The low-slung brick home that architect John Saunders Chase completed for his own family in 1959 was Houston’s first modernist house with a true interior courtyard, a form with which other progressive architects were only starting to experiment. It was equally radical that he built it at all. When Chase graduated from The University of Texas School of Architecture in 1952—the first African American to do so—no Houston architecture firm would hire him. Chase petitioned the state for special permission to take the licensing exam, becoming the first African American registered as an architect in Texas. By 1959, he ran his own thriving firm and had established a position of remarkable influence in Houston’s social, political, and economic life. The Chase Residence, in both its original version and after a fundamental alteration undertaken in 1968, is a testament to Chase’s accomplishments. Beautifully illustrated, John S. Chase—The Chase Residence examines how the architecture of this seminal but little-known house frames the life lived within it. It places the house in the larger context of Chase’s architectural career and his times. The book is also intended for readers broadly interested in the relationship between American architecture and society.

Los Angeles is a breeding ground for adventurous experimental architects and a magnet for their high-profile clients. L.A. 2000+ assembles the best work completed in the city since 2000, offering a snapshot of the region and its architecture at the dawn of the twenty-first century. From the widely celebrated Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles by ?ber-architect Frank Gehry to lesser known but equally arresting works such as Studio Pali Fekete Architects? Somis Hay Barn in Ventura County and Godfredsen-Sigal's Hustler Casino in Gardena, the picture that emerges is sometimes startling and unexpected but always impressive. The beautifully designed volume collects thirty strikingly original new buildings, designed by both as yet unheralded talents such as null.lab and predock_frane and internationally renowned architects such as Gehry, Thom Mayne of Morphosis, and Eric Owen Moss. The introductory essay by urban designer John Leighton Chase puts these works in historical and architectural context, offering a unique perspective on the opportunities and difficulties inherent in building in a region known not only for its explosive population growth but also for the artistry of its inhabitants. John Leighton Chase, the urban designer for the City of West Hollywood, is a native of Los Angeles. A former architecture critic for the San Francisco Examiner, he is a coeditor of Everyday Urbanism and the author of Glitter Stucco and Dumpster Diving.

The popular language of status-conscious architecture is explored in this account of the notorious do-it-yourself remodels clustered on the fringe of Beverly Hills in West Hollywood. These former stucco bungalows have been transformed by their owners into distinctive visual statements. As if they were stage sets, the exteriors of these houses have been treated as interiors, with urns and finials placed on rooftops like bibelots on a mantel, and windows and panels of trellis arranged as though they were pictures on a wall. The result is a lively architectural vernacular, well documented with before and after photos, interviews, and construction details.

Chaser has a way with words. She knows over a thousand of them—more than any other animal of any species except humans. In addition to common nouns like house, ball, and tree, she has memorized the names of more than one thousand toys and can retrieve any of them on command. Based on that learning, she and her owner and trainer, retired psychologist John Pilley, have moved on to further impressive feats, demonstrating her ability to understand sentences with multiple elements of grammar and to learn new behaviors by imitation. John’s ingenuity and tenacity as a researcher are as impressive as Chaser’s accomplishments. His groundbreaking approach has opened the door to a new understanding of animal intelligence, one that requires us to reconsider what actually goes on in a dog’s mind. Chaser’s achievements reveal her use of deductive reasoning and complex problem-solving skills to address novel challenges. Yet astonishingly, Chaser isn’t unique. John’s training methods can be adopted by any dog lover. Through the poignant story of how he trained Chaser, raised her as a member of the Pilley family, and proved her abilities to the scientific community, he reveals the positive impact of incorporating learning into play and more effectively channeling a dog’s natural drives. John’s work with Chaser offers a fresh perspective on what’s possible in the relationship between a dog and a human. His story points us toward a new way of relating to our canine companions that takes into account our evolving understanding of the way animals and humans learn.

Ravaged by grief, Chase Tyler hits the rodeo circuit and the bars.