by Kim Cooper | Mar 22, 2024 | The Esotouric Blog
Have you ever noticed Sunshine? That’s the name Downtown denizen Annette Zilinskas gave to a lonely, neglected Queen Palm that for many years had stood proudly above 2nd and Hill Streets on the dirt patch, the last piece of unflattened Bunker Hill topography, on a...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 17, 2024 | The Esotouric Blog
The great Eagle Tree, a native Western Sycamore (Platanus racemosa), stood for centuries in what is now the City of Compton as a natural landmark. The tree was so remarkable in size and distinction that it was recorded by Henry Hancock on his Rancho San Pedro survey...
by Kim Cooper | Oct 31, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Last Saturday—as we have about four times a year since Esotouric debuted in 2007—we booked a coach class bus on which to guide a large group on a tour about the unsolved 1947 murder of Beth Short, a case that shares the victim’s real life nickname, The Black...
by Kim Cooper | Aug 31, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Something worrying has been happening in the City of Santa Ana: bureaucrats, rushing to spend a $9.3 Million critical maintenance and infrastructure grant from the California State Library “Building Forward” program before the March 31, 2026 completion deadline and...
by Kim Cooper | Jul 26, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
In 1985, the husband-and-wife team of Aaron Silverman and Molly Maguire published the first of what the Library of Congress would later call “the decade’s most exciting American maps,” The Raymond Chandler Mystery Map of Los Angeles. This was soon...
by Kim Cooper | Jul 26, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
by Kim Cooper | Jul 26, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Written by Esotouric’s Kim Cooper and designed by acclaimed illustrator Paul Rogers, this new, noir map from U.K. wayfinding mavens Herb Lester is a must for those who seek lost Los Angeles. Click here to purchase. In 1985, the husband-and-wife team of Aaron...
by Kim Cooper | Jun 14, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Even though the matter of the Times Mirror Square / Historic-Cultural Monument was officially deemed “Council action final” on 12/07/2018, we keep that hoping new indictments will finally blow the lid off the obviously corrupt vote. This vote would result...
by Kim Cooper | May 14, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
This week, Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez introduced a motion acknowledging that the proposed redevelopment of the Lincoln Heights Jail into a “maker’s district” is not actually happening. Her idea for the massive, derelict...
by Kim Cooper | May 12, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
The following is a guest post from Kevin Trujillo Miller, about what he saw last night at Central Library during ALOUD’s program, Surviving Homelessness & Foster Care: A conversation with author David Ambroz and Mayor Karen Bass. Well, as the saying goes,...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 30, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Bungalow courts are a distinctive, desirable and unfortunately endangered early 20th century form of workforce housing. These modest double (or sometimes single) rows of small cottages with shared community green space are usually under rent control, and are much...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 29, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
History doesn’t repeat, but in Los Angeles sometimes it rhymes something fierce. In the first verse, we’ve got Chicago émigré Raymond Chandler, the early 20th century downtown oil man who suppressed his literary ambitions while rising in the business world...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 14, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Some weeks, it seems like every time we check our email or DMs, there’s a new preservation crisis brewing, and some desperate, caring, exasperated Angeleno who feels compelled to tell us what’s threatened in their corner of the city, and ask if there’s any hope at...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 9, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
This investigation is published on the 29th anniversary of Charles Bukowski’s death. In 2007, while writing our tour of Bukowski’s Los Angeles, we spotted a Craigslist ad that listed the writer’s longtime home in the 1920s bungalow court at 5124 De Longpre...
by Kim Cooper | Feb 10, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
Special for any tenants living in Skid Row Housing Trust properties or concerned neighbors: For anyone that is aware of a down elevator, fire alarm problem, broken window or door lock or other major repair issue at any SRHT property in the receivership, feel free to...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 24, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
A sad update, 2/4/2023: according to angelenoheart, the roadhouse was demolished today. We confirmed this with a visit on 2/11/2023. If you’ve ever crossed the Los Angeles River into Boyle Heights, chances are you’ve admired the National Register Sears...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 17, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
January 17, 2022 To the Honorable John F. Walter United States Courthouse 350 W. 1st Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 Courtroom 7A c/o Courtroom Deputy Clerk Shannon Reilly shannon_reilly@cacd.uscourts.gov [update: by email reply, Deputy Clerk Shannon Reilly informs us...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 12, 2023 | The Esotouric Blog
A worrying photo appeared in a Facebook development group Tuesday afternoon, showing the backlit plastic readerboard on Broadway’s Orpheum Theatre marquee partially dismantled. The post was immediately shared among concerned preservationists. We too were worried...
