Pack your valises for an Art Deco Society of Los Angeles excursion to the historic Art Deco meets Spanish Colonial Revival Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, CA for a presentation its history and Disney’s restoration and adaptive reuse of this magnificent facility.
Kristin Wojkowski will take us for a dip in the waters of vintage swimwear, utilizing examples from her growing collection - which includes 1920s and 30s Catalina suits - even one from Pacific Knitting Mills, the earlier name of Catalina Swimwear. Following is a no host cocktail gathering on the roof of the Catalina Island Museum.
SOLD OUT! Join us for a private curator-led tour of the new Hollywood Heritage Museum exhibit, Meet the Stars: 100 Years of MGM Studios and the Golden Age of Hollywood, celebrating the centennial anniversary of MGM Studios. The Streamline Moderne architecture of the studio known for THE WIZARD OF OZ and silent era hits THE BIG PARADE and BEN-HUR (both 1925) will be examined along with the lives of the stars of the Art Deco era including Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Marion Davies, John Gilbert and others. A wine and nibbles reception will allow members to mingle and discuss their favorite exhibit discoveries.
SOLD OUT! Join us to discover "Art Deco Hollywood" on our walking tour! Discover the birthplace of the film industry and experience the glamour and modernity that Hollywood Boulevard has to offer. We will also visit our current Historic Cultural Monument nominee, the Mountain States Life Building/Yucca Tower.
Our annual meeting is a time to gather for an update on ADSLA’s achievements in 2023 and a preview of where it is going in the new year. Following a 30 minute meeting with ADSLA’s board of directors, we will offer a presentation on the impending preservation of the exterior of the Earl Carroll Theatre.
ONLINE SALES ARE CLOSED. TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR THE 9:20 AM TOUR ONLY AT THE DOOR. CASH ONLY.
For the 40th year, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles “digs up the dirt” on Hollywood history - including a few scandals - via a living history walking tour of the 124-year-old Hollywood Forever Cemetery at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard. Visit the gravesites of early Hollywood stars, movie moguls, and the pioneers who shaped Los Angeles, to hear fascinating tales about their lives (both their accomplishments and misdeeds) from historians and living history performances.
Tours will commence every 20 minutes, rain or shine, between 9:00 and 11:00 AM.
Please note that if you try a tour time and you cannot purchase tickets, it is sold out. Try another time. As of 10/14 tickets for the 9:20am tour is NOT sold out.
Any available tickets will be sold for CASH ONLY at the door. Member tickets are $20 and non-member tickets are $30. Exact change is much appreciated.
Online Ticketing is Closed, but tix are available at the door.
She was just as famous as literary icon F. Scott Fitzgerald, more prolific and earned much more money in Hollywood where she wrote 10 screenplays. So why isn't Jazz Age writer Ursula Parrott well known today?
Marsha Gordon, the author of the new biography Becoming the Ex-Wife The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott will give a book talk In connection with the exhibit “The Life & Unexpected Legacy of Norma Shearer” curated by Darin Barnes at the Hollywood Heritage Museum. Parrott, was the writer of the scandalous 1929 novel Ex-Wife which was adapted for the screen as THE DIVORCEE (1930) starring Norma Shearer.
Join us for our first in person lecture since before the pandemic! We can’t imagine a more perfect location than the Nethercutt Museum and Collection, for an illustrated presentation on the new Angel City Press book Driving Force: Automobiles and the New American City 1900-1930 by Darryl Holter with Stephen Gee and a foreword by Jay Leno.
Join us for our virtual mid-year membership meeting for the announcement of the organization’s new leadership and Fall events.
Join us for the return of the Art Deco Society's highly anticipated "Art Deco Hollywood" walking tour! Discover the birthplace of the film industry and experience the glamour and modernity that Hollywood Boulevard has to offer.
Art Deco World Congresses are back! The Miami Design Preservation League and the Art Deco Society of the Palm Beaches will host the 2023 Congress in April. To give us a talk on Miami Art Deco architecture, as well as a preview of the upcoming gathering of Art Deco organizations from around the world, is Jack Johnson, Chair of the Miami Preservation League.
Our annual meeting is a time to gather for an update on ADSLA’s achievements in 2022 and a preview of where it is going in the new year. Following a 30 minute meeting with ADSLA’s board of directors, we will turn the mic over to Miami Preservation League Chair Jack Johnson, for a talk on Art Deco Miami, in anticipation of the April 2023 World Congress in Florida.
November 2022 marks the centennial of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, so we have invited Colleen (aka the Vintage Egyptologist) and John Darnell to give a virtual illustrated presentation to commemorate the occasion. This talk also coincides with the release of their latest book EGYPT'S GOLDEN COUPLE: WHEN AKHENATEN AND NEFERTITI WERE GODS ON EARTH, published by St. Martin's Press
This Summer, the Hollywood Bowl celebrates its 100th year as an essential Los Angeles venue for unique cultural experiences. In this virtual program, we will look at the Bowl’s origins, the women who championed the concept of an outdoor amphitheater and the figures who performed there during the Art Deco era.
