Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles
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esotouric.bsky.social
Esotouric's Secret Los Angeles
@esotouric.bsky.social
Just a couple of lifers looking out for Los Angeles. Join us for architecture, crime, literature & history tours, preservation battles. Newsletter: http://esotouric.substack.com
Almost sold out! Amaze your sweetheart when you snag the last two tickets on Saturday's Know Your Downtown Los Angeles tour, featuring the Dutch Chocolate Shop.

Spots are still available on Sunday's Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness walk. www.esotouric.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:56 AM
2026 is a big centennial year for Los Angeles landmarks, but at Heritage Square, they're gearing up to honor the Perry Mansion as she turns an august 150! They're looking for some L.A. angels to help refresh the old gal, so if that's you, click here: www.heritagesquare.org/donate
December 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Just added to our private walking tour options: the new Hollywood Noir, a wild web of civic reform, mobbed up politicians, black magic, avant garde architecture, sleazy motels and Spanish mansions, Double Indemnity, Beth Short and the cinema censors. esotouric.com/giftcertific...
December 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Los Angeles City Council files motions as performance art, never get reports back, then they die. John Lee, facing huge ethics fines, was second on this one to protect RSO hotels from demo and illegal Airbnbs. A joke! cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkc...
December 17, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Whoa! There's activity at the recently shuttered Mayan Theater: on the Instagram story for www.instagram.com/triumph_coat... watch old mastic carpet glue buffed off the concrete floor.

Could the new operator be Insomniac?

Our archeological explorations within:
esotouric.substack.com/mayan
December 17, 2025 at 3:02 AM
December 17, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Just three tours left this year--unless you want us all to yourself on a private walk into the secret heart of Los Angeles.

12/20 - Know Your Downtown LA
12/21 - Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness
12/27 - Human Sacrifice Downtown L.A. true crimes

www.esotouric.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Who took the W.P. Story Building gates? Do they still exist in some rich collector's hands, or were they melted down for scrap? If anyone knows, speak now!
December 15, 2025 at 5:04 AM
It's Christmas time at Grand Central Market, and the neon glows just a little warmer, it seems.

Wishing (almost) all Angelenos a Joyeux Noël.
December 14, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Surprise new friend! Coming home from the 40th Anniversary party of Hollywood Heritage moving the Lasky-DeMille Barn to be a museum of cinema history, we spotted a baby kitten all alone on a freeway overpass. Kim managed to catch this teeny mackerel tabby and... it's love. <3
December 14, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Next weekend: a rare Sat/Sun double feature, with Know Your Downtown L.A. featuring the Dutch Chocolate Shop (almost sold out!) and Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness. Come discover how strange, beautiful and exciting Los Angeles can be, in good company. esotouric.com
December 14, 2025 at 9:32 PM
We saw a post on Instagram from @palisades_embers about a "remodel" (stealth demolition) happening on the residential property next to where their family has relocated, and encouraged them to document it with video. www.instagram.com/p/DSGdBATkiH4/
December 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Today on the Westlake Park tour: the many ways City Hall worked internally NOT to save the Silver Platter, one of the oldest gay bars in the US and a safe space for trans immigrant Angelenos. But Eunisses Hernandez can fix this. Hear all about it! esotouric.com/event/westla...
December 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Half way into 43 pages of Los Angeles City Council motions, we did not expect to find the City getting into the niche business of guided motion picture location tours. Cultural tourism is cool, but PLEASE hire cinema historians and do not just use AI to steal their work!
December 13, 2025 at 4:16 AM
First completed Pacific Palisades house: not a rebuild lost to the fire, but a spec project from Thomas James Homes. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

This is the developer that tried to fill an artesian spring in Los Feliz and made a marsh down the block. esotouric.com/creek/
December 13, 2025 at 3:39 AM
The Ethics Commission seeks to impose a huge fine on councilman John Lee, former Mitch Englander Chief of Staff and wingman on developer-funded junkets, as "concealment and deceit were found to be present in this case." ethics.lacity.gov/pdf/agenda/2...
December 13, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Tomorrow, join us on a deep dive into the rich cultural, architectural, artistic, literary and true crime history of the Westlake Park neighborhood, featuring some stunning interiors that are new on this edition of the tour. No, not the Park Plaza--maybe better! esotouric.com/event/westla...
December 13, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Calling all young(ish) book and ephemera fiends in the greatest state: submit up to twenty of your treasures and a short essay and you might just win the California Young Book Collector’s Prize. Deadline December 19 and 36 is too old. www.abaa.org/general-cont...
December 12, 2025 at 4:14 AM
"This is not Des Moines!" On the 40th anniversary of National Register designation, Hollywood Heritage co-founder Fran Offenhauser calls for the City and property owners to DO SOMETHING about all the empty retail space and revive the derelict Boulevard.
youtu.be/O9RwobI9Wns?...
December 12, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Candelas has "only" been selling guitars in Boyle Heights since the 1940s, but the shop proudly claims nearly a century in trade in Tijuana and Los Angeles.

Most comprehensive About Us page ever!
www.candelas.com/about-us-upd...
December 11, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Lanza Bros. Market cruising into its centennial year in Italian flag brick glory on the industrial edge of Lincoln Heights.
December 10, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Lanza Bros. Market cruising into its centennial year in Italian flag brick glory on the industrial edge of Lincoln Heights.
December 10, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Do you love Los Angeles, have a taste for noir real estate schemes and no day job? We're rallying volunteers to attend and take notes at Councilmember Curren Price's pre-trial public corruption hearings Downtown, estimated to last a week (12/11-12/19).
esotouric.substack.com/thepriceisri...
December 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Saturday, on the Westlake Park walking tour, we'll seek out the legendary art schools and relics of a lost world of scandal, culture and sly curiosity. Could it come back one day? We think it could! esotouric.com/event/westla...
December 10, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Thanks to our Hollywood Heritage preservation pals for the invite to the 40th Anniversary confab, a chance to view the amazing miniature and brainstorm about how to reactivate all that empty retail. The PRC on the Blvd. will open to the public in the new year--let's get to work and SAVE HOLLYWOOD!
December 10, 2025 at 12:44 AM