SOLD OUT – Batchelder by Bus

This event has SOLD OUT.  The second bus tour on March 5 is also sold out. If you’d like to see Batchelder’s Chocolate Shop but weren’t able to attend these sold out tours, join Esotouric on one of their twice-yearly Lowdown on Downtown bus and walking tours. Tour link: https://esotouric.com/lowdown

Join Esotouric, L.A.s most eclectic historic tour company, for an excursion into downtown Los Angeles, to view several important Ernest Batchelder tile installations, each commission revealing fascinating elements of Batchelder’s creative and commercial development. Photo: The Chocolate Shop, circa 1920 by Frederick L. Martin, Courtesy of the California State Library.

Attendees will get the chance to visit two sites not usually open to the public, and deepen their understanding of Batchelder’s place in Southern California tile history. Tour locations include John A. Roebling’s Sons Co Wire Works (1913) with its exquisite pocket lobby decorated with custom tiles that honor the Roebling family’s commercial history, including the wire rope that spanned the Brooklyn Bridge; Batchelder’s largest interior commission, the Chocolate Shop (1914), a complete floor-to-ceiling environment with tiled groin vaulting, unique murals of Dutch vernacular scenes and a pair of lifelike sculpted children blowing bubbles of light; and the Romanesque Revival Fine Arts Building (1927), its double-height lobby entirely decorated with tiles, fixtures and figural elements drawn from the catalog of the now well-established tile merchant.

Flat shoes are recommended. Bus departs from Pasadena Museum of History (plan to board between 10:30 and 10:45 am). Tickets include a casual boxed lunch at the Chocolate Shop, and entrance to the exhibitions Batchelder: Tilemaker and Cast & Fired: Pasadena’s Mid-Century Ceramics Industry following the tour. Advance reservations are required.