The hook
The finest Art Deco building in Los Angeles is a thirteen-story tower of glossy turquoise on Broadway, topped by a clock the city broke its own rules to allow.
01Why it's worth it
The Eastern Columbia went up in 1930 as a department store, and its architect, Claud Beelman, clad the whole thing in dazzling blue-green terra cotta, "melting turquoise" trimmed in deep blue and gold, covered in sunbursts, chevrons, and zigzags, the full Deco vocabulary at its most confident. Downtown had a 150-foot height limit at the time; the city granted the building's four-sided clock tower an exemption, so it rises to 264 feet and can be spotted from the freeway and half the surrounding blocks. It's been called the benchmark of Deco in Los Angeles, and it earns it. These days it's residential lofts, so the pleasure is entirely from the street: stop, look up, and take in a facade from the city's architectural golden age.
02How to experience it
It's at Ninth and Broadway downtown, about six hours from the Bay. It's a private residence now, so it's an exterior to admire rather than a place to enter; late-afternoon sun sets the turquoise glowing. It slots easily into a downtown walk with the Bradbury, Grand Central Market, and the Last Bookstore.