discover your city: esotouric’s ‘many downtowns’ bus tour
Downtown Los Angeles was de-populated fifty years ago by a series of decisions at the highest level of local government and industry. Now, in a seemingly overnight rebirth (after a decade in the making), new residents are filling formerly commercial structures and new businesses are arriving. Where the old and new downtown meet, a thin red line runs, mapping out the desire lines of these two opposing forces. Isolated communities are springing up in pockets, and applying their urban expectations to what they find there.
Inspired by architectural critic Reyner Banham’s love of the City of Angels, tour company Esotouric’s new ‘Many Downtowns’ is a five-hour bus cruise of the major neighborhoods of Downtown, and how they have risen and fallen and are now rising again. It will look at the forces, government, big business and grass root efforts which are shaping and being shaped by this historic collection of buildings and lore.
Esotouric, an organization known for its unpredictable and adventurous yet intelligent and humorous expeditions, will take passengers into some of our city’s oldest areas. The journey will introduce neglected, seldom seen gems that retain fascinating significance and beauty, prompting concerns of historic preservation, adaptive reuse and implications for the future of our great city.
What You’ll Need to Know
Tickets can be ordered online (click ‘Add to Cart’, $55 per person) until the morning of the tour on Saturday April 26. For last minute bookings, call 310-995-4591 after 8:00am on tour day, and if there are seats available you can reserve a spot and pay with cash at the bus.
There are no paper tickets: your name will be on a list at the bus door. Check in is at 10:30am for a 11:00am sharp departure from Philippe The Original in Downtown Los Angeles, just across from Union Station at Alameda and Ord Streets.
Food and drink are permitted and suggested; no audio or video-taping without permission. There are no refunds for passengers who miss the bus. This tour has a significant walking component.
PARKING: There are a couple of pay lots in the immediate vicinity of Philippe’s, along New High Street one block north and parallel to Alameda. Please do not park in the restaurant lot.
TRANSIT: The Gold Line, Red Line, and all Metrolink trains stop at Union Station, one block from the restaurant. Most downtown bus lines stop within a few blocks as well.
For more information, visit www.esotouric.com.
Saturday, April 26
11:00am - 4:00pm
Price: $55.00
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8 comments
While I appreciate that these tours exist, I am irked by the pricing for this tour. 55 dollars? Am I alone? Furthermore, this post seems to be soliciting business more than offering information…just a thought, not a criticism - I’d rather have ad-like post, than no post.
I agree with CommenteeMcGee— these tours are ridiculously expensive.
$35 for the Museum of Neon Art’s tour and $55 for this tour means I’ll just rely on my bike and Central Library to learn Downtown history.
Perhaps a shorter tour with a smaller ticket price would be more amenable? I don’t know if I could last 5 hours. It can get very hot walking around downtown that long- I’d probably faint from heat exhaustion.
CommenteeMcGee:
The intention of this post was obviously to let people know the tour exists. The price is ridiculously high, but there may be some readers who find it worthwhile - architectural or history buffs may gladly pay $55. That’s who this is intended for.
Sometimes any coverage in media can seem like a plug, but it’s the flip side of what we do here.
it would have been better to read a review of the tour. this reads like a barely-reworked press release. (much like blogdowntown’s recent piece on the “downtown” film festival.)
i don’t know that the price is that outrageous considering it is, in large part, a bus tour. the neon tour is certainly worth its price.
if you are looking for a shorter walking tour, the los angeles conservancy has a number of tours running every weekend. well worth the (more modest) price of admission.
I dunno.. $35 and $50 might be a good deal for some.. I’m grateful I didn’t pay the $75 per ticket that hubby SeanYoda paid for our Downtown as Disneyland tour.. I didn’t think it was worth the price (although again, if you have never been to any of the locations or the tour is something up your alley, then it might be). I think it’s relative to the experience.
Me, I think one of the esotouric tours might be good or the MONA bus tour.. but I’m interested in history and neon, so there you go! (not meaning to be snarky about it).
Just ringing in here on behalf of the Los Angeles Conservancy tours.
But first, about the Esotouric’s “Many Downtowns” tour. Price-wise, it’s in line with similar, in-depth bus tours of that length. So…it just comes down to whether your interests are in line with the price.
The LA Conservancy tours are generally 2 to 2.5 hour walking tours. Every Saturday morning there are Historic Core, Broadway and Art Deco tours in operation. Other downtown tours (Evolving Skyline, City Hall, Spring Street, Union Station, Biltmore Hotel, Boyle Heights, USC and more) are offered on a less frequent schedule. The complete schedule, meeting points, overview and prices are on their website: laconservancey.org.
Price? Just $10 a person; $5.00 for LAC members. You can pay online and we accept walk-ups on most tours.
(That’s laconservancy.org)
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