Apartments, (name unknown), Santa Monica, CA (apartments)

Name:Apartments, (name unknown)
Type:apartments
Street:1227 Euclid St
City:Santa Monica
State:CA
Zip:90404
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
Vintage box-style Polynesian apartment complex with some nice tiki accents still intact.

Not sure if anyone has posted photos of this apartment complex yet - I wasn't able to find it on a search of past posts.

A friend of a friend was moving and wanted to get rid of a vintage 3-band rattan sofa, so I was asked if I wanted it. I said, "sure", and drove out to Santa Monica to pick it up. Wouldn't you know the friend of a friend lived in this tiki apartment building I had never seen before. Just plain luck.

It's a classic box-like apartment structure from the 1960s with no A-frame or courtyard, but some really nice bas-relief carved tiki panels on the front of the building. It also has a lava-rock wall on one side where the old mailbox used to be, plus a nice tropical garden out front, but no other tikis. Couldn't find a name of the apartment anywhere on the structure. Didn't find any other tikis but the ones in the front panel. There are stubby outrigger beams all the way around the roof, but they're in a state of decay.

This part of Santa Monica has street after street of old apartment buildings, so it would make sense that there would be at least one tiki apartment hidden in there. It may be worth exploring the neighborhood to see if there are any others.

Thank you for finding this again, Tim! I had come across it in the early days of my urban archeology, then lost its location, and was certain it had been renovated since. A unique place, of which one would like to hear the history of.

I love those lava rock foundations. It's amazing how much of the stuff made it's way to the mainland, considering how heavy it is, and how costly it must have been even back then, to get it here.

Wow, thanks for posting these pics! Amazing to see unknown (or forgotten) places still being found in socal.

-Randy

Excellent find Sabu. So what did the 3-band sofa that started this adventure look like?

DC

Bigbro - that makes me feel even better about rediscovering the place. I had a feeling it had been found before, being in such a densely populated part of the city.

DC - The sofa frame is in really nice, vintage condition. No restoration needed. Springs are still good. However the cushions are white and probably not original. I'll have to find some bark-cloth and have the local upholstery shop make me some new ones.

This building was featured in one of the first Tiki news issues. Very nice place.