Saturday, November 24, 2012

1920s Holiday Home Tour & Progressive Dinner-West Adams

Here's your chance to channel your inner Gatsby!

Next weekend--December 1 and 2nd, is the 26th annual West Adams Holiday Home Tour and Progressive Dinner, in the Wellington Square area.

If you're not up to dinner, you can take a self-guided walking tour of these beautiful homes on Sunday, the 2nd.

The focus for this tour is the post-WWI era and the Roaring 20s.

But--I just checked the site and many of the Sunday tours (not all) are sold out. So better make your reservations.

Dress in costume if you're so inclined! Flapper dresses and tiaras welcome. Below right is the home where you'll have the main course--the Frederick and Mary Dee Residence, built in 1922.

You'll check in at one house, then go to different homes for the appetizer, soup, salad, dinner, and dessert courses.

Here's what the brochure (pictured above) says:

Wellington Square’s celebrated residents of bygone days have included the great jazz pianist Dorothy Donegan; Evelyn Freeman Roberts and her husband, Tommy Roberts, co-founders of the Young Saints Scholarship Foundation; actor-comedian Nick Stewart, who played "Lightnin'" on the "Amos 'n' Andy" TV series and founded the Ebony Showcase Theater; UCLA Bruins and Lakers basketball star Lucius Allen; decorated Civil War soldier Norman Ives; and Drs. John and Vada Sommerville, pioneering African American dentists, civil rights leaders and the first owners of the Dunbar Hotel (then called the Hotel Sommerville) on Central Avenue.

The Progressive Dinner tours are docent-led, and will leave every 45 minutes. They last about 3 hours. Prepaid reservations are required: $85 each ($60 if you're a member of the West Adams Heritage Association). The Walking Tour alone (on Sunday afternoon) is $30.

The picture to the left is of last year's event--just to give you an idea of how the homes are setup. It's all very cozy and intimate.

Here's the daily details:

  • On Saturday, Dec. 1, the tours start at 3 pm and the last tour leaves at 6:15 pm. 

  • On Sunday, Dec. 2, the tours start at 3:30 pm and the last tour leaves at 6:45 pm.

  • Check in for the Sunday self-guided tour between noon and 2 pm--the homes will close at 3 to prepare for the next dinner.

All the tours depart from the intersection of Crenshaw and Washington, but the exact address will be given when you register.

And how do you register? Call the WAHA at 323-735-9242, or email them at tours@westadamsheritage.org. Or reserve through their website, WestAdamsHeritage.org.

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