The Party's Over...

The annual Gaylord Christmas Party came and went once again and was enjoyed thoroughly by all who attended (you can see by some of their intent looks in the photo above). Thanks to our talented Luca (top photo) for hosting and performing during the event and to the HMS Bounty for catering, as always.

More Holiday Cheer...

Our very own Gaylord comedian, Carl, will be throwing his 'Holiday Bash' this coming Sunday evening, December 20th, in our Christmas lobby. Carl, his co-horts & friends will begin the holiday cheer at 7:45pm. Join in on the spirited fun!

Single for January 1st...

Coming AVAILABLE for a January 1st move-in date;

***RENTED***- Single, 10th floor, west facing (sunsets over Wilshire Blvd), 670 sq ft, $1350/month.***RENTED***

Let the Spirits Sing and Play...

Tenants & Spirits, it is time for the annual Gaylord Christmas Party! So... come out and join in on the celebration of the holiday season on Friday, Dec. 18th. The party starts at 6PM with food & beverages and then the real festivities begin at 7PM when our very own, Luca Ellis takes the stage to perform holiday tunes & classics from the golden years. Don't miss out!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

The Gaylord elves were very busy this past week prepping our grand lobby for the arrival of Santa Claus season and what a beautiful job they did! Many thanks to Jules, Michael, Trhea, Phoebe & Sinjin. Have a Merry All!

'tis the season...

Right now, it seems the Gaylord tenants on the 11th floor are in the lead for 'Best Dressed' holiday doors for the season.

Although, one 12th floor tenant gave them a run for their money with this fall harvest wreath (owl & all!).

Looking good! Get in the spirit!

Availability....

AVAILABLE NOW;

***RENTED***- 11th floor One Bedroom unit, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, overlooking Wilshire Blvd with views out to Catalina Island, $1850/month.***RENTED***

AVAILABLE mid-December;

***RENTED***- 5th floor One Bedroom unit, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, overlooking Wilshire Blvd & RFK Inspiration Park, $1750/month.***RENTED***

Coming AVAILABLE in January;

***RENTED***- 14th floor (the top!) One Bedroom unit, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, Brazilian mahogany details, $1900/month.***RENTED***

Bring Back...

... the original Brown Derby restaurant! What an iconic image and someone should start a campaign to bring this gem back to life and historically accurate. Just look at that image... the Derby could do a booming business today, here in Wilshire Center/Koreatown. Who would not want to be seen going into 'The 'Brown Derby'!?! And yes, that is the Gaylord to the right of the Brown Derby and behind both, sits the Evanston. I like the 'London Shop, Shoppe for Men, Known the World Over' also, where today houses our EYEMAX optical shop on the street level of the Gaylord. Just where did that 'The Brown Derby' neon sign, sitting on top, go??? BRING BACK THE DERBY...

Too Late For Fall...

This past Saturday, we drove up to both Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead to catch the last of the Fall colors and boy was it the last of the Fall colors as seen by the sad, few red leaves left on these trees! Yes, there in the background on the slope is SNOW! Already!?! It was still worth the drive as it was a beautiful, crisp, sunny day with temps in the high 40's to mid 50's while we traipsed along merrily checking out the shops and getting a late lunch. By the time we left in the early evening the temperature had already dipped down to 43 degrees. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Gaylord tenants and fellow Angelenos, it is only a 1.5- 2 hours drive from the Gaylord to these top of the mountain resorts, depending on traffic. And, you are taken away to a whole different, reinvigorating environment. This time we took the back way up from Mentone, on the 38 highway and the views were stunningly spectacular. Back in the 1920's, when the Gaylord first opened, many of its' residents would drive up to Lake Arrowhead (just imagine how long that drive would have taken back then and what the road would have looked like) for a getaway from the city life, so continue the tradition and get out and up there! 

Soon and Now...

Coming AVAILABLE before the Thanksgiving holiday;

- One Bedroom unit, 11th floor, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, overlooking Wilshire Blvd with views out to Catalina Island, $1850/month.

AVAILABLE NOW;

***RENTED***- One Bedroom unit, 8th floor, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, overlooking Wilshire Blvd & RFK Inspiration Park, $1800/month.***RENTED***

Photo, above, french doors leading into the dining room in one of our units, from 1932 (Photo courtesy of USC Digital Library). 

