Lakewood: "The Future City as New as Tomorrow" (Modern Architecture in Los Angeles)

Although the postwar planned community of Levittown, New York was completed first, Lakewood, California, became the archetype of the American suburb. Standardized building components put together in an assembly-line fashion enabled developers Louis H. Boyar, S. Mark Taper, and Ben Weingart to construct 17,500 tract houses in less than three years. Affordably priced at about $7,500, they sold immediately. Anchoring this instant city was the largest shopping center of its day, which offered everything needed for modern living.

Special thanks to: D. J. Waldie; City of Lakewood.

Photos and videos: © and courtesy of the City of Lakewood, California.

© J. Paul Getty Trust


This video is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., a Getty initiative that brings together local cultural institutions for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of Los Angeles, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city's development and ongoing global impact in new ways.

Learn more about the exhibition, Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940--1990, co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum. http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/...

Learn more about the initiative, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.: http://www.pacificstandardtimepresent...