Art Deco made its formal appearance in Paris at the 1925 L Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, a showcase for art, architecture, and design that promoted progress, modernity, and the present. The greatest export from this exhibition was a style that has since been recognized as one of the great design movements of the 20th century. Art Deco s growing recognition coincided with the growth of Los Angeles as the entertainment capital. Between world wars, the city s architecture sprouted characteristic signs of Art Deco: the interplay of vertical and horizontal...

Los Angeles and the movies grew up together, and a natural extension of the picture business was the premium presentation of the product the biggest, best, and brightest theatres imaginable. The magnificent movie palaces along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles still represent the highest concentration of vintage theatres in the world. With Hollywood and the movies practically synonymous, the theatres in the studios neighborhood were state-of-the-art for showbiz, whether they were designed for film, vaudeville, or stage productions. From the elegant Orpheum and the exotic Grauman s Chinese to...