Two Views...

... with the Gaylord. Both from 1947 and courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library. The top photo is part of the Security Pacific National Bank Collection and the bottom photo comes from the Blackstock Negative Collection. In the top photo, the Gaylord is in the center, but look at the Texaco gas station on the right, at the corner of Wilshire Blvd & New Hampshire... what a beauty! If you had to pull into this station to fill up you would not mind so much shelling out all of your money with a structure like that to look at (and clean!). Why can't they make gas stations look like that again?

'Master'ful One Bedroom...

Coming AVAILABLE for a November 13th move-in date;

***RENTED***- One Bedroom, 4th floor, 1050 sq ft, north, south & west exposures, $1775/month.***RENTED***

Scenes, with Joaquin Phoenix, for Paul Thomas Anderson's masterful film, 'The Master' were shot in and outside of this unit. AND, you get to view the 'HOLLYWOOD' sign from your bedroom window. Live in a part of film history!

Dia de los Muertos...

It is that time of year to remember AND CELEBRATE those loved ones who have passed on, during Dia de los Muertos. With its' roots in Latin America, people from all walks of life join in on the celebration, officially starting on the 1st of November and ending on November 2nd. The largest of festivities in the L.A. area took place this past Saturday at the Hollywood Forever cemetery (photos above, from my day there). It was especially poignant for me, this year, after losing my mother this past December and she surely would have participated! You can still join in on the festivities with upcoming events this weekend in San Pedro, Santa Monica, at Olvera Street in downtown L.A. and at MoLAA in Long Beach. Get online to look up these events as well as many others taking place throughout SoCal and the inland empire.

A Reminder...

Mrs. S.D. Seamans, a member of the Gaylord 'Two Year Club,' would like to remind you,

Coming AVAILABLE for a November 1st move-in date;

***RENTED***- One Bedroom, 8th floor, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, overlooking Wilshire Boulevard & RFK Inspiration Park, concrete floors, 9 ft ceilings, large closets, big & bright, $1800/month.***RENTED***

Mrs. S.D. Seamans is pictured here in the May 1927 issue of 'Gaylord Glimpses.' She resided here with her son, S.D. Seamans, a 'popular student' attending USC!

There They Are Again...

Make sure when you are walking our neighborhood you look up. You may just catch a glimpse of our reverent red-tailed hawks.

Bachelor...

As this postcard reads from 1931, 'The Distinction of a Good Address in Los Angeles' at the Gaylord. Coming AVAILABLE for a October 23rd- 30th move-in;

***RENTED***- Bachelor, 2nd floor, 495 sq ft, north/east corner unit, $925/month.***RENTED***
(unit is there on the 2nd floor, on the right end, though our neighboring buildings have since changed drastically)

Early Evening...

Shot from the Gaylord, here we have an early evening view, looking west down Wilshire Boulevard. Love that Shepard Fairey 'PEACE' mural peaking out on the side of the Line Hotel, at the corner of Wilshire & Normandie.

In the Movies...

The Gaylord made an appearance (on the left) in 1925's, 'The Red Kimona.' Starring Priscilla Bonner, the film tells the story of a woman who finds herself working as a prostitute in New Orleans and eventually winds up in Los Angeles. RACY! The production of this film was lead by a mostly all female team. You will notice the Talmadge (on the right) and that there is no Wilshire Christian Church in site yet, at the corner of Wilshire & Normandie (foreground, left), that would be constructed in 1926.

A big THANK YOU to Camille, up in Oregon, who spotted our Gaylord while watching the film and sent us this film still.

Our Winning Combination...

Our beautifully aged 'Gaylord' neon serves as the perfect perch for our neighborhood red-tailed hawk, after a storm. Imagine the stories both could tell...

Flight Pattern...

This past Sunday, the flight pattern for landing planes at LAX took a turn over the Gaylord (maybe due to the storm?) as one by one they flew overhead. Some seeming to get quite close to that 14th floor of ours!

Coming AVAILABLE for a mid to end of October move-in date;

***RENTED***- Single, 11th floor, 550 sq ft, east facing, views of the San Gabriel mountain range, $1300/month.***RENTED***

Look Up...

