Please join us on April 21, 2021, 7pm.
Paul Revere Williams’s inspirational story has fascinated historians for the simple fact that his journey was so improbable. The orphan son of an African American fruit-and-vegetable merchant, he was repeatedly told he had no chance of ever realizing his childhood dream of becoming an architect. And yet, he ignored the naysayers to reach the pinnacle of his chosen profession, while overcoming widespread discrimination throughout early- to mid-twentieth century America. The odds against him succeeding were enormous.

$60 Hardcover copy of the book from Angel City Press

*$10 Presentation only  – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*$15 Presentation only  – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)

*Once you purchase your ticket you will be taken to a page with your zoom link to the event . That is your invite. Yay! Please bookmark that page, print that page or save that link as we will not be emailing out the zoom link.

Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society

And

Angel City Press

Present

Master Architects of Southern California 1920-1940: Paul R. Williams

by Marc Appleton,  Stephen Gee, and Bret Parsons

April 21, 2021, 7pm

Master Architects of Southern California 1920-1940, a new twelve-volume series by Marc Appleton and Bret Parsons showcases the work of the Golden Era’s most important residential architects as originally featured in the earliest issues of The Architectural Digest. Featuring some of the earliest known photographs of the work of legendary architects, the series is devoted to the era when oil titans, film industry moguls, bankers, and successful entrepreneurs who were new to the region hired the most accomplished and talented architects they could find.

July 7th at 7:00pm. Ken Bernstein, the City Planner for the City of Los Angeles and a national advocate for historic preservation shares how Los Angeles has led the nation in historic preservation and shares how other cities can do the same.

Los Angeles has an image as the “City of the Future”―a city always at the cutting edge of change―but also as a “throwaway metropolis” that cares little about its history or architectural legacy. Yet the reality is quite different. Over the past decade, the City of Los Angeles has developed one of the most successful historic preservation programs in the nation, culminating with the completion of the nation’s most ambitious citywide survey of historic resources.

*$10 Presentation only  – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*$15 Presentation only  – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
$66 Presentation and hardcover book including shipping, Member price (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
$71 Presentation and hardcover book including shipping, Non-Member price (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*After your purchase you will be emailed the special presentation link by 6pm the day before the presentation and by 12pm on the day of the presentation.

Presents

Preserving Los Angeles: How Historic Places Can Transform America’s Cities

by Ken Bernstein

July 7th at 7:00pm

All across the city, historic preservation is now transforming Los Angeles, while also pointing the way to how other cities can use preservation to revitalize their neighborhoods and build community. Preserving Los Angeles: How Historic Places Can Transform America’s Cities, authored by Ken Bernstein, who oversees Los Angeles’ Office of Historic Resources, tells this under-appreciated L.A. story: how historic preservation has been transforming neighborhoods, creating a Downtown renaissance, and guiding the future of the city.

While it is younger than many East Coast cities, Los Angeles has a remarkable collection of architectural resources in all styles, reflecting the legacy of notable architects from the past 150 years. As one of the most diverse cities in the world, Los Angeles is also breaking new ground in its approach to historic preservation, extending beyond the preservation of significant architecture, to also identify and protect the places of social and cultural meaning to all of Los Angeles’s communities. Preserving Los Angelesilluminates a Los Angeles that will surprise even longtime Angelenos―highlighting dozens of lesser-known buildings, neighborhoods, and places in every corner of the city that have been “found” by SurveyLA, the first-ever city-wide survey of Los Angeles’ historic resources. The text is richly illustrated through images by a prominent architectural photographer, Stephen Schafer. Preserving Los Angeles is an authoritative chronicle of Los Angeles’ urban transformation― and a useful guide for citizens and urban practitioners nationally seeking to draw lessons for their own cities.

September 18, 5pm to 7pm. Please join us on a fascinating twilight walk through of historic Windsor Square on September 18th from 5:00 to 7:00. Explore the architecture and learn about the current and former residents of this beautiful area right in the center of Los Angeles. This is the second in our new series of walks around Windsor Square and Hancock park with Eleanor Schrader and Bret Parsons. Wear comfortable shoes. You won’t want to miss this.

This event has been SOLD OUT.

Member $50. Non-member $60 (You may pay below with a small Paypal fee)

The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society

presents

Mansions, Moguls & Movie Stars Twilight Tour

with Eleanor Schrader & Bret Parsons

Please join us September 18th, 2021,  5:00pm – 7:00pm

Refreshments will be Served

Eleanor Schrader is an award-winning educator, lecturer, and author.  She lectures worldwide on the history of architecture, interiors, and decorative arts and leads art and architecture tours throughout the world.  She has been named a Distinguished Instructor of design history at UCLA Extension.  She is also Professor Emeritus of Art and Architectural History at Santa Monica College. She has done graduate work in fine and decorative arts at Sotheby’s Institute in London and New York and has served as Design Review Commissioner for the City of Beverly Hills. She is co-author of “Master Architects of Southern California, 1920-1940: Wallace Neff”.

Bret Parsons has written five books, including Colcord Home (2008), the biography of the beloved Southern California architect Gerard Colcord. He is the co-author of books on Paul R. Williams, Roland E.Coate, Gordan B. Kaufmann, and Wallace Neff among others in the Master Architects of Southern California 1920-1940s published by Angel City Press. A residential Realtor, he founded Bret Parsons Real Estate in 2008. He is the founder and executive director of the architectural division of Compass. Bret resides in Los Angeles.

SOLD OUT. Saturday, April 10, 2022, 10:00-Noon. Join us for a walking tour of Los Angeles’ premier Hancock Park enclave with realtor Bret Parsons and architectural historian Eleanor Schrader. You’ll learn the secrets that illuminate this historic HPOZ neighborhood founded in the 1920s by George Allan Hancock. Be regaled with details about its architecture and architects, movie and television filming locations, plus anecdotes about the lavish lifestyles of the famous (and infamous!) personalities who resided here. This tour focuses on Muirfield Road and Rossmore Avenue. Wear comfortable shoes.

$50 Members
$60 Non-Members

SOLD OUT

Join architectural historian Eleanor Schrader and realtor/architectural author Bret Parsons for a spectacular tour of the historic enclaves of greater Hancock Park. Our double-decker bus will guide us down streets filled with beautiful homes as we reveal secrets that illuminate this coveted neighborhood. We’ll regale you with details about its historic revival styles, extraordinary architects (Elmer Grey, Sumner Hunt, Paul R. Williams, Wallace Neff, and others), filming locations including “Sunset Boulevard,” and anecdotes about the lavish lifestyles of famous personalities who inhabited these estates.

Members Tickets are $75

Note that all tours require 48 hours’ cancellation notification for refund. You will be asked to sign a waiver of liability.

A portion of the proceeds benefit Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society.

Upper-deck seats provide a unique view of the homes on our tour.

Additional details to be emailed a couple of days before the tour.

Please, no children, babies, or pets.