Magical mystery (and crime) tours

Crime has paid off nicely in the last 15 months for Kim Cooper. But after launching a bus tour focused on lurid misdeeds, Cooper and her compatriots in the blog 1947project.com are going legit: They’re expanding their tours to include literature, music and architecture, and adopting a new name, Esotouric.

“We’ve sold our tours as crime tours, but there’s always been a lot more to them -- architecture, literary elements, offbeat history, food,” says Cooper, who is teaming with husband Richard Schave, 1947project member Nathan Marsak, performance artist Kelly Kuvo and others. “We’re not only about 1947, and not only about crime.”

The first Crime Bus tour began in January 2006 as an outgrowth of the 1947project, visiting the real-life sites of infamous mayhem, including the spot where the dismembered body of Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. the Black Dahlia, was found. Since then, Cooper et al. have refined their presentations to include on-board slide shows and souvenir booklets, and added ventures such as the “Blood & Dumplings” tour, which earlier this year delved into the San Gabriel Valley’s criminal history ... with a stop for Chinese food.

Though they’re branching out with a ‘60s-themed rock ‘n’ roll exploration of the Sunset Strip and, in the fall, an “architecture as anthropology” tour, this weekend’s jaunt -- “The Real Black Dahlia” -- strikes a familiar dark chord, albeit with a sweet twist: One of the stops will be at Scoops Gelato, where tour-goers can try one of several Dahlia-themed treats. Blood orange sorbet, anyone?

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“The Real Black Dahlia,” 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday. Departs from Lincoln Heights Cypress Gold Line station. $55. www.esotouric.com. Other tours: “Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles,” May 12 and July 21; “Pasadena Confidential,” May 26; “John Fante’s Dreams of Bunker Hill,” June 16; “Riot on Sunset Strip,” June 23.