{"id":167349,"date":"2026-02-06T23:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167349\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T23:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:02:13","slug":"downtown-la-art-deco-mystery-solved-at-oviatt-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167349\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown LA Art Deco Mystery Solved at Oviatt Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

Historian Marc Chevalier reveals the true artist behind the famous works at the Oviatt Building. Get inside the landmark this Sunday. <\/p>\n

Historian Marc Chevalier<\/a> is obsessed with Downtown\u2019s Oviatt Building<\/a>. The vintage clothing collector and connoisseur has been researching the former haberdashery for years, wears original suits from the store and even produced a documentary film<\/a> about the art deco landmark.<\/p>\n

His research has uncovered much hidden history about the tower, and last year he traveled to Paris to present his findings at the centennial of the Exposition Internationale des Arts D\u00e9coratifs et Industriels Modernes, <\/a>the famed design fair which lent its name to the style.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"The entrance to the Oviatt buildingCredit: Photo by Marc Chevalier<\/p>\n

On February 8, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles<\/a> is hosting Chevalier for an illustrated lecture in the room where it happened. Members of the social club and preservation and educational group organize outings to historic bars and restaurants around L.A. called \u201cCocktails in Historic Places\u201d as well as their big annual ball at the Casino on Catalina Island. The group hosts a costume party at Halloween time and conducts tours of vintage venues like the Fox Pomona theater for members.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Ceiling at the entrance to the Oviatt BuildingCredit: Photo by MelissaMStewart<\/p>\n

The 1928 Oviatt was one of the spots that brought the glamorous style to Southern California. \u201cIt was extremely influential,\u201d says the club\u2019s president, Margot Gerber. \u201cThe store was a hub for a lot of movie stars, movers and shakers, and that sort of society that was ruling Los Angeles at the time.\u201d Chevalier will look at how Los Angeles embraced the world\u2019s most modern style.<\/p>\n

Chevalier dug deep into the glass ceiling of the Oviatt foyer and discovered that much of the artwork had been misattributed to the wrong artist. \u201cHe was able to prove it through research he did in Paris a couple of months ago,\u201d Gerber explains. \u201cWe decided this (revelation) had to happen at the Oviatt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Gate detail from the Oviatt BuildingCredit: Photo by MelissaMStewart<\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

Deco, Go West: How A Monumental Exposition in Paris Conquered Los Angeles<\/a>
Sunday, February 8, 2026
1:00\u202fPM\u00a0\u00a02:30\u202fPM
Oviatt Building
Cicada
617 South Olive Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Historian Marc Chevalier reveals the true artist behind the famous works at the Oviatt Building. Get inside the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[35125,80537,32604,48,52,51,47,50,49,80538],"class_list":{"0":"post-167349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-art-deco","9":"tag-art-deco-society","10":"tag-catalina-island","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-headlines","13":"tag-la-news","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","16":"tag-los-angeles-news","17":"tag-oviatt-building"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}