Marc Chevalier receives Visionary of the Year award and presents on James Oviatt at the LAVA Sunday Salon, January 2014

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.

At the January 2014 Salon, Marc Chevalier was presented with the 2014 LAVA Visionary of the Year award and presented on his research into James Oviatt and 1920s Los Angeles fashion merchandizing and architecture.

Marc Chevalier on James Oviatt and the Making of Modern Los Angeles History: Join Marc Chevalier, LAVA’s Visionary of the Year for 2014, as he traces the life of the iconic Angeleno, James Oviatt, the man behind the eponymous building and clothing store. The unfolding of this narrative doubles as Marc’s personal narrative of research, through false leads, dead ends, misinterpretations and out of the blue miracles, until by uncovering the untold story of James Oviatt, Marc Chevalier discovers his own voice, that of a major historian of lost Los Angeles.

Why look to James Oviatt, seller of upscale fashion, early proponent of the Art Deco, Machiavellian schemer and dreamer? Oviatt’s arc is a microcosm of the upwardly mobile in Jazz Age Los Angeles, and his story touches almost every major aspect of culture and commerce in pre-war Los Angeles. His influence is still felt on the city he left behind, and in the worlds of fashion, design, marketing and architecture. 

For more about the January Salon, click here