I hope you are doing well.

The summer is ebbing away, and the corn is ripening (see What I’m Digging below). And just in time for design students heading back to school comes the opening of USC Fisher Museum of Art’s Paul R. Williams: An Architect Considered.

This is one of three shows — the other two, at the Getty and LACMA, launch soon —  of works by the man whose backstory has become widely known: Williams was the first Black architect licensed west of the Mississippi who became a designer to the stars while excluded by racist housing laws from living in their neighborhoods.

Paul R. Williams: An Architect Considered draws the spotlight away from his Hollywood Regency or Spanish Colonial houses with stairways fit for a diva’s entrance, and puts it instead on the multifamily housing he also designed.

Valery Augustin, co-curator of the exhibition (below), says, “It was absolutely staggering and fascinating just to see the full breadth of his work.” 

Valery Augustin poses by an image of Paul Williams at the exhibition. Photo by Frances Anderton

Then there is photography by Julius Shulman and others of the public housing complexes Williams co-designed during the New Deal years, including Pueblo del Rio, Hacienda Village and Nickerson Gardens (1950-54), the city's largest public housing project to date.

Public housing fared badly in subsequent decades, amidst challenges including lack of funding and political support, so it is easy to overlook just how optimistic they were in their time. Williams worked on these garden apartment complexes in teams with architects such as Richard Neutra, Walter Wurdeman, and Welton Becket, along with leading landscape architects.

Beverly Hills apartments, designed by Paul R. Williams.

The curators explain that few original drawings of these buildings could be found but photos capture the attentive details – overhangs, recessed doorways, and grassy shared yards – that offered grace and dignity to people excluded from much of LA’s housing.

Co-curator Amy Murphy notes that Williams’ career goes from the 1920s to the ‘80s. “It brackets the entire 20th century, and it really tells a story about American cities – and specifically Los Angeles — of how early on we developed cities and thought of how people should live more collectively; quite different than the post-war period.”

The curators also invited Black artists and architects to create projects reflecting on Williams’ work: they are wide-ranging, but the installation by Amanda Williams, perhaps sums up the entire exhibition. On the back of her sign saying "Fortunately" (top of page), it reads, "There is no rule that says good taste is governed by income."

Click here for opening hours for this free, public exhibition.

Lafayette Square, House 2 (Williams Residence), 2026. Photography by Janna Ireland

And there’s more! Photographer Janna Ireland honed her lens on the details of Williams' buildings – staircases, windows, brickwork, light and shadow – in her lovely black-and-white photographs for the book Regarding Paul Williams: A Photographer’s View of a Trailblazing Architect. Now comes the expanded version of the book, which includes Williams' own family residence in Lafayette Square. Ireland will discuss the new edition on a Zoom meeting hosted by Society of Architectural Historians/SCC this Sunday, August 23rd; 1:00–2:30 PM.

Click here for tickets.

Design Things To Do

Top Pick: Destination Los Angeles

LA is hosting a “no-build” Olympics following a decades-long effort by elected officials and developers to position Los Angeles as a global hub for sports and entertainment venues. Such venues bring challenges — among them, displacement and gentrification — and opportunity.

The latter is the focus at DestinationCon, a “high-energy innovation summit exploring the future of Los Angeles as a global destination,” taking place on Wednesday, Aug 26th, from 1:30–6:30 PM. Hear from the mayors of Inglewood, Long Beach, El Segundo, and Culver City, as well as investors, builders, and designers about the ‘experiential development reshaping L.A.’ This industry-oriented event is presented by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) but is open to the general public. Click here to buy tickets.

Plaza wall at Intuit Dome in Inglewood. Photo by Frances Anderton

Meanwhile, hear from DestinationCon co-host Darcy Coleman on this KCRW story that I produced with Christopher James. Coleman shares her thoughts on the potential for the revival of the abandoned Oceanwide Plaza, perhaps better known as "Graffiti Towers." Also sharing their critical insights are California Planning & Development Report's Josh Stephens and Jordan Wynne, urban planning scholar and member of The Rent Brigade.

Lettering on windows at the abandoned Oceanwide Plaza. Photo by Christopher James.

