The dress up event visits the birthplace of Los Angeles with a high style outing Downtown
We all like to complain about the guy slipping off his flip flops on the plane, but nobody does anything about it. Until now. On Sunday, July 12 the El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument will get a major fashion upgrade as Dapper Day arrives Downtown.
Dapper Day has been the preeminent excuse for dressing up and having a good time since it debuted at Disneyland 15 years ago. The fancy dress excursions were started by designer Justin Jorgensen, a veteran experience and concept designer who has worked for Disney, Universal and Paramount theme parks.
Dapper Day at Olvera StreetCredit: Photo by @glitzentertainmentla for DapperDay.com
“The original Disneyland designers frequently populated their renderings with guests who appeared dressed for a day of sophisticated entertainment, men in sharp suits, toddlers working two-pieces, and ladies looking like a page from Dior’s sketchbook,” Jorgensen writes on Dapperday.com. “All as if a visit to Disneyland were on par with a night at the opera. And why shouldn’t it be?”
Dapper Day on Olvera StreetCredit: Photo courtesy Dapper Day
Dapper Day outings expanded around the world (Bonjour, Disneyland Paris) and all over Los Angeles. From the Natural History Museum to the Original Farmers Market to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Last year, the elegant swells took over Union Station and ventured across the street to see Olvera Street.
“The first time I went to Olvera Street it was when I was working at Imagineering on Disney’s California Adventure,” Jorgensen tells Los Angeles. “I had no idea this was tucked down in the center of Los Angeles, which makes sense since it is the actual birthplace of Los Angeles.”
Dapper Day on Olvera StreetCredit: Photo courtesy Dapper Day
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This year, look for the Dapper Day market inside the rarely opened 150-year-old Pico House hotel. Early birds can arrive to shop vintage at 11 a.m. with specials, discounts, gift and perks before the doors open at noon. Proceeds from a special Dia de Los Muertos calavera pin will be shared with the museums of El Pueblo. There are a dozen free museums at the landmark, including LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, the Chinese American Museum and Italian American Museum of Los Angeles and the Avila Adobe from 1818.
“You’ve got so many moments to discover as you move through El Pueblo,” Jorgensen says. It’s just a really lovely, contained space where you feel like you’re, if not back in the 1800s, at least in the early 20th century when it was refabricated. Something over time by itself becomes its own object of nostalgia.”
Jorgensen notes that Olvera Street exists somewhere between a living museum, a theme park and a cultural institution but is not exactly any of those things.
Dapper Day on Olvera StreetCredit: Photo by @glitzentertainmentla for DapperDay.com
“The layers of history are not frozen You see those layers of cultural change,” he says. “There’s a mishmash of various unlicensed IPs being run through various cultural lenses like Hello Kitty wearing L.A. Lakers. Even at the beginning there were wares that were made to be of interest to visitors in their time. Olvera Street is very Los Angeles in speaking to the ways different cultures in contemporary society get blended and interpreted. You can engage with the history but it’s absolutely having a dialogue with what’s happening today. There’ s a wonderful communication between the different decades that keeps it exciting.”
Dapper Day L.A.
Sunday, July 12 from 12 noon to 5pm
El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument
Pico House, 430 North Main Street, Los Angeles