RORY CUNNINGHAM, president of the Art Deco Society of L.A., called it one of the premier Deco buildings in the country. Revered historian Robert Winter said it's a shining example of Southern California's golden age of architecture. Times critic Christopher Hawthorne recently declared it "one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the city, a building that would be world-famous if it were located in Manhattan or San Francisco." To about 100 Angelenos, however, the Eastern Columbia building is even more. It's home.
After two years and a reported $80-million renovation, the Kor Group has reopened the historic retail and office tower as 147 lofts. Original terra cotta tiles -- a mix of sea-foam green and cerulean blue that a 1930 Times story characterized as "melting turquoise" -- have been restored. The terrazzo floor of the building's old shopping arcade has been painstakingly repaired for a new Kelly Wearstler-designed lobby. But what are all those newly minted urbanites doing with their lofts?
We peeked into four units, all owned by first-time home buyers who are taking dramatically different approaches to their interiors. Whether Deco or Zen, modern or traditional, all four spaces reflect the joys -- and the challenges -- of living in a landmark.
-- Nancy Yoshihara and Craig Nakano
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Her taste runs to silk and chocolate
IF there can be such a thing as a glam Zen retreat, Nichol Bradford has tried to create it. As she lounges on a mirrored daybed, the scent of incense and calming music from the Bodhi Tree Bookstore fill the air. Beneath her feet is her ultimate vision of nirvana: a chocolate-hued concrete floor, color-matched to a Hershey's bar. "It looks like a fudge cake," Bradford says. "I love it."
The condo's exposed ventilation duct, all-stainless kitchen cabinetry and other elements of industrial chic have been softened by simple touches: the delicate lines of cut calla lilies from the wholesale flower market a few blocks away, the billowy lengths of golden silk draped here and there, even the late afternoon sun that showers the bedroom with saffron light.
"I love modern, but I don't think I could do it and it not feel like a guy's place," she says.
Her parakeets -- Millet, Bella and Squeak -- seem just as content in their new home, a cage with views of downtown's skyscrapers.
Bradford, who devises corporate strategy for a video game company, was renting in Hollywood before moving to the Eastern Columbia. Like many of her neighbors, she bought her unit sight unseen, before construction was completed, driven purely by "faith and intuition."
Though she was drawn to the building's Zigzag Moderne style of Deco, she hasn't felt confined by it.
Whereas some neighbors have hung period-correct wallpaper and light fixtures, Bradford invested her time wrangling a 12-foot ficus to the 10th floor, where its canopy adds a glimpse of nature in a most unexpected setting.
She says a 9-foot-tall oak door salvaged from the old Getty Villa will be turned into a dining table, and still-to-be-hung graphic prints will chronicle Africans living outside Africa in the era before slavery.
It all makes for a style that Bradford struggles to define at first, but then she settles on a fitting label: "my genie bottle."
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Bright, sleek and spare: a cool vibe that complements an ornate exterior
GEOFF CLARK'S pad plays out like an ode to every romantic notion of what loft living can be: open, airy, distinctly modern and very, very cool.
The ceiling and walls -- originally a fickle putty color that leaned toward green, gray or brown depending on the light -- now glow a crisp, clean white. Windows wrapping the corner unit allow the sun to flood in, bouncing off the floor and turning the condo into a 1,390-square-foot light box that seems to float above Broadway.
"I just wanted a very cool, tranquil space," Clark says to the electro-lounge beats of Thievery Corporation on his sound system. "The building is so ornate, I didn't want an ornate unit. I wanted a neutral interior that complemented the exterior. I wanted that classic loft feel."
Indeed, Clark's mix of modern and vintage seems right at home on the sleek concrete floor. Two low-slung B&B Italia Metropolitan armchairs complement a classic Warren Platner coffee table that he scored from a Palm Springs consignment shop. Contemporary pieces such as Kartell's translucent Bourgie lamp and a Philippe Starck-designed Mademoiselle chair with transparent legs blend seamlessly with a funky red floor lamp and cast-concrete cactus planter. A wall sculpture made of rusted railroad spikes seems appropriately industrial and refined at the same time.
The vibe is young yet grown-up, classic but not cliche. The decor, much like the building itself, gives a nod to the past but lives in the present. It's the kind of space that feels perpetually primed for a cocktail party, though Clark says no parties -- not yet. "Just a few Friday-drinks-at-the-pool kind of deal," he says with a smile.