Quick Picks

A “Wayzgoose,” dating from the 1500s, was an annual gathering of printers to mark the end of summer and the start of the printing season, when printers would work in candlelight. This Saturday, August 22nd, come enjoy a contemporary variant on this seasonal party at The International Printing Museum at 315 W Torrance Blvd, in Carson, home to a large collection of working antique presses. Watch printing demos, join in hands-on activities, and meet John Barrett, owner of Letterpress Things, who will share a curated selection of type, cuts, and printing supplies. Click here for details.

Image courtesy: Letterpress Things

For more on printing, check out Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures, an exhibition at LACMA “that explores the world's oldest and most versatile method of making multiple images.” Curated by Erin Maynes, Associate Curator of Prints & Drawings at LACMA, Deep Cuts displays textiles, prints, and books from vintage patterned fabrics of India to artworks by contemporary makers like Christiane Baumgartner and Los Angeles–based Block Shop (below). Closes September 13th. Click here for information.

Installation by Block Shop. Photo by Frances Anderton

20 textile artists including Mônica Lóss (Glu+Glu, below) will show their work in California Fibers: The Languages of Fiber, an exhibition at Huntington Beach Art Center “that invites viewers to consider fiber as a form of communication—one that speaks through structure, material, and process.” It was juried by Suzanne Isken, former director of Craft Contemporary, and features works by 20 members of the California Fibers group as part of the nationwide Craft in America Handwork 2026 initiative. Opening Reception: Saturday, August 22nd, 6:30 PM–9:00 PM.

Glu+Glu, by Mônica Lóss. Image courtesy Mônica Lóss

SCI-Arc’s graduating students’ thesis projects are always worth viewing for a taste of the wilder side of architectural ideating, and this year’s will be especially interesting, as it marks the end of new director Winka Dubbeldam’s first year on the job. Students present their work to design juries on Friday and Saturday, August 28th–29th, and then all the projects will be on public view in the SCI-Arc building through September 11th. Click here for more information.

SCI-Arc building. Photo by Frances Anderton.

Following a long closure to repair exterior garden damage and interior smoke damage from the 2025 Palisades Fire, the Villa Aurora will reopen, with a public gathering on Saturday, August 30th, 3:00–5:00 PM. This villa has a storied history — from its construction in the late 1920s by the boosterish Los Angeles Times and investors to promote Miramar Estates in the Pacific Palisades, through its time as a cultural salon for European émigrés including Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Fritz Lang, and now a cultural center funded by the German government. Click here to RSVP.

Villa Aurora before the Palisades Fire. Photo by Mirko Lux/Courtesy of Villa Aurora

What I'm Digging

Clocking… "TWENTYFOURSEVEN," by Homeboy Sandman and the fab video of the artist marking time within clock faces chalked on the ground. The song is on Sandman's new album Resonance Frequency, produced by Jack Splash, and a regular pick by KCRW DJs. Says guitar-playing hubby Robin Bennett Stein appreciatively: “It’s a neo-soul, hip-hop track made by real instruments and it’s uplifting, and it’s thrilling.” The video by Art Morera brings to mind another artwork inspired by time: Christian Marclay’s The Clock (2015), a 24-hour montage of clips from films featuring the time displayed on clocks and watches, or characters talking about the time. It sadly concludes its LACMA run this weekend.

Still from TWENTYFOURSEVEN video.

What I'm NOT Digging

Crossed Wires

The computerizing of everything is wearying. Robin and I must have spent an hour this past Sunday afternoon futzing with the installation of an App, so as to spend four dollars on a wash in our building’s shared laundry. And let’s not get started on Parking Apps, which now warrant adding a good 20 minutes to every car journey, so as to install the inevitable new App that’s replaced the human at the parking lot.

Computerization is of course allied with electrification, which we are told is good for the planet, except when it leads to the "electrical arcing events" that sparked the Eaton Fire, and per this recent article, the growing, spontaneous combustion of parked cars! Then there are the national lightning rods known as data centers, my pick (and architect Daniel Libeskind’s) for an Architects Newspaper list of buildings or building types emblematic of 2026. Tech wonders never cease; let’s hope we can limit their perils and annoyances!

Thank you as always for reading this newsletter. Please send your design news, questions, and comments to francesanderton@gmail.com. Get back issues here. Remind your friends to sign up for the newsletter here.

Yours with very best wishes,
Frances