02am.
Jim Linderman, photo collector and compiler extraordinaire, wants to win Blurb's Photography Book Now contest--and we'd like to help him out. You can click below to read the books online for free, then vote for them if you're inclined.   The Flâneur & The City: Olvera StreetSubmitted by rss on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 12:07pm.
Urban historian Richard Schave's site-specific discussion series "The Flâneur & The City" is an ongoing attempt to explore some of the more important issues revealed by the constantly changing heart of the metropolis. The core notion of the series is of culture and history as commodities that are packaged and sold to a target demographic; meanwhile, it's the ignored and seemingly worthless scraps of meaning found on the sidewalks and marketplaces where the true remnants of positive public space can be found. All interpretations and nuisances of the word flâneur are examined -- from the modern-day aesthete dreaming of Baudelaire while carried along in the human tide past the stalls and shops of Broadway, to its more recent and perhaps relevant use, someone who is loitering. At its heart this series is a celebration of the simple act of getting out of your car and walking through a neighborhood and learning to see it with all your eyes. In this installment, held on July 25, 2010, we visited Olvera Street, the historic seed of Los Angeles and the first place where issues of urban preservation entered the city's consciousness. On this free 45-minute walking tour, we explored the site's history, from the founding of the city (1781) to the present day, with a focus on the "classic" era: Christine Sterling's nearly thirty years of preservation and reinterpretation, which resulted in the entire Plaza becoming a State park, now managed by the city of Los Angeles. The excerpt presented here is a brief discussion of Christine Sterling's conflicting motivations in preserving Olvera Street, and her alliances with business and publishing interests. On this informative stroll through a provocative and multi-layered space, we explored such key questions as: * What core challenges, goals and strategies are shared by Christine Sterling at the Plaza in the early 20th century and the developers of downtown's Old Bank District (4th & Main) in the early 21st century? * Can arts and culture succeed as a tool for economic development for reinvigorating historic neighborhoods? Was Jane Jacobs right when she proclaimed that "new ideas need old buildings"? * Is there a point on the continuum where the creeping kitsch of a tourist attraction overwhelms the value of a vital community space? Can a positive public space be ruined by popularity and accessibility? For more on free events held under the umbrella of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, visit http://www.lavatransforms.org The New Chinatowns tour previewSubmitted by kim on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 5:25pm.
Come discover the secret history of the San Gabriel Valley on this provocative and occasional Esotouric architecture tour from the series Reyner Banham Loves LA. Next tour: August 7, 2010.
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Lost in the Grooves LLC, d/b/a Esotouric, offers fee-paid guided bus tours. All sales for tours are final and admission fee is non-refundable from 72 hours before tour departure. No shows will be charged in full. For group purchases of ten or more seats, admission fee is non-refundable from 21 days before tour departure. Tours are all weather events and operate rain or shine. There are no paper tickets; your name will be on a list. Latecomers may be able to join the tour in progress, but it is not assured, and absolutely no refunds or make goods will be given. This ticket is a license which can be revoked at any time for any reason. Holder assumes all risk and danger of personal injury and all other hazards arising from or related in any way to the event for which this ticket is issued whether occurring prior to, during or after the event and agrees that Lost in the Grooves LLC, d/b/a Esotouric are not liable under any conditions. Esotouric is not liable in any way for event and tour cancellations due to Acts of God or otherwise with events out of our control. Event data, tour route, sites and attractions, times and size of tours are subject to change without notice. In the event that any one or more of the provisions or parts of a provision contained in these Terms & Conditions shall for any reason be held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect in any jurisdiction, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect any other provision or part of a provision of this Agreement or the validity or enforceability of such provision or portion thereof in any other jurisdiction. The recording of any part of the guided tour, including, but not limited to, the narrative, stories, depictions, and the like, by any means whatsoever, is strictly prohibited without the advance written permission of an authorized representative of Lost in the Grooves LLC. Note that the organizers may film, photograph or record the tours and your participation, or permit members of the press to do so. We charter our buses through American Transportation Systems (323) 846-8832.
Kim is the creator of 
Richard, who is the person that makes this all happen, has been at various times an art historian, a mason, an independent film producer, a computer programmer, and as its Director transformed the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk into a non-profit organization. On his tours, Richard fuses these otherwise exclusive experiences into a very special view of the city. Richard's tours include two different 
