The authentic, annual LA tradition of Brazilian Carnaval erupts on Saturday February 20, 2010 at Club Nokia/LA Live, transforming the massive dance floor into a true Brazilian party, for the first time in Downtown LA.



Give your special someone an experience this Valentine's Day. Flowers, chocolate, disappointing dinner out? NOT! The annual love-athon is on Sunday of a 3 day holiday weekend this year (President's Day is on Monday the 15th) which opens up many possibilities for planning a completely unique day or weekend...




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LA CONSERVANCY ART DECO WALKING TOUR
By Abby Abanes

It started off a little gray, but soon sunshine came our way for what was a very informative walking tour. On this particular day, I went on the LA Conservancy Art Deco Walking Tour. For 2-1/2 hours, we explored a lot of the beautiful Art Deco architecture that Los Angeles had to offer.

Before I talk about the tour itself, first, let me tell you a little about Art Deco. For one thing, "Art Deco" is actually a relatively new term that was coined in 1968 by Bevis Hillier. The words "Art Deco" came from "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes," which translates to International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts. This exposition was part of the Paris World Fair in 1928.

Art Deco was characterized by clean, geometric and elegant lines that replaced the excessive decoration of previous styles. For example, when looking at an Art Deco building, the eye is supposed to follow the bottom of the building to the top without stopping whereas a Beaux-Art building has so much ornamentation that your eye gets distracted as it looks from top to bottom. This twentieth century movement in the decorative arts, grew to influence architecture, design, fashion and the visual arts.

Specifically when Art Deco came to America, there were two distinct architectural phases. From 1925 to 1930, the earlier phase was referred to as "Style Moderne" or Zigzag Moderne." Zigzag Moderne takes its name from the lavish ornamentation which often included zigzags (chevrons), ziggurats (stepped pyramid shapes), spirals, figure sculpture stylized plants and animals. Buildings following this style also had a strong vertical emphasis, as if they were reaching for the sky. Setbacks with recessed windows in the buildings gave them an illusion of even greater height.

In the 1930s, the second phase emerged and was referred to as "Streamline Moderne." With the Great Depression so came the end of the lavish use of opulent materials. Buildings were stripped to sleek forms and new designs that were more horizontal began to gain favor over the vertical emphasis. Vertically oriented recessed windows of the Zigzag Moderne style were replaced by bands of horizontal windows. Even the materials changed. Glass, brick and aluminum were replacing the brightly colored terra cotta used in the earlier phase. Chrome and aluminum stripping replaced copper or marble sidings.

While Art Deco Architecture eventually lost ground by World War II, the Art Deco style is still prevalent in modern times from furnishings to jewelry and fashion, which goes to show that what is old will always be new again, eventually. Ok, now that I've given you some general info about Art Deco, let's talk about the tour.

We first started at the Oviatt Building, which due to its architectural elements really spawned the Art Deco movement in Los Angeles. Just a bit of history on who James Oviatt is - he used to own one of the pre-eminent haberdasheries in Los Angeles. The restaurant, Cicada, is the former shop location. While on a trip to France, he went to the Paris Exposition and fell in love with the Art Deco style. He fell in love to the point that he had a lot of Art Deco fixtures and furnishings made in France and had them shipped to LA. Upon their arrival in the US, he set out to have a building built that would showcase this new love.

When we arrived at the Oviatt building, we walked in the sheltered lobby and this is where our docent told us about the history of the Oviatt family as well as of the building itself. The main thing he wanted us to be aware of is Rene Lalique's contributions to the Oviatt Building. Look up and you'll see beautiful yellow glass. While the glass on the ceiling has been replicated, the glass at the top of the columns are still original. Also, the elevator door and than mailbox are by Lalique as well and thankfully, also original. That elevator took us to the Oviatt penthouse.


Once inside the penthouse, we were treated to an Art Deco extravaganza where everything from the furniture to the fixtures to the bar and flooring and even the carpeting were all done in the Art Deco style which included lots of geometric shapes and patterns. Outside, there is a spacious rooftop terrace that gave you a 360-degree view of downtown LA. However, even with all beautiful Art Deco pieces, I have to say that the most interesting thing about the Oviatt penthouse is the guest bathroom that also doubles as a sitting room. The beautiful fabric chair is not what it seems. Pull up the handle to reveal a toilet of all things.
Abby C. Abanes is a Senior Graphic Designer who has decided not to take the 12 step program to kick her addiction to Los Angeles because she's just having too much fun. If you'd like to join her in her travels around LA, please join MEETinLA and look for her events on the group calendar or check out her dining group, Pleasure Palate.



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