Turn Back The Clock
We are off on an adventure to yesteryear... Downtown Los Angeles and the Cicada Club... A dinner club like in the real movies! Please join us for the fun. Read about 1928
Did You Know? - The James Oviatt Building, commonly referred to as The Oviatt Building, is an Art Deco high rise in Downtown Los Angeles located at 617 S. Olive Street, half a block south of 6th St. and Pershing Square. In 1983, the Oviatt Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Did You Know? - January 7, 1928 – The moat at the Tower of London, previously drained in 1843 (and planted with grass), is completely refilled by a tidal wave.
Did You Know? - It was designed by the Los Angeles architectural firm of Walker & Eisen. Excavation for the Oviatt Building's construction was begun in August 1927; the building was completed in May 1928. Its furnishings included a 12-ton illuminated glass ceiling and awning by architect Ferdinand Chanut and glassmaker Gaetan Jeannin. Rene Lalique designed and created the molded glass elevator door panels, front and side doors, chandeliers, and a large panel clock. Many tons of 'Napoleon' marble and a massive, three-faced tower clock with chimes were imported from France.
Today, Cicada Restaurant is located in the huge, ornate Art Deco space on the building's ground floor and upstairs mezzanine. On most Sunday nights, the restaurant converts into a 1920s-'30s style nightclub, Maxwell DeMille's Cicada Club, complete with live bands/orchestras, singers, and dance floor.
Did You Know? - June 17, 1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean (she succeeds the next day). Wilmer Stultz was the pilot.
Did You Know? - November 18, 1928 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film.
Our Car Has Arrived
1936 Packard
Did You Know? - Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last in 1958.
Did You Know? - December 21, 1928 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.
Did You Know? - February 26, 1928 Fats Domino, American musician (Blueberry Hill)
The moon was shining on us at 6:00 PM
Read about the building and its history
Come On Inside
The eagles gather.... Herb & Irene, Vicky & Del
Too bad such a beautiful building is in such a bad neighborhood
Hello there!
Our First Peek Inside...
Magnificent... The clock just turned back 80 years
The grand staircase
We were the first ones to arrive
Time for a walk around upstairs
From the grand staircase
Good view of the dance floor
The centerpiece
Surrounded by beautiful ladies
Sue keeps watching me.... What did I do??
Male Models Used To Show Gentlemen Their Potential Purchases
Did You Know? - A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zippers, and other notions. In American English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter. A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.
You can see a weird thought going through Vicky's head.... Look carefully
Paul models the latest in stockings
Did You Know? - The word haberdasher appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Haberdashers were initially peddlers, sellers of small wares such as needles, buttons, etc. The word could derive from the an Old Norse word akin to the Icelandic haprtask, which means "peddlers' wares" or the sack in which the peddler carried them. If this is the case, a haberdasher (in its Scandinavian meaning) would be very close to a mercer (French).
Perhaps more likely, since the word has no recorded use in Scandinavia, it is from Anglo-Norman hapertas, meaning 'small ware'. A haberdasher would retail small wares, the goods of the peddler, while a mercer would specialize in "linens, silks, fustian, worsted piece-goods and bedding"
Meanwhile The Real Men Discuss News Of The Day Over A Martini
Apparition or a camera misfire??? Only the ghosts of days gone by know for sure
The girls wind their way down the staircase
Original Shirt Drawers Still Exist
Did You Know? - The James Oviatt Building, circa 1928, was designed by the Los Angeles–based architectural firm of Walker & Eisen, a monument to its namesake, a wealthy dealer in men's clothing. The son of a blacksmith, Oviatt worked as a window dresser before opening a small haberdashery in 1912 with business partner Frank Baird Alexander. Soon, Alexander & Oviatt began catering to the needs of silver–screen icons like Douglas Fairbanks and John Barrymore. While on a luxury buying trip to France in 1925, Oviatt visited the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts, where the term "Art Deco" was born; he was inspired to build a bigger store in the trendy new style.
Pick and choose...
8:00 PM And It Is Show Time ... Take It Away Maxwell DeMille
Great announcer... Takes us back in time
Janet Klein And The Parlor Boys
Please visit her site! Raised in San Bernardino, California, during the 1970s, Klein's early musical education came from her father Stephen Klein, a teacher and avant-garde animator whose taste ran primarily to Frank Zappa and Classical. Even more importantly, Klein's grandparents regaled her with tales of New York in the 1930s (where her grandfather Marty Klein had worked as a stage magician), instilling a lifelong fascination with pre-World War II American popular culture into the young girl.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Start your engines
Swoosh.... Off they go in a cloud of dust
Ian Whitcomb and the ukulele
Did You Know? - Ian was born in England in 1941. He grew up singing and adoring popular songs. He went to boarding schools in Sussex and Dorset, where, ignoring classical music, he organized bands ranging from comb & lavatory paper groups to skiffle and rock 'n' roll outfits. By 1960 he had become a decent honky-tonk and blues pianist as well as a hard-strumming ukulele player. In his singing he made little attempt to sound like a venerable African-American, unlike so many of his fellow British performers.
He studied history and political science at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland from 1961 to 1965, graduating with an honors degree. While at university he formed a band called Bluesville which became Ireland's first successful rock group, breaking into the American hit charts early in 1965 with "This Sporting Life," their second release. Following this came "You Turn Me On," a Top Ten novelty disc that has since become a classic. His other hit records were "N-Nervous!" and "Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday On Saturday Night?". The latter reintroduced the ukulele into pop culture after an absence of many years. This was before Tiny Tim's arrival on the scene.
Check the stockings....
Pauline Wagoner... Movie Star Born August 8th, 1910
The lady in the red hat is 101 years old and played Fae Ray in King King (top of the Empire State Building)
Wow!!
She did doubles for Fae Rae in the Empire State Building scenes
Paul watches from on high... Or, was he high???
The stories on on at the table
What are these two up to????
Today meets yesterday.... This set up controls the lights/sound on the stage
A typical changing room circa 1928
She is indeed brilliant
Dancing the night away