by Kim Cooper | Dec 7, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Welcome to auspicious #13 in a series of 3-D explorable tours of off-the-beaten-path Southern California spaces, created by Craig Sauer using cutting-edge Matterport technology. Jergins Tunnel If you’ve been paying attention, you know that we love tunnels,...
by Kim Cooper | Nov 15, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
In October 2022, we made a video expressing our concerns about the old Potter’s Field Cemetery at 11269 Garfield Avenue in Downey, and the unanswered question of what happened to many thousands of cremated remains of Rancho Los Amigos residents that were buried...
by Kim Cooper | Aug 30, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
About a month ago, the new owners of the Clairville Plumbing & Heating compound, which sold for $2.1 Million on 5/25/2022, applied for a demolition permit for the rare all-metal Standard service station on the west side of the lot. Because 1659 W. Colorado is on...
by Kim Cooper | Aug 16, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
On the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the author’s birth, here’s something nutty we found in the Charles Bukowski’s archives at the Huntington Library, while researching the making of the film Barfly for our special audio track recording...
by Kim Cooper | Jul 25, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Things are a little weird at the Hotel Cecil in Downtown Los Angeles these days. No, not serial killer tenants and unexplained death weird, though we’ve covered those narratives for years through our true crime tours, appearance as Skid Row crime historians on...
by Kim Cooper | Jul 21, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Have you noticed that Los Angeles is falling apart? It is. And for those of us who have been here for a while, there’s a certain morbid fascination in watching it crumble—sometimes literally. You can see it happen in fast forward on the much-hyped Sixth Street...
by Kim Cooper | Jul 11, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
July 31, 2023: This campaign is dedicated to the memory of Paul Reubens, who loved William S. Hart’s house museum, and advocated for its preservation. In his 1946 will, the silent film actor William S. Hart left his 254-acre Horseshoe Ranch in Newhall, personal...
by Kim Cooper | Jun 27, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
The following is a guest post by Beverly Hills city councilmember John Mirisch, which originally appeared on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. We believe his observations on the June 21, 2022 Beverly Hills city council hearing, during which the way was cleared...
by Kim Cooper | Jun 18, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
December 2023 update: The Morrison Hotel has been sold and will be affordable housing again! But first, new owners AIDS Healthcare Foundation will have to undo all the damage that Relevant Group did, without permits, to interfere with AHF’s landmark nomination....
by Kim Cooper | Jun 18, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
We were curious about membership numbers for the Los Angeles Conservancy through the pandemic, so looked up their their 990 tax filings on the California Charities Registry. Although we have viewed their page in the past, the Los Angeles Conservancy didn’t come...
by Kim Cooper | May 16, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
It’s election season in Los Angeles, and with Eric Garcetti termed out, the fight for the chief executive slot—a race which was Jose Huizar’s to lose and did he ever—has attracted a predictable mix of deep pockets, political lifers and idealistic long...
by Kim Cooper | May 13, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Update September 21, 2022: The Bunya pine, which appears to have died, was chopped down today. Click here for a brief video memorial. RIP to a great sentinel tree which stood proudly for 134 years. May its memory be a blessing. Update July 31, 2022: Here’s a...
by Kim Cooper | May 4, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Q: If a 1950s air raid siren falls in South Los Angeles, will anybody come and get it? Obsolete infrastructure can be beautiful in its decay, but not when it fails, spilling potentially deadly hunks of steel onto private property. When Siren No. 184 came down, we got...
by Kim Cooper | Apr 24, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
December 2023 update: The Morrison Hotel was made famous when the Doors dropped by for an album photo shoot, but for Angelenos, it was a modest, respectable home. In the 1990s, new owners turned it into a hell hole, then kicked everyone out. The city let them do it....
by Kim Cooper | Apr 1, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Happy 1950 U.S. Census release day! It’s 72 years since enumerators with cute little clipboards and mechanical pencils fanned out across post-war America and asked every soul they could buttonhole for their stats. A decade ago, I blogged about the 1940 Census...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 16, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Click play, then follow along with our live commentary on this hearing here. Taix French Restaurant is a beloved Echo Park landmark that has become the poster child for how billionaire developers continue to corrupt Los Angeles City Hall–even while multiple...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 15, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Contrary to the story reported by CBS Saturday Morning on February 18, 2023, Cornelius Johnson’s Olympic Oak and family residence was not yet a protected Los Angeles landmark! On May 10, 2023, City Council finally voted to declare it a protected site. We hope...
