Legends of Historic LA: Literary Bus Tour of Downtown
The Esotouric Bus - W Avenue 26 (370 W Avenue 26 Los Angeles, CA 90031)
- Full Price:
- $55.00
- Our Price:
- $27.50*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for "John Fante's Bunker Hill" Bus Tour have expired.
The last date listed for "John Fante's Bunker Hill" Bus Tour was Sunday July 22, 2007 / 1:00pm-6:00pm.
Most Popular Food & Social Event Nearby:
One Night With Janis Joplin: 4th of July Fireworks & BBQ
- Full Price:
- $108.00
- Our Price:
- $105.00
One Night With Janis Joplin adds some actual Fourth of July fireworks to the musical ones produced on stage, with a post-show barbeque buffet on the Arena Stage terrace -- a prime viewing spot for the famed pyrotechnics launched on the National Mall. First up is the show, a part-concert, part-theatrical event that captures Janis Joplin's life and legacy in all its live intensity. Mary Bridget Davies stars as the rock legend in a performance that has audiences dancing in the aisles and critics raving. Featuring powerful musical numbers including "Piece of My Heart, "Summertime" and "Mercedes Benz," as well as one song Joplin never formally recorded, One Night boasts a full band and a cast including Sabrina Elayne Carten, who plays Bessie Smith, Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone. After the performance, you'll move outside the theater for food and drinks, along with the fireworks viewing. Please see the full event description for the buffet menu. Learn More
7 Goldstar Member Reviews
Julia Burge
Written on Feb 13 2010This event was great, we booked it for a fathers day surprise for my father in law. There were 4 of us and we had a great time. There were places in LA that I have never even seen even though I have lived here for a while. Everyone that was on our bus seemed to have a great time. The gelato stop was perfect!!! I can't wait to go on more of the bus tours.
Thomas A.
Written on Jul 23 2007DO NOT go on this tour!
My friend and I went on this tour yesterday and the bus left us in downtown Los Angeles!!!
The driver counted the passengers as we got off the bus but didn't count them when they returned.
My camera and backpack were on the bus when it left us!!!
I asked for my money back and the owner of the tour said NO!!!
This makes me wonder about using Goldstar in the future :(
Luckily I live in Los Angeles and I knew how to get back to my car on the train.
This tour was a DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goldstar Member
Written on Jul 23 2007The tour operators obviously spent a lot of time putting this tour together-the sites, history, videos, guests and yes, even the food was amazing.
Can't wait to go on one of their other "tours"
Lucinda K.
Written on Jul 23 2007SO much fun! A great way to spend a day, and worth every (half-priced!) penny!
I would totally pay full price for an event like this, but it's so fantastic to not have to do so. Thanks Goldstar!
More Information About "John Fante's Bunker Hill" Bus Tour
Website
http://www.esotouric.com/fante-6-12-07
Description
<p>This is the downtown literary tour featured in the Los Angeles Times Calendar and Sunday sections, which earned the title of Best Downtown Tour from the Downtown News.</p>
<p>Before Kerouac, before Bukowski, there was John Fante, author of "Ask the Dust," "Dreams of Bunker Hill," "Full of Life," "The Road to Los Angeles" and "Wait Until Spring, Bandini." This five-novel cycle, written over sixty years, introduced the world to Arturo Bandini, an outspoken, down-and-out Mr. Hyde to Fante's Dr. Jekyll.
As Bunker Hill's prodigal son, Fante-as-Bandini chronicles a forgotten downtown Los Angeles neighborhood teeming with immigrants, criminals and dreamers like himself. With genuine compassion and wonderful craft, he sketches the hopes and dreams which fly round their heads, and in the process finds his own voice, a revelation which carries him all the way to Hollywood. Once there, he is distracted by fame and fortune, and settles for easy answers to the questions of faith in oneself, the nature of inspiration, and the duality of failure and redemption. "Dreams of Bunker Hill" was dictated by a blind Fante two years before his death, and "Road to Los Angeles" was published posthumously.
Bunker Hill is gone now, flattened, its mansions torn down, long since redeveloped by corporate and civic interests. But in today's downtown communities the same stories play out, in thriving micro-climates where artists and writers find their voices, where some are making it big and others breaking up on the reef, some moving away and others coming back in search of what they have lost.
Arturo Bandini is alive and well, and his lament is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago. So please join us as we follow in his footsteps, to the Goodwill store, King Eddy's, Clifton's Cafeteria ("pay what you can"), the Los Angeles Library's Reading Room and the Post Office Terminal Annex (important landmarks for Bukowski and Fante), the ghosts of Sonora Town (now Chinatown), and other evocative scenes of old L.A.
We'll also visit Tai Kim's acclaimed Scoops gelato shop for a complementary serving of flavors inspired by Fante's life and work.
This a new Esotouric bus adventure, hosted by Kelly Kuvo and Richard Schave.</p>