HISTORIAN, SUBURBAN SCHOLAR, EDITOR, CONSULTANT, SPEAKER
Founding Partner, History Studio, LLC
I'm a Los Angeles-based historian specializing in American suburbs, cities and metro areas.
My current project explores the history of suburban life in Los Angeles from 1945-2010, and how social
and civic engagement evolved. Almost everywhere, suburbia was transforming as Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans, and
immigrants from all over the globe made the LA 'burbs their home - sometimes alongside whites, sometimes in their wake.
My book tells the story of what happened next.
The New Suburbia: Los Angeles Suburbs Since 1945 (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)
I'm also a founding partner of History Studio, a partnership of award-winning historians and scholars
providing expert research, script vetting, and original content for the entertainment industry and
other creative producers. To learn more, visit our website.
My current project explores the history of suburban life in Los Angeles from 1945-2010, and how social
and civic engagement evolved. Almost everywhere, suburbia was transforming as Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans, and
immigrants from all over the globe made the LA 'burbs their home - sometimes alongside whites, sometimes in their wake.
My book tells the story of what happened next.
The New Suburbia: Los Angeles Suburbs Since 1945 (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)
I'm also a founding partner of History Studio, a partnership of award-winning historians and scholars
providing expert research, script vetting, and original content for the entertainment industry and
other creative producers. To learn more, visit our website.
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RECENT WORK
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"The Real Suburbs: Unpacking Distortions and Truths about America's Suburbs." UCLA Center for the Study of Women Blog, September 2, 2020 This blog explores how the Trump administration has distorted the reality of today's suburbs, as a campaign strategy. The suburbs, in fact, house a wide cross-section of America itself—including groups the President repeatedly derides, like immigrants, Latinx, Black, and Asian American families, and the poor. |
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"From Resourceful to Illegal: The Racialized History of Garage Housing in Los Angeles."
Boom California, January 31, 2019 This piece traces the bumpy history of backyard garage housing over the 20th century in L.A., from the era when it was welcomed -- even seen as patriotic -- to the years when it was criminalized and racialized. |
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"Design Assimilation in Suburbia: Asian Americans, Built Landscapes, and Suburban Advantage in LA's San Gabriel Valley since 1970."
with James Zarsadiaz Journal of Urban History (2017) This piece explores the phenomenon of immigrant suburbs that look All-American - without an ethnic trace in sight. These were the inverse ethnoburbs. We explore the history of these suburbs, answering how and why they came to be. * 2015 Arnold Hirsch Prize of the Urban History Association * 2018 Bishir Prize of the Vernacular Architecture Forum |
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"Suburbanization in the United States after 1945" with Andy Wiese Online Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (2017) Everything you always wanted to know about American suburbia. A far-ranging, cutting-edge look at the history of American suburbs over the past 70 years. A lot packed in this one. |
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"Suburban Metamorphosis"
UCLA Center for the Study of Women blogsite, and HippoReads (2016) "Little did I anticipate when I chose to study the history of suburban life in Los Angeles, 1945-2000, that it would resonate so clearly with political events unfolding around us. In the wake of Donald Trump’s campaign and victory, I’m convinced more than ever that the suburbs of Los Angeles have a lot to teach us..." |
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"Suburban Disequilibrium" with Andy Wiese New York Times Opinion page (2013) "Today’s suburbs provide a map not just to the different worlds of the rich and the poor, which have always been with us, but to the increase in inequality between economic and social classes." |
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CONTACT
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