What to Know
- Vintage LA Christmas: A Live Virtual Tour
- Dec. 14 and 21, 6 p.m. on Zoom
- $12 public; free for LA Conservancy members
Attractions! Department stores! Lighted lanes! Opulent outdoor spaces that make ideal decorating spots!
No more exclamation points are required to confidently confirm the following truth: Los Angeles is absolutely rife with perky places that grow even perkier, with a few illuminated embellishments and glittery ornaments, when December arrives.
And the tantalizing twist to this tale is this: Plenty of those whimsy-ready spaces have weathered the decades well, which means you could be strolling through a sparkly expanse that your parents or grandparents enjoyed a half century ago.
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Finding not-so-faded photographs of these festively attired attractions and destinations is a cinch, that is, if you know where to look. And on Dec. 14 and 21, plenty of holiday-obsessed history buffs will be looking at a virtual program helmed by LA Conservancy, the regional preservation organization.
Not only does the hardworking group advocate on behalf of many of our city's most important structures, and, more importantly, the people connected to these landmarks, LA Conservancy presents informative programs that help the public to instantly "time travel," all to get a better understanding of how our city was built, where we ate, what we did for fun, and, yes, the ways we celebrated the holidays.
"Vintage LA Christmas: A Live Virtual Tour" will wend its merry way through a number of local favorites for the better part of an hour.
Prepare to behold retro imagery, from Altadena's iconic Christmas Tree Lane, which turned 100 in 2020, to some of the city's most stately department stores, which busily buzzed during the yuletides of yore.
You'll also get to "see how the Mayor and city staff celebrate the season," promises the LA Conservancy team, and bask in the beauty of Southern California at the start of wintertime.
True, we're not ankle-deep in snow 'round these parts, but we've got ho, ho, ho in plucky plentitude here.
After all, so many legendary holiday movies were filmed in Hollywood, and as for Christmas songs? They're a local point of pride, too ("White Christmas" begins, of course, with a famous reference to Beverly Hills.)
If you can't make the Dec. 14 event, keep those spirits bright: The vintage-y bonbon will return on Dec. 21 for more LA love, more throwback pictures, and a sweet seasonal spray of Hollywood-adjacent holly and ivy.