This lecture is back by popular demand for preservation month! Take a look at one of Los Angeles’ most mourned lost Art Deco treasures. Historian Nathan Marsak casts a spotlight on the black and gold Richfield Oil Company Building, located at 555 South Flower Street, from its construction in 1928/29 to its demolition in 1968/69.
As part of our preservation month activities, we will visit the legendary 1935 Wurdeman & Becket architected Streamline Moderne Pan Pacific auditorium on Beverly Boulevard. It opened to great fanfare on May 18, 1935 and reigned as the premiere Los Angeles exposition venue for 35 years. From ice skating exhibitions to Elvis concerts, car shows and speeches by future U.S. presidents, there was always something exciting going on at the Pan Pacific - until, the Los Angeles Convention Center entered the picture in 1972. Our speaker, architect, preservation architect and co-founder of Hollywood Heritage, Fran Offenhauser will share her personal story of trying to save the building.
Throughout the 1930s and into the late 1940s a wealth of Art Deco DWP buildings, Distribution Stations, Receiving Stations, and Customer Service Centers, were built all over the Los Angeles area. Most of these still stand today and only a few have been substantially changed. Some remain hidden treasures often unseen while others hide in plain sight. Architect Jeff Bissiri will take us on a virtual journey through Los Angele to take a look at these community enhancing structures.
Throughout the 1930s and into the late 1940s a wealth of Art Deco DWP buildings, Distribution Stations, Receiving Stations, and Customer Service Centers, were built all over the Los Angeles area. Most of these still stand today and only a few have been substantially changed. Some remain hidden treasures often unseen while others hide in plain sight. Architect Jeff Bissiri will take us on a virtual journey through Los Angele to take a look at these community enhancing structures.
Join jewelry historian Lisa Schoening as she explores precious jewels from Oscar Heyman Brothers, who crafted many of Tiffany & Co.’s iconic designs, as well as from well-known firms like Raymond Yard and Marcus & Co. We’ll look at jewelers to the stars Paul Flato and Traebert & Hoeffer-Mauboussin, and at the newly-popular “illusion jewels” touted by Vogue and manufactured for discerning American audiences by Napier, Miriam Haskell, and Trifari.
Join us for a virtual book talk with Christopher Long, author of “Jock Peters | The Varieties of Modernism Architecture and Design. Peters is best known in Los Angeles for the Bullocks Wilshire interiors that he designed., but he also had a stint in the fledgling motion picture industry. Soon after Peters immigrated to America in 1922, he became a set designer for Famous Players-Lasky (later Paramount Pictures), working under the famed Hans Dreier. In 1927,
British historian Lucy Jane Santos will take us on a tour of all the best nightlife spots (nightclubs, bars and hotels) in 1920s and 30s London in this virtual presentation back in time. The lecture will be peppered with cocktail demos of some of the popular cocktails of the day.
The Weimar era in Germany, from the end of World War One in 1918 to the Nazi takeover in 1933, was a time of social and political ferment, a time of conflict and rapid change, with people rejecting the old conventions and constraints and embracing modernity in art, film, sex and dance. Dance historian Walter Nelson will look at this era through the lens of social dancing, as depicted in the films and art of the time - and dispel some widespread misconceptions reflected in programs like "Babylon Berlin".
Tuesday, September 14 at 8:00am is our VIRTUAL HEARING. The Historic-Cultural Monument nomination for the Howard Hughes Headquarters Building (Council District 4) located at 7000 West Romaine Street, 930-956 North Sycamore Avenue, and 931-953 North Orange Drive is scheduled to be heard before the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee of City Council on Tuesday, September 14 at 8:00am (or after, depending on where we appear on the agenda). The agenda has not yet been posted, but will soon be available online here:https://www.lacity.org/.../fol.../council-committee-meetings
More details on this nomination here.
As part of our preservation month activities, we will visit the legendary 1935 Wurdeman & Becket architected Streamline Moderne Pan Pacific auditorium on Beverly Boulevard. It opened to great fanfare on May 18, 1935 and reigned as the premiere Los Angeles exposition venue for 35 years. From ice skating exhibitions to Elvis concerts, car shows and speeches by future U.S. presidents, there was always something exciting going on at the Pan Pacific - until, the Los Angeles Convention Center entered the picture in 1972. Our speaker, architect, preservation architect and co-founder of Hollywood Heritage, Fran Offenhauser will share her personal story of trying to save the building.
Join us virtually to kick off preservation month with a toast to Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architectural style in various Los Angeles neighborhoods! The Art Deco Society of Los Angeles has invited some of the most dedicated 1920s and 30s local architecture Instagrammers to present a selection of gems they’ve discovered in their exploration of the city. Because admiring mouth-watering Art Deco architecture infused with Los Angeles cultural history can make you thirsty, we’ve challenged a local bartender to create and demonstrate a few cocktails that pay homage to Los Angeles Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture
We launch May preservation month a week early with a look at one of Los Angeles’ most mourned lost Art Deco treasures. During his Bunker Hill talk last Fall, we invited Nathan Marsak to return to the virtual stage to cast a spotlight on the black and gold Richfield Oil Company Building, located at 555 South Flower Street, from its construction in 1928/29 to its demolition in 1968/69.
