"Hollywood draws them from all over the country.” -Lynn Martin, roommate of Elizabeth Short.
Elizabeth Short, infamous for her ill-fated moniker, The Black Dahlia, died with a dollar in her purse. Her murder in 1947 is the most compelling unsolved crime Los Angeles has ever known.
The young beauty with stark black hair, alabaster skin and red lips disappeared on January 14th somewhere in Downtown after yet another night of carousing. The second to last place she was seen alive was at the Biltmore Hotel. Earlier she was seen at Crown Grill, now a hostess joint called Galaxy Club. The mystery of what happened in the hours preceding her abrupt and notorious death became a tale of Hollywood lore. Short became the poster girl for the nameless faces that found their way to Hollywood seeking a life more extraordinary.
The year was 1947 and ripe for murder. All the elements of film noir. Shady politicians, ambitious wannabe starlets, post war depression, transient encounters at crossroads.
Short's body was found in Leimert Park severely mutilated, cut in two, and drained of blood. The murder remains unsolved and has since been the source of widespread speculation as well as several books and film adaptations.
What were her last moments leading to murder? Who was the real Black Dahlia? Esotouric Tours attempts to debunk the myths and speculation of the gruesome and much-publicized crime. One such misconception is Short was another actress-type struggling for a break when in fact Short never auditioned for anything in her life.
The Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus Tour seeks answers by exploring the last weeks of Elizabeth Short's life, asking not "who killed her?" but "who was she?"
The tour which starts at the Millenium Biltmore and ends in a quiet single story residential block of the body dumping site near Crenshaw and Martin Luther King is not your ordinary tour.
According to The Los Angeles Times, " This bus tour...has established itself as an L.A. classic."
The company veers off into fascinating, neglected neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The provocative and complex themes mix crime and social history, literature and film with original research and startling observations.
The Black Dahlia Tour focused primarily on the intent, time line, suspects and other prominent key figures. The tour ends with host Kim Cooper's very intelligent theory of what really went down that night.
From the few personal possessions she left behind to the friends who scarcely knew her, the mass hysteria of the investigation, bizarre suspects and false confessions, the tour reveals all that's known about this enigmatic girl who reinvented herself at whim and became the unfortunate symbol of her time and place.
For more information on Esotouric Tours check out www.esotouric.com