by Kim Cooper | Feb 21, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
Welcome to our historic preservation advocacy page for Old Trapper’s Lodge, which was first published on February 21, 2022, two months before Pierce College allowed a crew associated with Valley Relics Museum to remove the Boot Hill Cemetery sculptures. If...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 22, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
The following is a guest post from Maryam Hosseinzadeh, a concerned local who asked us to share this timely alert and hopes that you’ll share it widely before the Monday noon deadline: ALERT! PASADENA – For more than 100 years, a sleepy corner of Pasadena...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 9, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
There’s something wonderful happening on “The Nickel,” the portion of Fifth Street that connects the gritty Skid Row neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles with the business district to the West: the early 20th century residency hotels whose owner Izek...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 9, 2022 | The Esotouric Blog
75 years ago today, a 22-year-old homeless woman named Beth Short went missing in Downtown Los Angeles. She would become famous in death as the Black Dahlia, a nickname she’d briefly worn in life. In 2005, we launched a true crime blog called the 1947project,...
by Kim Cooper | Dec 28, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
The Monastery of the Angels intends to end all public access to the chapel, gift shop and garden as of 1/1/2024. The property is being marketed to developers as a $25 Million teardown. If you care about this sacred space, now is the time to ask your elected leaders,...
by Kim Cooper | Dec 10, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
In October, we shared the thrilling news that the almost completely empty Barclay Hotel had been sold to the Healthy Housing Foundation and would be immediately returned to use as affordable housing, instead of being converted into a boutique hotel at some unspecified...
by Kim Cooper | Nov 3, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
On October 23, photos first circulated on social media showing workers on top of the awning of the historic Pig ‘n Whistle cafe at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard, covering the beautiful 1920s facade with cheap plastic signage for a Mr. Tempo Cantina and dropping the...
by Kim Cooper | Oct 20, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
When people ask why we get so involved in historic preservation advocacy, despite the frustrations of fighting a pro-development City Hall that’s under multiple indictments for land use corruption, we answer that we feel called to do the work, want to be of...
by Kim Cooper | Oct 15, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
UPDATE, JUNE 2023: Welcome, Ghost Adventures fans! You might remember seeing our Kim Cooper on the Black Dahlia episode in 2016, where she tried to teach Zak how to say “Figueroa,” or in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. We love the Hotel...
by Kim Cooper | Sep 20, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
We got the tip late Saturday night: a screenshot from a Nextdoor post, shared by a worried Angeleno who knew we’d take the case. Esotouric is nominally a Los Angeles tour company, but like Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe (the star of one of our more...
by Kim Cooper | Sep 15, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
On Tuesday, September 14, 2021, the powerful PLUM Committee of the Los Angeles City Council convened a Special Meeting to quickly rule on the fates of a number of potential Historic-Cultural Monument designations recently approved by the Cultural Heritage Commission....
by Kim Cooper | Jun 15, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
UPDATE APRIL 2024: Preservation pal Damian Sullivan reports that the deconstructed, numbered segments of the Pico Boulevard Chili Bowl, and the unique diamond pane roof sign and armature, have been hauled off to the dump by the property owner. The cleared lot—which...
by Kim Cooper | Mar 25, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
Our newest special newsletter edition for subscribers is out now. (We also have a free newsletter packed with local historic preservation news and musings.) This month, we take a deep dive into a remarkable artifact held in the research collection of the Pasadena...
by Kim Cooper | Feb 1, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
Yesterday we lost Big John, our dear friend who was the most extraordinary portal to the weird, creative, anything-goes Los Angeles that used to be. John was a master craftsman, a builder of car washes, a teetotaler nightclub owner, designer of crooked gambling...
by Kim Cooper | Jan 20, 2021 | The Esotouric Blog
(photo by architectural historian Michael R. Corbett, from SAFER’s appeal) Update after the hearing: read all about it here. In November 2018, the FBI raided the City Hall offices of Councilmember Jose Huizar. He has been charged with 34 counts of racketeering,...