Up there on the 8th floor, a unit coming AVAILABLE for a mid to end of October move-in date;

***RENTED***- One Bedroom, 8th floor, 820 sq ft, south/east corner unit, overlooking Wilshire Blvd, $1800/mo.***RENTED***

The 'Ride'...

In SoCal culture, your vehicle is not just your mode of transportation, but it's your 'ride.' Not just a utilitarian purpose, but an extension of who you are and how you present yourself. People are intrinsically attached to their wheels here. This is apparent in the many car shows that seem to take place monthly all over southern California from the classics to the hot rods to the 'fast & furious' lovers. A couple of weekends ago, I came across this show of classics (photos above) while driving through downtown Monrovia. They had a number of beauties there. Design was key. Gotta love'm!

The Eagle Has Landed...

But in our case it is, 'the HAWK has landed!' Having just landed on its' perch, our 'G' from Gaylord, our neighborhood red-tailed hawk shows off his open wing span. From that vantage point he keeps an eye on all, just like Santa Claus. You better be good.

Thank you to our Craig for the eagle eye and getting the quick snapshot.

Hot Sunday...

This past Sunday, brutally HOT Sunday, while running errands with the husband, as I drove east on Colorado Boulevard, in Pasadena, we passed the Norton Simon Museum and he voiced he had never been inside that museum. I was shocked and thought he had done everything already and I proceeded to state even my mother, who lived in New York, had visited the Norton Simon twice in her lifetime. So, I turned around and pulled into the parking lot of the Norton Simon Museum (no time like the present!)

For the next 3 hours, while enjoying the cool a/c, we perused the amassed collections of artwork they hold there. They have an incredible selection of the classic European masters in their permanent collection galleries... Van Gogh's, Degas', Picasso's, Modigliani's, de Goya's, Cezanne's and the list goes on. A stroll through their beautiful sculpture garden reveals a number of Auguste Rodin and Henry Moore masterpieces. And when you go downstairs, you will lose your mind over the Asian arts collection with all of the gorgeously detailed deities and iconography from the Buddhist and Hindu religions. It is pretty breathtaking throughout. The husband went through a few rolls of film and I sweetly remembered walking those galleries with my mother and the 2 girls I raised a decade ago. A good afternoon.

The weather is supposed to be warming up again this weekend, so escape into the world of art history. For more info, go to their website at nortonsimon.org . Admission is only $12.00 per adult. 

October 1st...

Coming AVAILABLE for a October 1st move-in date;

***RENTED***- Bachelor, 9th floor, 330 sq ft, north facing with views of the 'HOLLYWOOD' sign & Griffith Observatory, $900/month.***RENTED***

Pictured above, one of the other original to the Gaylord, Oscar B. Bach chandeliers hanging from our beautifully ornate lobby ceiling.

Classic Lobby...

If you lived at the Gaylord, you could be enjoying this lobby. The hanging wrought iron light fixture in our lobby and original to the Gaylord, pictured in the photo above, was designed by Oscar B. Bach. Mr. Bach also designed most of the metalwork you will see on the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building in New York. There are a few other cast iron light fixtures in our lobby by Mr. Bach. They are beauties!

Coming AVAILABLE for a late September move-in date;

***RENTED***- Bachelor, 11th floor, 495 sq ft, north/east corner unit, spectacular views, $1100/month.***RENTED*** 

A 2nd Floor One Bedroom...

The apartment may not have the views, but it does have the grandiosity of coming in at over 1000 square feet! Coming AVAILABLE for a mid-September move-in date;

***RENTED***- One Bedroom, 2nd floor, 1050 sq ft, north/south exposures, $1650/month.***RENTED***

Here (photo above) the living room to this apartment, as shown in 1932. Remember back then, the Gaylord apartments came completely furnished with some of the best and most extravagant pieces. This was high living! Just look at that kidney shaped side table in front of the sofa... Regal! I would love to have the art deco side table sitting in front of the windows... Killer. And, what about that baby grand in the corner!?! Where did that go to? I am sure several of our current musically talented tenants would like having that piano furnished in their apartments today.

(Photo courtesy of the USC Digital Library.) 

Moon Over Wilshire...

This past Saturday night, we watched the rise of the full moon over Wilshire Boulevard, with its' equally large 5 moons lined up all in a row just below it. Who knew such moons existed?