Becky Nicolaides
Suburban Expert. Historian. Consultant.
Becky Nicolaides is a historian and expert on American suburbs. Her award-winning book, The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles After 1945 (Oxford, 2024) traces how the suburbs transitioned from lily-white to multiracial and reveals the compelling stories that unfolded through that change.
Becky has consulted on numerous public history projects, films, and podcasts, and she served on the LA Mayor’s Working Group on Civic Memory. She is a co-founder of History Studio, a partnership of award-winning scholars providing expert research, script vetting, and original content for the entertainment industry.
She gives talks to community groups about the history and future of our suburbs.
The New Suburbia
How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles after 1945
* Winner of the 2025 Kenneth Jackson Award for Best Book in North American Urban History, Urban History Association
Becky’s Latest News
Events and news
* October 24, 2026 | “Altadena the Beautiful: A brief history of community organizing,” for neighborhood captains of Altagether.org, Altadena Community Center.
* Oct 1, 2026 | “Los Angeles 1926,” talk for Reforming L.A.: 1926 and 2026 – Autry After Hour Series, for the larger project “Governance and Democracy in the LA Region, Then and Now: A Centennial Perspective,” commemorating the 100th anniversary of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation. Autry Museum.
* Becky’s chapter “Migration” appears in new book: Visions of Los Angeles: A Year in the Southland, edited by Wade Graham and William Deverell (University of Chicago Press, 2026). Becky will be on a panel discussion on this book at the Autry Museum, January 26, 2027.
July 14, 2026 | “Historians are Investigators! Becky Nicolaides, PhD,” for the “Conversations with Investigators” Substack, by Keith Rohman.
* The New Suburbia, virtual book talk and Q&A with Ken Bernstein, May 21, 2026, 6:00pm, hosted by the LA Planning History Group.
Featured articles, websites, interviews
Jim Wunsch interviews Becky about The New Suburbia on The New Books Network podcast | Oct 22, 2025
Co-author, Historical Housing and Land Use Study, City of Los Angeles | Sept 20, 2024, and awards 2025
“Learning from Los Angeles,” plenary panel at the Urban History Association Conference, October 2025. Gustavo Arellano’s reflections on the discussion.
Story Map: Suburbanization in Los Angeles County, 1950-2010 | Becky Nicolaides & Jakub Zejdlik
To Understand What Could Happen on Election Day, Understand the Suburbs | Time Magazine August 15, 2024
Op-Ed: Can’t afford a house in L.A.? Here’s how that happened | Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2023
Eaton Fire news and support
Like thousands of my neighbors in Altadena, I lost my home in the Eaton fire on January 7. We have been devastated by this loss, for our family, our neighbors, and our beautiful community. Click here to see the full extent of the damage.
If you’d like to donate to help in Altadena’s recovery please read this article - which emphasizes the importance of giving to local sources. These local organizations have been doing exceptionally good work:
The Greenline Housing Foundation
Altadena Collective
The Foothill Catalogue Foundation
Altadena Heritage
I’ve joined the board of Altadena Heritage and I’m serving as a neighborhood captain through Altagether.org — both groups are working actively to help Altadena’s recovery.
My home on January 8, 2025
Nature fighting its way back on our burned out lot, July 12, 2025