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All the United States California Los Angeles Velaslavasay Panorama

Velaslavasay Panorama

Panorama exhibition hall in old silent theater with a beautiful backyard garden.

Los Angeles, California

Added By
anhie
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Effulgence of the North  
Effulgence of the North  
Union Theater  
Union theater  
Gazebo in the garden which features carnivorous plants  
Pagoda in the garden behind the theater.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
A red passion flower (in the same genus as the vine that produces passion fruit) in the garden behind the theater.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
The garden in back of the theater is worth a visit!   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
The garden in back of the theater is worth a visit!   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Nordic Tusker shed recreation.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Effulgence of the North   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Nordic Tusker shed recreation.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Collection of artifacts related to Arctic expeditions.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Effulgence of the North   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
piano and seats   Avoiding Regret
marquee   Avoiding Regret
organ   Avoiding Regret
Waterfall building in the garden behind the theater   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Waterfall inside a small building in the garden behind the theater.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Effulgence of the North   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
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About

In the late 1700s and early 1800s a new form of interactive media was invented. Considered lowbrow at the time, it was the 3D movie of its day, a fully engaging visual experience for the masses known as panoramic paintings.

Generally displayed either in a large circular room, and surrounding the viewer, or occasionally stretched across two rollers like a ribbon and cranked across them to create a moving landscape for the audience, they were wildly popular in their day. Good panorama painters, such as John Banvard (who at one point painted a half-mile long panorama, the longest in the world at the time), were made rich and famous. But with the advent of photography, optical toys and later film, panorama paintings all but disappeared, with most of the world forgetting they and their creators ever even existed.

Taking a cue from these popular panoramic paintings, the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles is a curious throwback to this old medium. Here, visitors are engaged once again in a fully immersive, 360-degree representation of landscape painting, complete with lighting and sound.

Eventually, the rise of the motion picture industry aided in the demise of the panorama as an art form. The Velaslavasay Panorama thus occupies a somewhat ironic location in an old 1920s silent-film theater and only draws more attention to how technology has drastically changed our visual experiences.

The old Union Theater, which once served as a tile layers' union headquarters in the 1970s, is still used by The Velaslavasay Panorama Enthusiasts Society today. In line with the "magnetic showmanship and spectacle" of this bygone era in media and Los Angeles culture, past events have featured Alpine yodelers, esoteric instruments and automata. The front desk even provides sensational pamphlets, such as one on The Alabaster Isle of Penglai, a garden behind the theater which is home to pet bunnies and carnivorous plants.

Related Tags

Panoramas Collections Retro Tech Optical Oddities Horticulture Obscura Day Locations Plants

Know Before You Go

The stairway to the panorama is not immediately obvious, but is accessed via a dark hallway branching off of the hall to the theater. The attraction is open Friday through Sunday from 11 to 5.

Community Contributors

Added By

anhie

Edited By

James Ricci

  • James Ricci

Published

March 20, 2013

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Sources
  • http://www.exhibitfiles.org/velaslavasay_panorama
  • http://lavoice.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2142
  • http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/panorama-mama.html?c=y&page=1
  • http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/89w497p3
Velaslavasay Panorama
1122 West 24th Street
Los Angeles, California, 90007
United States
34.034364, -118.284731
Visit Website
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