Like all architectural gems in Los Angeles, examples of Art Deco are hidden among a plethora of building styles. But you can join me for an up close look at one of the area’s beautiful examples of Art Deco, which is a historically significant style in the Los Angeles area.

My dear friend and architectural expert Bret Parsons and I will be leading a series of four talks at the historic Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica, starting on Sept. 15. I’m particularly excited about this because I’m a big proponent of preserving Art Deco. In fact, it was the demolition of a stunning example of Art Deco that helped spark a conservation movement in Los Angeles. (More on that later.)

Bret and I will kick off the lectures with a “Tea, Talk and Tour” at the Hotel Shangri-La, a striking beacon of Art Deco elegance that rises above the Palisades cliff of Santa Monica with stunning views of the ocean. We’ll give you a history of the property and a glimpse at the many Hollywood stars of the 30s and 40s who frequented it. We’ll also take a walk in the area to show you some fine examples of Art Deco near and around the Third Street Promenade. Later lectures with guest speakers will cover interiors, restoring historic properties, and Art Deco furniture and arts.

 The Hotel Shangri-La, with its ocean liner shape, is a lovely example of the 1930s Streamline Moderne style of Art Deco.

Created in the 1920s and 1930s in an era of design luxury and the opening of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 (which prompted a frenzy of global interest), Art Deco was defined at first in a stylized zigzag design. The style received a worldwide boost with the huge 1925 international exhibition in Paris that spotlighted the newest designs in products ranging from cars to furniture and decorative arts to interiors.

Art Deco evolved from the exuberantly decorated Zig Zag Moderne designs of the roaring 20s to the Streamline Moderne style of the Depression-era 30s. The newer expression of Art Deco was no less elegant, it was simply more horizontal with cleaner lines. Inspired by the aerodynamics found in industrial design, architects and designers embedded the shapes of cars, steam ships and zeppelins in their works.

Leading the way in this new stylized form were France and the United States, with Art Deco finding a particularly strong hold in Los Angeles, where it was prominently featured in movies and was popular among many Hollywood stars.

Alas, over the years, many fine Art Deco buildings were lost to the wrecking ball or – in the case of the Pan-Pacific Auditorium on the site of what is now The Grove – to a suspicious fire.

But there is a silver lining in the story. The loss of the black-and-gold Richfield Tower in downtown L.A., a beautiful example of Art Deco, along with the near-loss of the L.A. Central Library, were catalysts in the formation of the L.A. Conservancy.

Be sure to join me at Shangri-La in September. More details will be forthcoming in my next newsletter and you can check my website  or contact me at eschapa@adelphia.net for updates.