Art Deco came to America just as the country plunged into its hardest decade ever. The bread lines were long, and unemployment and poverty were rampant. And yet, this was an era of flamboyant and the fabulous as well - from hotel designs to Busby Berkeley musicals.

In designs that ranged from grand lobbies to extravagant sets for movie musicals, Art Deco offered America (and the world) razzle-dazzle, with music and drama to fill the bill. Art Deco Weekend 2006, scheduled for January 13-15, will celebrate the pageantry of the 1930s, with examinations of hotel and restaurant architecture, set design and a look at the great cinema spectacles created in the 1930s.

The theme of Art Deco Weekend 2006 was chosen in part to complement a major exhibition at The Wolfsonian-FIU, a Miami Beach museum of modern art and design. Beginning November 12, The Wolfsonian will feature In Pursuit of Pleasure: Schultze & Weaver and the American Hotel, which promises to be a provocative exploration of American hotels in the early 20th Century.

The firm of Schultze & Weaver designed many of the finest hotels of the 1920s and 1930s, including the Waldorf-Astoria and the Pierre in New York City, and the Breakers and the Biltmore in South Florida, still regarded as among the grandest in the United States.

The exhibition will offer detailed look at these hotels, relying on presentation drawings and architectural plans from The Wolfsonian's collection, as well as furniture, tableware, photographs, and printed ephemera. It will be on display until May 28, 2006.

HOURS OF OPERATION (Ocean Drive from 5th to 15th Streets):

The Art Deco Weekend Festival, artists, antique dealers, food and beverage, and merchandise vendor booths will be open:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13: Noon to 11 p.m.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.