Richard Schave of Esotouric

After his undergraduate studies in art history at UC Santa Cruz, Richard Schave set out to explore the American interior as an itinerent brick mason. His return to his native Los Angeles coincided with a renewed acquaintance with Kim Cooper, a once-detested academic colleague who would become his bride. Together, fusing scholarly research with new digital tools, they launched the 1947project time travel blog, along with In SRO Land, and On Bunker Hill, and the Esotouric tour company (subscribe to their history & preservation themed newsletter).

With the success of Kim’s True Crime tours (The Real Black Dahlia, Pasadena Confidential), Richard developed a series of Literary (Raymond Chandler, Charles Bukowski) and California Culture (The Lowdown on Downtown) excursions. Off the bus, Richard is a dedicated preservationist, and the host of the LAVA Sunday Salon and the LAVA Literary Salon series, named Best L.A. Literary Salon by Los Angeles Magazine. He also curates an ongoing series of forensic science programs at Cal State Los Angeles. To stay informed about Richard’s off-the-bus programs, including his popular free Broadway On My Mind walking tour series, subscribe to the LAVA newsletter.