Art Deco in Long Beach

Art Deco is a design ethos that can be dangerously summed up by the description: "emphasizing the vertical". The true artistic definition of Art Deco is obviously more broad than that, encompassing many of the tropes of Modern painting and sculpture, and this makes sense since Art Deco thrived during the same era as the Modern Art movement.

Strangely (or not) Art Deco stands for "art decoration" or "decorative art". If you're having a hard time imagining what this looks like, don't worry. Chances are good you've seen something in your lifetime that was constructed using these principles. Emphasized lines, mostly vertical but occasionally horizontal, is an easy to spot the erstwhile fad.

Two major metropolitan areas in America are well known for their use of Art Deco and the structures still standing showing it off (besides of course the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, probably the most recognizable and famous Art Deco building in the world). The first metrozone I'm talking about is Miami, the second is the Los Angeles area.

Long Beach has it's fair share. An offshore earthquake in 1933, known as the Long Beach Earthquake, destroyed much of the city's infrastructure and even spawned the Fields Act, a law that mandated that schools be built able to withstand earthquakes. If the quake had occurred during school hours, the death toll would have been much higher than the reported 210.

Since Art Deco was so popular when the rebuilding effort occurred, and concrete forms are sturdier than masonry, a whole slew of these buildings went up, many of which are still around today.

Here're some examples from the direct vicinity of out apartment. The post office:



An apartment:



A school:



A church:



Even a hospice:



In my 'hood, the steeples that poke out over the trees are Art Deco: