Architect to the stars

Tonight KCET's "Life & Times" (7 p.m.) looks back at the astonishing career of Paul Revere Williams, the first African American architect in Los Angeles. When his practice took off in the 1920s, blacks could not live in Hancock Park or Holmby Hills, but he designed mansions there and by 1940 was known as the architect to the stars. At the time, discrimination was so pervasive that he learned to read and draw upside down because he knew that white clients would not sit next to him. Williams remodeled the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, but told the story that when a white colleague invited him for a meal there, he had to decline knowing that a ruckus would ensue.

Williams' respected designs include the former Perino's restaurant on Wilshire, the original Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and what used to be the MCA headquarters (later Litton Industries) on Burton Way. He commanded enough respect to serve on the L.A. city planning commission in the 1920s, was president of the city arts commission for 11 years, sat on a bunch of presidential boards and attended Republican conventions as a delegate. Williams' own former home in LaFayette Square is a city Historic-Cultural Landmark.

At his funeral in 1980, granddaughter Karen Hudson was shocked by the eulogies describing the magnitude of his career. She went on to research and write a 1993 book, Paul R. Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style.