“This tour… has established itself as an L.A. classic.” — The Los Angeles Times

The Black Dahlia murder in 1947 is the most compelling unsolved crime Los Angeles has ever known. What Jack the Ripper is to London, the Torso Killer to Cleveland, the Black Dahlia is to L.A. And yet unlike those other cases, the name Black Dahlia refers not to the killer, but to the victim. What was it about Elizabeth Short that keeps her the object of obsessive fascination by writers, musicians, artists, filmmakers, cops and readers, more than sixty years after she was slain?

The Real Black Dahlia Crime Tour seeks to answer this question by intimately exploring the last weeks of Elizabeth Short’s life, asking not “who killed her?” but “who was she?”

The tour takes us from the human hustle of Main Street to the serene lobby of the Biltmore (the second-to-last place she was seen alive), to the newspaper offices and the Greyhound station where she checked her bags, and concludes at the site where her bisected body was found in Leimert Park and with a little known suspect who lived nearby.

From the few personal possessions she left behind to the friends who scarcely knew her, from the mass hysteria of the investigation with its fruitless leads, wacko suspects and false confessions, the tour reveals all that’s known about this enigmatic black-haired girl who reinvented herself at whim, and shows how she came to be the unfortunate symbol of her time and place.

MEETING INSTRUCTIONS:

Tour begins at 11am sharp, with check-in time 10.30am at the patio outside Grand Central Market at 324 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90013. Please arrive on time and proceed to the check-in table to get signed in, logged in to the smartphone slideshow, and select a seat on the bus. Scroll down for tour rules and recommendations.

TOUR RULES & RECOMMENDATIONS:

BE PREPARED: This is a bus tour lasting approximately 4 hours, which will be split fairly evenly between time on and off a 56-seat coach class bus. The bus has A/C, video monitors (the tour has a slideshow), and a restroom. There will be a complimentary coffee and snack break during the tour, and you’re welcome to bring a packed lunch to enjoy at this time, as well as any non-alcoholic beverages.

COVID SAFETY: Guests are required to wear a mask while boarding and traveling on the bus. Please bring your own mask, or ask for one on check in. The charter company that we work with cleans the bus cabin before each trip, and also requires passengers to wear a mask when on board. Thank you for working with us to help keep each other healthy so we can enjoy exploring today and in the future.

If you need more information about what to expect, please email us.

Parking & Public Transit:

There are numerous paid public parking lots around Grand Central Market, including GCM’s multi-level lot at 308 South Hill Street Los Angeles, California 90013.  The nearest Metro stations are Civic Center/Grand Park and Pershing Square. If using public transit, this link can help you plan your trip:

CONTACTING US ON OR BEFORE TOUR DAY:

Emailing is the best way to communicate with us, but after 8am on tour day you can call or text Richard on his mobile phone, 213-915-8687.

CANCELLATION / REFUND POLICY:

If you feel like you’re getting sick, if you test positive for Covid-19, or if you have knowingly been in contact with a positive case of Covid-19 in the last 7 days, please do not attend the tour. Let us know not to expect you. If notified at least 72 hours before tour departure, we can refund or reschedule your booking. If notified at least 24 hours before departure, we can honor the booking on a future date. You may also gift your ticket to someone else—we will need their name, email address and phone number to make this switch.