This revitalized Art Deco building looks as if it could be located in Miami. Built in the same era as Miami’s South Beach, it still serves as apartment and, downstairs, a laundry for Long Beach residents. Along Ocean Blvd. there are many other Art Deco apartment buildings. Long Beach’s East Village Arts neighborhood is a great place to take a walking tour to see the public art of today and 1920s architecture. This area is experiencing a gentrification which means that there is a mix of buildings and businesses — some old, some newly restored.
Coffee houses for the young, hip residents sit side by side with barbershops for their longtime East Village neighbors. But the public art makes it more than just another gentrifying neighborhood.
Starting at Ocean and Elm, walk north and east to find murals, sculptures and painted kiosks at every turn. Along Elm there are a few art galleries featuring local painters and artisans.
The District ends at the Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) at 7th and Alamitos, which contains a superb collection of world-class paintings and sculptures from North, Central, and South America as well as the Caribbean.
And here is some of the art you will see as you walk around the area:
These narrow tile murals are two of a series of individual cityscapes that wrap around a building at 1st and Elm in Long Beach, California.
