Jump to: Reviews | Discarded Black Dahlia Jokes
Today's Groupon lets you choose from a bevy of sightseeing trips with Esotouric Bus Tours for only $20 (normally $58). The company started offering a tour based around the mysterious Black Dahlia murder, but has branched out to explore additional historic crimes, architecture, the history of rock 'n' roll, and the lives of LA authors.
Every tour is hosted by a passionate, hilarious guide who provides a unique look at LA. Even if you're well versed in historical bus-tour sights, you'll get a fresh perspective thanks to Esotouric's commitment to unearthing unusual factoids. The tours last approximately four hours and include unique stops for unique snacks, including a Chinese dumpling picnic amid a concrete monster garden, mint lemonade at a UFO sighting, and custom-made Black Dahlia and nicotine-flavored gelato at Scoops Ice Cream in East Hollywood. During the ride, the bus monitors display pertinent documents and fascinating photos to enhance the experience.
We've done extensive testing, and it turns out that knowing fascinating anecdotes about our city is far superior to every other parlor trick we examined (nickel behind the ear, drinking beer out of naval, etc.). Become the life of your next party with fascinating historical tidbits that are sure to impress. Or share the knowledge: get another ticket and bring a friend or relative for a fun outing.
Pick-up location varies with each tour and will be provided once you book a tour via phone or email.
Reviews
Many Yelpers have gone on Esotouric's one-of-a-kind, intelligent, and unpredictable adventures and give it a solid 3.5 stars. Here's what they're writing about:
- Our tour guide was first class -- clearly very, very knowledgeable on the subject and terrific at conveying his enthusiasm for the material...and I got to see parts of downtown I would not have had reason to venture into by myself. – Matthew P.
- Everything is incredibly well researched, with a plethora of pictures, old newspaper clippings etc. to boot, which are shared via the monitors on the bus as each fascinating story unfolds. – Sarah T.
- If you're into quirky, off-beat history, you need to check out Esotouric. They offer both bus and walking tours with themes of crime, literature, architecture, art and more. – Rosalin L.
Discarded Black Dahlia Jokes
While determining which of Black Dahlia tours were the best in the city, Groupon's investigative team recently stumbled on a crumpled sheet of paper containing scratched-out Black Dahlia jokes, which we've determined to be discarded material from one of Esotouric's competitors' tours guides' "jokestorm" sessions:
- I'm just glad the Black Dahlia gets to witness Manny Ramirez's return to baseball. Wait, scratch that. She's dead.
- Big news out of Disney World this week: two monorails crashed into each other. In other news, the Black Dahlia died in 1947.
- Sarah Palin resigned last week. I guess you could say she resigned because she was mourning the loss of the Black Dahlia. Because she's dead.
Esotouric's guides don't need jokestorm sessions. They're funny on the fly, and they don't make fun of the Black Dahlia for being dead.
