An LA Tour of the 1920s

Wednesday we took a tour of the Arts & Crafts Period in Batchelder Tile and Judson Art Glass.  The Muckenthaler has 3 rooms done in Batchelder Tile, a glorious tile of the 1920s reminiscent of English castles. Last Wednesday we took a tour to Batchelder's house, a beautiful craftsman cottage on the arroyo in Pasadena. It is owned by Dr. Robert Winter, who literally wrote the book on Batchelder and we visited his amazing collection. Afterwards we toured Judson Art Glass factory in Highland Park.  Started in the turn of the last century and now in iots 5th generation, the family still makes stained glass windows the old fashioned way.  We left there to lunch at San Antonio WInery, another gem of the 1910's in its 5th generation.  They survived prohibition by making alter wines. It was a great lunch and tour I highly recommend to all. After lunch we did a walking tour of LA gems, "The Dutch Chocolate Shoppe." Batchelder's first commission, and The Fine Arts Building Lobby, Batchelder's largest commissioned work. The former is a historic landmark in bad need of renovation but amazing non the less.  The later is the best example of historic preservation in, in my view, the most amazing commercial lobby in Southern California. We left feeling a great appreciation for Batchelder and the craftsman movement.