This is the 34th annual Art Deco Weekend in Miami Beach. I had known about all the buildings saved from demolition but there was so much more to learn about the style itself, so here's a bit of the story.
What we call "Art Deco" originated in Paris in the 1920's and is short for Art Decoratifs. Because it followed the drabness of World War I, it was purely for whimsy and exuberance and nothing political. At the time it was seen as the high-end modern style, incorporated into all industrial and commercial design. The era spans the 1920's to the 1950's and surviving examples are found in places from Shanghai to Sydney, from Cuba to Canada. One famous example of Art Deco is the Empire State Building in New York City. But have a look at these pictures for the Art Deco influence in all kinds of things.
Art Deco lost popularity when it went into mass production and was seen as gaudy and a false representation of luxury. The style was cut short with the austerity of World War II, but it lives on in words like streamlined, airflow, fastback, and sunburst.
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