The Friday night film festival and 1920s pajama party in the Queen’s Salon will kick off the 5th Annual Queen Mary Art Deco Festival slated for September 4th-7th. Men will dress in smoking jackets and robes, and women will lounge around in sexy silk pajamas listening to the jazzy sounds of “Ian Whitcomb & The Bungalow Boys.” In addition to the Friday evening tomfoolery, the weekend will feature Art Deco tours of the ship, and a Long Beach walking tour led by John Thomas, co-author of “Long Beach Art Deco.” There will be six lectures included in the general admission and the Grand Passport (package). The festivities will continue with a semi-formal Saturday evening Art Deco Ball featuring “Dean Mora and his Orchestra. There will be an Art and Antique Bazaar held throughout the weekend. Hotel and festival packages are available at 2008 rollback rates. Prices range from $12.95 for general admission to an all-inclusive package for two priced at $650. For more information, call (562) 435-3511.
Category Archives: Art Deco
Celebrating 25 years
Peter and Deborah Keresztury, producers of the Art Deco and Modernism Sale in San Francisco, are celebrating 25 years of their show this year. Held twice a year on the first weekends of June and December, the show is the largest in the country with more than 150 exhibitors. This year’s “Weekend By-The-Bay” is slated for June 6th and 7th. The Concourse Exhibition Center at 8th and Brannan Street will be filled to the brim with furniture, accessories, art, pottery, books, jewelry, vintage clothing and collectible from 1900 to 1980, including Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamlined Modern, Vintage Western, and Mid-Century Modern. Regular dealers include Bob Padilla of Original Sin, who brought a whale and shark mural to the December Show, Dennis Boses of Off the Wall whose showstoppers are always one of the hottest features, Leo Brereton, who lines the walls with original pulp magazine art from the 1920s through the 1960s, and a whole section of vintage fashion dealers. Among them is Haight-Ashbury’s Cicely Ann Hansen, Mr. Toad’s Mike Dianda, and purveyor of vintage men’s suits, Roberto Isola. The show also features a vintage fashion show, a dance performance and Art Deco architectural walking tours throughout the weekend. For more information, call (650) 599-3326.
Just what the doctor ordered
Bret Woody unveiled what he considered the most spectacular streamlined bar ever made at the Art Deco to Modernism Show in December. So extravagant that it caught the eye of Off the Wall’s Dennis Boses, the 1940s glowing blonde bar came from a well-known doctor in Gross Pointe, Michigan, which is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the state. ”It sat in his game room since 1948,” he said. “It never saw the light of day until about six months ago.” A friend of Woody’s told him, “I have this little bar you might be interested in.” The $7,500 bar is far from little. It includes the back bar and sink. A smaller Art Deco bar with secret doors sold at the show for $1,495. Woody’s Early Misc. is located at 169 N. Glassell in Orange. Call (714) 744-8199 for more information.
Machine Age
With such a large collection of Art Deco clocks by machine age designer Gilbert Rohde, one would expect Dan Oliver to be an old pro in the antique biz.However, the Art Deco to Modernism Show in December was the first show in which he set up his amazing collection of streamlined clocks, most of them by the coveted designer Rohde. His father was not a watchmaker, nor does he have any family ties to clocks. But, somehow, he found himself wrapped up in the world of timepieces. “I like things that are nicely designed and still have a function,” explained Oliver, whose background is in selling advertising. Most of his Rohdes, crafted of colored and stained wood and aluminm were made between 1933 and 1935 and are priced from $3,500-$12,000. He also had a row of clocks designed in 1932 for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, priced at around $10,000 each. One of his largest and most expensive clocks, which ticked for $60,000, was designed by French master Jean Puiforcat. Oliver is based in Denver, Colorado. He can be contacted at (561) 670-8888. Gilbert Rohde Rohde’s successful career included designs for Herman Miller, Heywood-Wakefield, and John Widdicomb that collectors still love more than sixty years later. Gilbert Rohde
Take off
A complete Art Deco airplane smoking stand took off for $1,200 in the space of Randy Schoonover at the Long Beach Show. Both smoking stands and airplanes were popular in the 1920s and ’30s, but it is very unusual to find a complete stand incorporating an airplane. ”You won’t find them with the original glass, the outriggers and the lighter,” he said.
World's Fair items at East Colorado
Jack Smith, a dealer at the Pasadena Antique Center, has opened a new store dedicated to Art Deco and mid-century modern design, called East Colorado Antiques. Located at 2546 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, the store also features the Art Deco lighting of Michelle Beiner, and the mid-century modern items of Dennis and Betsy MacDonald. Art Deco is undoubtedly a strong theme in the store, with the 1930s era World’s Fairs making a strong showing. A framed reproduction poster for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, the most iconic image of the Fair with a female goddess atop a globe and flanked by fantastic scenes of a streamlined Chicago, was priced at $400. ”If it were an original it would be about $7,000,” explained Smith. A piano shawl from a San Francisco Exhibition that took place before the 1939 San Francisco Exposition soared for $250. The 3′ square fringed tapestry mixes feminine floral designs with rather masculine modern looking airplanes. Continuing in the transportation theme, Smith is also offering in East Colorado Antiques, a huge set of dinnerware from the Union Pacific Train. Made somewhere between the 1930s and ’60s, each piece bears a train with wings in the center. Each dish, which ranges from soup bowls to vegetable plates features a gold border.
40' container on way to Art Deco Collections new Oakland Showroom
The Art Deco Collection has now opened a giant by-appointment-only showroom in Oakland in addition to their San Francisco retail location. Laurie Gordon made the announcement of the upcoming grand opening at Penelope’s Arts & Crafts Show in San Francisco. ”We are currently awaiting a 40′ container,” said Gordon, who expects the container to arrive by October, but won’t schedule the grand opening until she knows the shipment is on the water speeding its way to their new showroom. The address of their 6,500 sq. ft. new location is 3227 14th Avenue in Oakland, but it is by appointment only so call (415) 255-1902. Art Deco Bar paraphernalia is one of Art Deco Collection’s specialties.Awaiting the showroom grand opening is a bar from the Fox Theater that started out its life as a candy counter. ”We also have a Speakeasy in the store,” said Gordon. “It is hidden behind a curtain. It is a beautiful old enameled bar from the ’30s and the walls have been turned into a library with book and photographs from the 1939-40 Treasure Island World’s Fair.” They only serve contraband to select customers.
White Metal and Ivoreen
Commonly mistaken as bronze and ivory figural clock, a circa 1925 lady and dog mantel piece made of less expensive material ticked for $7,500 in the space of Phillip Chasen Antiques at the Pasadena Bustamante Show, (516) 922-2090The artist, Gori, used white metal for the Great Dane and woman;s body and ivoreen for her hands and face. They stand atop a multi-colored marble base.
