Touring the Dark Side of Los Angeles
By Leslie Pariseau
This article will satisfy all those macabre lovers and true-crime enthusiasts with some of the secrets of the history of Los Angeles’ not so angelic city. Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, local historians, saw that there was a thirst that needed to be quenched and so they started a tour bus company called Esotouric in 2005, which takes crime fanatics into the infamous journeys of crimes of the past.
One of the many stops of the tour bus titled “Bat Man” case, dates as far back as 1922 and dives into the bizarre murder story of a housewife who hid her husband’s murdered body in the attic where her lover lived. The tour also included a visit to the oldest and most popular cold cases in their city by far; the murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947, also called “Black Dahlia” by not just telling her story but by showing her regular haunts, including where her body was found in two body parts, cut at the torso.
Another tour bus company who is also capitalizing on the arcane, The Dearly Departed does it with a sense of humor. I know, murder and laughter should not go together but it is working for them. The owner, Scott Michaels, specializes in cases such as the Mason-focused Helter-Skelter murders. For a few years they sold chunks of Sharon Tate’s fireplace as souvenirs until the supply ran out. The city has enough crime cases to keep everyone tour buses in business for years to come. Their stories will never run out of supply as long as people curiosities need to be feed. It is peeking my curiosity.