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Black and white aerial photo of many buildings, mainly homes.
Aerial view of the Westchester area of Los Angeles in 1949, after Federal Housing Administration standards favored single-family home construction for White residents. Such policy and practice feature in Architectural Resources Group’s Los Angeles Historical Housing and Land Use Study, which just won a 2025 Preservation Award from the Los Angeles Conservancy. Photo from USC Digital Libraries.

Sharing Hidden History, from Place to Policy

In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, we catch up with Elysha Paluszek (MHC ‘10), senior associate, architectural historian, and preservation planner at Architectural Resources Group. She’s been highlighting hidden history since her master’s thesis, The Los Angeles African American Heritage Area: A Proposal for Development. At ARG, she’s worked on award-winning studies revealing how policy and practice shaped the built environment in West Hollywood and Los Angeles. Elysha chats with co-host Cindy Olnick about these projects and more, including her career path, the field’s evolution, and what she’d change with a magic wand.

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Learn more about USC’s Heritage Conservation Program

 

 

Illustration reading "Winner, 2022 Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award"

Illustration reading, "California Preservation Foundation 2022 Preservation Design Award"

Illustration reading, "AASLH 2022 Leadership in History Awards"

University of Southern California