Los Angeles Visionaries Association

Raymond Chandler’s 125th Birthday Celebration

This event is now full. Please sign up for a LAVA account if you do not already have one, then use the contact link at the top right corner if you would like to request a place on the waiting list. No “plus ones.” Each person attending, or requesting a spot on the waiting list, must have a LAVA account.

Birthday sale: Raymond Chandler Mystery Maps of Los Angeles (rare and out of print) just $25.

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959)

Tonight, LAVA celebrates the great Los Angeles novelist Raymond Chandler on the 125th anniversary of his birth, in the historic spaces where he got a priceless education in civic corruption, wealth and vice.

Please join us at the Los Angeles Athletic Club at the corner of 7th and Olive Street, Chandlerâ€s old stomping grounds, for a celebration of his life and work. Weâ€ll gather in the clubâ€s newly redecorated third floor bar, Invention, where the young oil executive played bridge and avoided returning to the offices of the Dabney Oil Syndicate, which can be viewed through the barâ€s tall windows. Later, weâ€ll move down the block to the Oviatt Building, the seat of power for Chandlerâ€s greatest villain, Derace Kingsley (not-so-loosely based on James Oviatt), in the novel The Lady in the Lake, before returning to the club for a last toast to the departed.

The evening will include readings and musings on Chandlerâ€s legacy and his impact on how we see Los Angeles—past, present and future. There will be a no-host bar, and opportunities to order bar food.

Space is limited and reservations are required for this free event, and can be made on this page after 10am on July 8. There are no “plus ones” — each guest must reserve, using their own LAVA account and email address.  Please do not reserve if you are not certain you can attend.