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The Black Dahlia murder in 1947 is the most compelling unsolved crime Los Angeles has ever known. What Jack the Ripper is to London, the Torso Killer to Cleveland, the Black Dahlia is to L.A. And yet unlike those other cases, the name Black Dahlia refers not to the killer, but to the victim. What was it about Elizabeth Short that keeps her the object of obsessive fascination by writers, musicians, artists, filmmakers, cops and readers, decades after she was slain?The Real Black Dahlia tour seeks to answer this question by intimately exploring the last weeks of Elizabeth Short’s life, asking not “who killed her?” but “who was she?”—and how do we know so much about a person who was a stranger in town, with no fixed address, no means of support and no real confidantes? The answer takes us deep into the twin shadow worlds of mid-century investigative reporting and detective work, and a high stakes race to turn trauma into gold.
This walking tour around the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles takes us from the human hustle of Main Street to the serene lobby of the Biltmore Hotel (the second-to-last place she was seen alive), the discreet gay bar that was her final intended destination to the Greyhound station where she checked her bags, and to the newspaper offices that sensationalized and humanized her.
From the few personal possessions she left behind to the friends who scarcely knew her, from the mass hysteria of the investigation with its fruitless leads, wacko suspects and false confessions, the tour reveals all that’s known about this enigmatic black-haired girl who reinvented herself at whim, and shows how she came to be the unfortunate symbol of her time and place.
This walking tour is illustrated with rare images you can view on your smartphone.
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Event Venue
Grand Central Market, Downtown Los Angeles, Sushi Rush, 317 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013, United States
Tickets
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