A Stylish and Cool Enclave in Mid-century Beverly Hills

Many readers of coffee table books may gloss over the text in favor of the full-color photographs, but Trousdale Estates also offers an insightful history of the incorporation and development of Beverly Hills in the twentieth century. Price analyzes the development’s decline in the last quarter of the century through two disparate historical events. The climate of fear after the Manson family’s murder spree turned the open glass of Trousdale into a perceived security risk. And almost a decade later, the Iranian Revolution created an influx into Beverly Hills of wealthy refugees, who built the so-called Persian palaces that reflected the architecture of their homeland. Yet today, the 1960s nostalgia invoked by TV shows like Mad Men and continued fascination with the Kennedy era have turned mid-century modern into a signifier of cultivated chic. In making the case for preserving the mid-century residences, the book also acknowledges the market forces that have made Trousdale Estates some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Buyers with that much power want to individualize their houses, either redesigning the existing structures beyond recognition or obliterating them entirely as teardowns. Perhaps Price’s book can coax potential neighborhood patrons toward renovations or original design plans that keep the signature look of Trousdale Estates intact. After all, style is what made Trousdale Estates a desirable locale in the first place. Or to put it another way, do future residents of Trousdale Estates want to display a coffee table book filled with beautiful color photographs of homes that bear no resemblance to their own?