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buildings included banks, churches, and other residential sites in A Fitting Tribute
predominately Black neighborhoods. Forty-one years following Williams’s death in January, 1980, an article in the Los
Angeles Times, by columnist Carolina A. Miranda, presented Williams and his work to
He Wrote the Book On It the public on the front page, where such notice would have appeared if he passed today.

In his book New Homes for Today, Pioneer of the L.A. look: Paul R. Williams wasn’t just “architect to the stars,”
Williams answered the question “Can we he shaped the city.
afford an architect?” with “To this question, Buried beneath a weather report and an investigation into a regional
there is only one answer: You cannot afford planning commissioner, a brief news item appeared in The Times about the
to build a home without an architect.” death on Jan. 23, 1980, of architect Paul Revere Williams at the age of 85.
Three days later, the paper ran an obituary. That report was a bit more
New Homes for Today by Paul R. complete. It featured a photograph of Williams and ran through a handful of
Williams, A.I.A., 1946. In this book, his achievements … Yet his death was not treated as big news. The modest
Williams appears to focus on homes for the obituary ran on page 22.
middle-class homeowner. According to Rush In the immediate wake of Williams’ death, no glossy books of his work
Dixon Architects, “the structure of the book itself allows just two pages were published, much less a catalog raisonné. Buildings he designed were torn
for each house design and includes the description, floor plan, and clas- down; others were remodeled beyond recognition. The work of an architect
sic-now-vintage perspective renderings. Home names paint a picture of whose firm was responsible for thousands of structures in Southern California,
who was name-checked in real estate ads as “world-famous,” who shaped L.A.
each home’s character. Our favorite is ‘The Esquire,’ a 2-bedroom through civic roles … was in danger of fading away
house totaling 1,260sf with a large living room opening to a side patio How times have changed.
and a couple of fireplaces – one indoor and one outdoor.” In 2017, the AIA posthumously awarded Williams its prestigious Gold
Further in the book he shared some advice: Medal. Last February, PBS aired the documentary, Hollywood’s Architect: The
• DO arrange the rooms so that passage may be made from one part Paul R. Williams Story. In the fall, artist Janna Ireland published the elegant
of the house to another without the necessity of going through the photographic collection Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View.
Most significantly, last summer, USC and the Getty Research Institute
living room. announced that they had jointly acquired Williams’ archive – a trove of
• DON’T plan the entrance door to expose all of the living room approximately 35,000 architectural plans and 10,000 original drawings, in
every time the door is opened. addition to blueprints, hand-colored renderings, vintage photographs, and cor-
• ANTIQUES can be mixed with modern pieces, but it is a job for respondence. The acquisition will, for the first time, allow public access to the
the expert rather than the amateur decorator. breadth of the architect’s work.

To learn more about Paul Revere Williams, check out these videos available to view at our online Video Gallery
See a realtor’s Watch the PBS/ In 2017, Paul
walk-through for KCET program Williams was given
the Azria Estate Lost LA, Season 4, the Distinguished
when it was on Episode 4 on the Alumni Award by
the market for Theme building his Alma Mater,
$85 million. created by Paul the University of
Williams at the Southern California.
L.A. Airport.

“The Reel Thing” continued from page 29

“Go-With” Items For those interested in learning more about vintage
There are other film-related items that are films and projectors, Facebook has an informative and
collectible and that make for interesting helpful group called “8mm, 16mm, and 35mm Film and
displays. Small bottles of oil, offered by some Projector Collectors.” Once you join, you can see and learn
manufacturers so that owners could keep about a variety of films and projectors, but be warned: it’s
their projectors in good working order, look highly addictive stuff.
great when they’re parked next to a vintage
Filmo or Apollo. So can replacement lamp
bulbs, which often came packaged in boxes Douglas R. Kelly
with artwork that was very evocative of its is the editor of
era. Of course, like any light bulb, these tend Marine Technology
to be fragile, so finding one unbroken in a magazine. His byline has
sharp original box is a find. appeared in Antiques
Metal film canisters and reels have a Roadshow Insider, Back
wonderful vintage look and vibe, even if Issue, RetroFan, Diecast
there’s no film with them. And if you have the Collector, and Buildings
space and the interest, film editing machines magazines.
and splicers can make for an interesting
collection and display. These don’t turn up
very often at in-person shows, but eBay usually
has a number of them up for sale.
For that matter, finding original film
catalogs and flyers, whether from Blackhawk An Official Films, Inc. catalog
from the 1950s, showing its line
or any other seller, can be a challenging of “Famous Kids Comedies,”
undertaking. Catalogs and flyers tend to be better known as the
thrown out once they’ve been thumbed Little Rascals films.
through, and perhaps the fact that film was being replaced by videotape
and then digital media helped hasten the demise of most of these
documents.
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