Itinerary: Stained Glass

Looking through the glass darkly has preoccupied humans from the timestained glass first appeared in the year 850. For centuries, only the wealthy and the church could possess it, but, by the late 1800s, stained glass was providing colorful grace and airy light to large residences. By the 1960s, every hippie den had a stained-glass window with incense and candles. The look became so popular that even plastic faux stained glass made an appearance, thankfully not for long.

The recent “Painting on Light” exhibition at the Getty was the ancient stuff. Los Angeles has some fine examples of later glaswerke. Glowing outward at night or inward during the day, stained glass projects a reassuring, protective quality, likely the result of a centuries-old seed planted in our brains. Whatever it is, it works.

Friday

Club Casa del Mar on Santa Monica Beach was a swank private club in the 1920s and remains today one of the last grand places on any L.A.-area beach. The beautifully restored hotel saw both Army occupation and Pritikin Center occupation before it was designated a state historic landmark.

Its exterior is faithfully re-created, and the huge stained-glass arch at the entrance is a treasure. Inside, the big comfy lobby/bar is a hot scene right now, and dinner is served with one of the most exceptional views at the beach.

Saturday

Greene and Greene’s 1908 Gamble House (4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, [626] 793-3334) is chock-full of art glass and Tiffany glass and remains the quintessential representative of a style that proliferated in California in the early 1900s. The Arts and Crafts bungalows and their handmade furnishings remind us of what man can do when he puts down his cellular phone. The hourlong tours are $8 and run every 15 minutes from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

Stained glassmaking classes are offered at Flash Glass (16139 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, [818] 782-3690) by artist Joyce Dudnick. Fifty dollars will get you four weeks of lessons from Dudnick. You can check out her work on the elevator doors at the 1920s-era Oviatt Building (617 S. Olive St., downtown Los Angeles). That’s Lalique glass in the ceiling.

Legacy Architectural Salvage Gallery of Minneapolis (1138 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, [310] 399-8776) has a wide selection of East Coast antique stained glass from the 1800s and early 1900s available for purchase. Prices are reasonable and General Manager Phil Schuknecht is quite knowledgeable about the history of most of the pieces. Sizes range from 12 inches square to entire door panels.

Sunday

St. Basil Roman Catholic Church (at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Kingsley Drive in Koreatown) features the modern glass artwork of the late Claire Falkenstein. The church was designed by Albert C. Martin and Associates in 1969. Falkenstein’s abstract steel shapes are embedded with pieces of colored glass and recall that experimental era perfectly.

Then drive to Orange for brunch at P.J.’s Abbey near the Old Orange Plaza (1825 S. Orange St., [714] 771-8556). Eat under the big stained-glass window in the circa-1891 Baptist Church. No gospel choir here, though. There’ll be a jazz quartet instead.

If you’re not glassy-eyed yet, come back next Thursday for the dinner theater show, “Stained Glass and Painted Ladies.”

Oh, we’ve come a long way since Notre Dame.