Worth a Look: The Black Woman Behind the Blue (and Green and Red) Buildings, and Does More Housing Lower Rents?

Worth a Look is an occasional feature in which WEHOville calls out stories in other publications about people and issues that have or have had an impact on West Hollywood.

An African-American Architect and the PDC

Architecture is another one of those fields where the accomplishments of African-Americans  has been ignored. An example is the work of Norma Merrick Sklarek (1926–2012) in the design of the Pacific Design Center, for which César Pelli has gotten the credit.

In its celebration of Black History Month, Interior Design magazine calls out the work of Sklarek and 10 other pioneering black architects. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Sklarek move to California in 1962 and worked with Gruen Associates, overseeing projects such as the PDC.

You can read the full story by clicking here. 

Does More Housing Reduce Rents?

Does building more housing reduce the cost of housing? The standard answer among economists is “yes,” while neighbors of proposed new projects (and most elected city officials in California) say “no.” The real answer:  Yes and no. It’s complicated, which The New York Times tells in a story accessible by clicking here.