The Real Black Dahlia October 20, 2007

Our most popular Crime Bus tour, The Real Black Dahlia spans the city from downtown to Hollywood to South Central, visiting the actual scenes of Elizabeth Short's brief life and death in Los Angeles, and those places that have become attached to her in the ever growing mythology of the Black Dahlia murder. The major and minor theories of Short's murder are explored and debunked and passengers are introduced to a little known and quite convincing suspect with ties to the body dump scene near 39th and Norton.

Since January 1947, this iconic mutilation murder has lingered unsolved at the forefront of the American imagination, with dozens of books, films, TV shows and websites dedicated to solving the slaying of the ambitious young woman from Medford, Mass. who came to Hollywood hoping to make it, and ended up cut in two in a vacant lot. Suspects have included famous men like Norman Chandler and Orson Welles, crazed lesbians, twisted drifters and more than one writer's father, but still the mystery abides.

On the Real Black Dahlia Crime Bus, Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak give a guided tour to more than two dozen scenes from the real and imaginary history of the Black Dahlia case. Along the way, passengers will explore the social history of postwar Los Angeles, several popular Dahlia theories will be debunked and a little known but likely suspect will be introduced. The tour will introduce passengers to the real Elizabeth Short and some of the peculiar characters who knew her in life or become obsessed with her in death.

Snacks include Black Dahlia-flavored gelato from Scoops.

Official Website: http://www.esotouric.com