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If there is something to be said about a city\u2019s history, it lies solely within the hands of its archivists. And two of Long Beach\u2019s most vigorous of such workers\u2014Cara Mullio and Jennifer Volland of Alamitos Heights\u2014do it in addition to their everyday professional lives.<\/p>\n
The pair\u2014Jennifer is a curator by day, Cara is a principal for a real estate development and consulting firm\u2014have become authors by night, single-handedly placing them as the authoritative figures on Long Beach\u2019s architectural landscape.<\/p>\n
Having examined the city for over a decade, their diligent research has brought forth two books, an archive on famed Long Beach architect Edward Killingsworth and a comprehensive roundup of Long Beach\u2019s heteropolis history.<\/p>\n
The latter, Long Beach Architecture: An Unexpected Metropolis<\/em>, not only examines this unexpected metropolis but became (and still is) an unexpected success, having been through its third printing while their second book, Edward A. Killingsworth: An Architect\u2019s Life<\/em>, just released its first edition last month.<\/p>\n Of course, their obsession with Long Beach architecture was not always so concrete.<\/p>\n \u201cI was born and raised in Belmont Heights and I left at 18 never to return again,\u201d Mullio said. \u201cAfter my graduate program [at UCLA where I met my husband], we had just never planned on coming back. My first kid changed that and I realized I needed to nest and come back. My entire perspective of Long Beach was different by that point.\u201d<\/p>\n Simultaneously, Volland and Mullio were working at MOCA, where they had originally met after their graduate studies.<\/p>\n \u201cI came here by accident fifteen years ago expecting only to be here a year or two,\u201d Volland said. \u201cLong Beach was reasonable for [my husband and I] so we got a loft downtown and then we sort of just fell in love with it: the diversity, the grittiness… It was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n That love\u2013on both accounts\u2014cemented their seemingly off-the-cuff idea to do a book on Long Beach architecture, something that Volland describes as \u201cso naive that we just jumped into it without really thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Their compulsive desire to jump into such a deep archiving\/documentation project began with the exploration of Long Beach\u2014by car, by foot, by bike\u2014that eventually led to an epiphany that, once discovered, seems quite obvious: every decade of the past century has a significant presence in the city. And while documenting in depth the way in which a city has developed has been done endlessly for Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Venice, Pasadena, and many others, Long Beach had an empty niche filled with rich opportunities.<\/p>\n Even with the success of Long Beach Architecture, their follow-up endeavor was met with some uphill battles. Having begun interviewing Killingsworth shortly before his death in 2004, the publishing world was beginning to alter as costs of printing physical books skyrocketed, the proliferation of ebooks increased, and the recession forced publishers to be incredibly cautious with their titles.<\/p>\n \u201cBottom line, it was funding [that held back the Killingsworth book],\u201d Volland explained. \u201cA lot of publishers viewed Killingsworth as a gamble and\/or were steering away from monographs. His name is not as well known as other Case Study House architects, but for us, this is what made his story all the more fascinating.\u201d Thankfully, that story was told as it is the sole piece of literature dedicated in its entirety to the master architect who altered mid-century modernism and design while maintaining full-time offices and residence in Long Beach.<\/p>\n Not stopping for a breath, they are already at work on their next project\u2014something they are more akin to associate with documenting than archiving\u2014about the Long Beach gem that is the Frank Brothers furniture store that spanned nearly fifty years of operation from 1938 to 1982. \u201cSometimes, people in Long Beach complain, \u2018Why aren\u2019t we more like Santa Monica or Pasadena or…?\u2019\u201d Cara said. \u201cBut in all honesty, the real question is, \u2018Do we ever want to be?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Long Beach Architecture: An Unexpected Metropolis and <\/em>Edward A. Killingsworth: An Architect\u2019s Life are both available in hardcover through publisher Hennessey + Ingalls as well as through online bookstores.<\/em><\/p>\n For more information about Cara Mullio, visit rootdevelopment.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n