LAVA’s 26th Sunday Salon
Join LAVA for our revived free monthly Sunday Salon series. We return to South Broadway, to the mezzanine of Les Noces du Figaro, which was recently opened by the family behind Figaro Bistro in Los Feliz. This handsome space was formerly Schaber’s Cafeteria (Charles F. Plummer, 1928), and the mezzanine features wonderful views of the Los Angeles Theatre.
On the last Sunday of each month , LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather in downtown Los Angeles (noon-2pm), for a loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. If you’re interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community. We also recommend the eclairs.
Read about the original Sunday Salon at Clifton’s Cafeteria here.
The Salon will be broken into two distinct presentations each lasting about 45 minutes. You are encouraged to arrive early if you wish to order food and beverages from the counter downstairs, and bring your meal upstairs.
Presentation One:
Brent E. Walker, author of Mack Sennett’s Fun Factory: A History and Filmography of His Studio and His Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies, with Biographies of Players and Personnel, takes us on a journey through the life and career of movie comedy pioneer and Keystone Film Company founder Mack Sennett, via a lecture with slides and film clips. Sennett, mythologically famous for his Keystone Cops, pies in the face, the discovery of film giants Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson, also had a very important and direct influence on the growth and development of Los Angeles during the 1910s and 1920s. Brent’s presentation will bring a fascinating Angeleno, his city and time, to life.
Presentation Two:
Dydia DeLyser presents Take Nothing for Granted: The search for the first neon sign in America, and research in the era of the Internet (co-authored with Paul Greenstein). Internet and published sources alike all describe, as the first neon sign in America, a 1923 sign saying “Packard,” erected for Earle C. Anthony, Inc., a prominent Packard dealer, on the corner of 7th and Flower Streets in downtown Los Angeles. But no one has ever provided a photograph of the sign in its original location, or referenced a primary source to support this claim. This presentation details Dydia and Paul’s search for the sign, and shows how their painstaking archival research proved every other source wrong.
The salon will end and be followed immediately by a free walking tour of South Broadway.