April 2021 has been declared “World Art Deco Month” by Art Deco International. The organization will host a diverse menu of online events and, where practical, in-person events - all designed to showcase the many aspects of the Art Deco style in architecture, design and entertainment. Expand for information about the global offerings.
Tamara de Lempicka’s (1898 -1980) coming of age as an artist in Paris aligned perfectly with the advent of the Jazz Age. In those years, when most women were far from liberated, her work celebrating feminine power and sensuality with a female gaze was groundbreaking. In this lecture, her great-granddaughter will discuss the artist’s work, her life and her loves, on the occasion of the publication of a new edition of Passion by Design by Kizette de Lempicka-Foxhall and Marisa de Lempicka (Abbeville Press)
In January, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles holds an annual meeting to update members on the organization’s activities in the previous year. We combine this (approximately) 30 minute business update with a lecture.
The 2021 meeting will be held virtually. Current members will be sent free registration information. To participate, you must register on Zoom. A link will be sent to you after you register. Your registration is valid for one device.
To join the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, click here.
The Art Deco Society of Los Angeles begins each year with an annual members meeting. To make it fun, we pair it with a program. This year our program involves a bandleader who entertained at the Cocoanut Grove and an ice skater and glamour girl who partook of Los Angeles' Art Deco era nightlife! These two histories are told my family members who will share personal memorabilia!
Only current members will receive a link to participate in this program, so JOIN or RENEW today! Memberships start at only $25. Scroll down to find out about our annual meeting program Our Famous Families: Los Angeles Nightclubs, the Hollywood Ice Review and to register to attend.
About the Program
We asked our members if they would share a picture or a memento as a prompt for stories about their families in the early 20th century. Out of that, emerged two family histories that are high in glitz and glamour, so we’ve asked these descendants to share them as the program for our annual meeting on January 23. We will also take a look back at the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles’ own history, with two long-time members, Suzanne Henderson and Frank Cooper, who will share a bit of history about the origins of ADSLA.
These programs will follow our 30 minute business meeting and there will be time for socializing after the presentations. Please bring your own “shares” if you’ve recently heard about or done something you would like to recommend to the group.
There is no fee to attend, but you must be an Art Deco Society of Los Angeles member.
Abe Lyman, Bandleader at the Cocoanut Grove
ADSLA member Steve Simon will present on his Great Uncle, Abe Lyman who was a famous band leader and composer in the late 20’s through 40’s deco era. His band, Abe Lyman and the Ambassador Orchestra, was one of the first headlining dance orchestras at the Cocoanut Grove when it opened and performed there for several years. He is also credited with increasing the popularity of dance orchestras which evolved into the “swing” era. He made numerous recordings, as well as film and radio performances. The presentation will include the history of Abe Lyman, illustrated by Steve's personal collection of memorabilia, original early recordings and film clips. Steve previously presented on his famous relative Fanchon and Marco.
Glamour on the Ice and at the Earl Carroll Theatre
Anne Schnoebelen tells us, “My mother, Clarice Evans, lived a very glamorous life in the '30s and '40s, touring with the Sonja Henie Hollywood Ice Revue as well as skating in several of the Sonja Henie movies, including "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941). During World War II she toured with a small company which produced ice shows at military bases. Our family has a collection of professional movie and ice show stills and other images from her active and exciting social and professional life. When I learned that the ADSLA was working on preservation of the Earl Carroll Theater, I was prompted to send the photo of my mother at a table with other couples--including two servicemen--at that venue in the '40s. We also have great fashion shots of my mother and her friends in beautiful deco garb, behind-the-scenes candid shots of movie sets, and the beautiful graphics of the Sonja Henie skating programs. And Clarice with her fashionable wire hair terrier Letty, also with a famous movie connection! I am grateful to the ADSLA for inviting me to share some of this collection.”
For the last thirty years, Anne Schnoebelen has been advocating for the preservation of the Art Deco artworks remaining on Treasure Island from the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939-1940.
Schedule:
Saturday, January 23, 2021
1:00 PM Annual Meeting of ADSLA
1:30 PM Origins of ADSLA
1:45 PM Bandleader Abe Lyman
2:20 PM Clarice Evans – Ice Skater & Los Angeles Glamour Girl
THE OVIATT BUILDING documentary is the untold story of downtown Los Angeles' first Art Deco jewel: the 1928 Oviatt Building and its opulent penthouse. Though many of you know the Oviatt Building for the vintage Clcada Nightclub, this Art Deco gem began life as a fine men’s clothing store and living quarters for owner James Oviatt. Available for a limited time! Viewing ends March 6.
