Join us to hear about the 1920s Menswear and how to wear it now with vintage menswear expert Marc Chevalier.
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 recent Historic Cultural Monument nominee, the Mountain States Life Building/Yucca Tower.
SOLD OUT! For the 41st 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 125-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.
Any available tickets on the day of the tour, will be sold for CASH ONLY at the door. Member tickets are $25 and non-member tickets are $35. Exact change is much appreciated.
Join us to celebrate the restoration of the 1933 Art Deco former Mogen David Temple and Church of Devine Guidance with a presentation on its cultural history, the restoration, a tour and vintage music by Janet Klein. Stay for refreshments and to dance on the newly uncovered original spacious wood floor!
Join us for an all day adventure at the historic Los Angeles Athletic Club which includes a presentation on the History of Women in the Water, plus a Vintage Swimsuit Fashion Parade and Finale Synchronized Swimming Performance by the Aqualilies, plus cocktails and live Jazz in the Club’s private restaurant and bar from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.
Union Station was the last great railway station built during the golden age of rail travel – an exciting site of colliding community histories. The Station was designed by the father-and-son architect team of John and Donald Parkinson with an innovative blend of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival and Art Deco architecture now commonly referred to as Mission Moderne. The stunning facility was completed in 1939 for a reported $11 million and opened with a lavish, star-studded, three-day celebration attended by a half million Angelenos.
We’re excited to announce that Bevis Hillier, the writer who brought Art Deco back into the culture with the publication of his 1968 book “Art Deco of the 20s and 30s” new insights and appreciation, is joining ADSLA from London for a Zoom talk with another esteemed Art Deco author, Arnold Schwartzman!
Join us to hear about the early 1920s crepe paper Halloween costume fad promoted by Dennison Manufacturing Company. We’ll look at vintage examples of costumes and accessories from the period as well as dive into to several of the popular how-to instruction booklets.
The Foursquare Church’s Founder Aimee Semple McPherson was a woman of intense passion, creativity and energy. She left a lasting impact on evangelism and on Los Angeles. She was truly a modern woman of the Art Deco era. On this docent-led field trip we will visit her 1922 home (complete with an Art Deco bathroom!!) which is now a museum, as well as her church’s sanctuary. You will learn all about Sister Aimee and see many artifacts from the life of this stylish modern faith healer.
Swan around the lake with ADSLA!
Join us for a morning out on one Los Angeles' most beautiful lakes for a Swan Boat ride and a tour of the park with the Echo Park Historical Society.
Our expedition includes communing with the Art Deco Lady of the Lake statue, as well as geese, turtles, fish and other wildlife in the park. A guide from the Echo Park Historical Society will enlighten us about origins of the 1892 park, the adjacent, Victorian Carroll Avenue neighborhood, its place in early silent comedy filmmaking and evangelism, the history of the Lotus blossoms and more!
The Foursquare Church’s Founder Aimee Semple McPherson was a woman of intense passion, creativity and energy. She left a lasting impact on evangelism and on Los Angeles. She was truly a modern woman of the Art Deco era. On this docent-led field trip we will visit her 1922 home (complete with an Art Deco bathroom!!) which is now a museum, as well as her church’s sanctuary. You will learn all about Sister Aimee and see many artifacts from the life of this stylish modern faith healer.
We’re off to hunt Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture in Glendale and Burbank with the Glendale Historical Society. Explore civic buildings, theaters and more with us!
SOLD OUT! 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. Museum admission is required to attend the cocktail gathering. This event can accommodate 300 people. The fashion show models will circulate on the rooftop.
Tickets are no longer on sale online. A very small number will be released at the door. CASH ONLY.
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.
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.
