Update, May 17, 2020: In accordance with current state and local restrictions on mass gatherings, we have now had to officially postpone all of our remaining scheduled events into June. The postponed tours will be rescheduled as soon as it is again ruled safe for groups to gather in enclosed spaces like a tour bus. Forensic science seminars will resume when Cal State Los Angeles again allows outside groups to hold events in classrooms. We appreciate your patronage, and are so sorry for this ambiguity.
Update, March 15, 2020: In accordance with current guidance for mass gatherings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we have postponed all tours scheduled for the next eight weeks, through Architectural Gems of Riverside (5/9).
Original announcement, March 11, 2020:
Gentle reader,
We have been closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Southern California, and studying historical and current best practices for protecting vulnerable community members from a new and potentially dangerous virus.
There is no knowing how quickly the virus will spread, or the impact that its spread will have on the public health system.
However, it’s clear that healthy individuals practicing social distancing by avoiding unnecessary public gatherings will flatten the curve of infection, slowing the numbers of people who end up in the hospital with respiratory issues. Keeping hospital beds open as long as possible means a better outcome for those who do become ill, and makes all of us safer.
This article in The Atlantic offers insight into the benefits of social distancing: Cancel Everything.
We love to give tours, and it’s how we make a living, but we have to put the community first. So we have decided that the responsible thing to do is to postpone our upcoming tours until the risk to vulnerable people from COVID-19 is better understood and under control.
We are tentatively listing all of our upcoming tours, through Eastside Babylon on June 27, as “Tour Date Paused, To Be Confirmed or Rescheduled.”
If you have purchased a ticket for an upcoming tour, we hope you’ll keep the booking. We will keep you posted about any change in the tour status.
If your tour date does end up being rescheduled, your booking can:
1) Be moved to the new tour date, or
2) Be applied as credit towards a different tour, or
3) Be turned into a gift certificate, or
4) Of course you may have a refund on request at any time.
Our sincere hope is that the public health concerns will resolve themselves as we head into springtime, and we’ll be able to resume scheduled tours on their previously scheduled dates.
For those tours that end up being rescheduled due to public health concerns, we’ll notify all ticketed passengers of the new date when confirmed. Because we hope to resume touring as soon as possible, tickets for upcoming tour dates will still be available for purchase. Esotouric gift certificates are also available. If you’re hesitant to sign up for a tour date that isn’t 100% confirmed to be operating, we’re happy to put you on the RSVP list, and will notify you of the tour status, and if it’s about to sell out.
Thank you for your understanding as we navigate these trying times and try to be the best little tour operators we know how to be.
If after reading this you’re thinking “How can I help Kim and Richard make it through these uncertain times?” then we’d be grateful if you bought an Esotouric gift certificate or two, an investment in our shared future of exploring the secret heart of Los Angeles together.
We love you. Be well. Wash your hands!
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric