Paul Whitney Trousdale grew up shuttling between relatives in New York, Tennessee, and Los Angeles. He graduated from Los Angeles High School.
Trousdale's sales talent emerged during his single year at USC, when he sold cars, clothes, and automobile spotlights, earning enough, he once told an interviewer, to "take out 4,000 or 5,000 girls."
Loading freight elevators during a vacation job with an uncle in New York, Trousdale suffered a crushed foot. The New York State Industrial Department awarded him $5,000 for college, and the adventuring Trousdale took it, got on a steamer, and went around the world. Landing in San Pedro, 20 years old, and broke in the height of the Depression, he immediately eloped with a USC sweetheart, Margaret Reid. The marriage lasted nearly 30 years.
Trousdale started selling gum--but switched to real estate because he decided it was better to sell something big, like buildings.
In 1946, he established Trousdale Construction Co. and began building tract homes and communities complete with churches and shopping centers, including many in minority areas, in Long Beach, Wilmington, Compton, and the San Fernando Valley.
"I built community centers in those projects," he proudly recalled, "and a community swimming pool, play yards, and a clubhouse in each."
At one point, his company had so many outstanding loans with Bank of America that the bank founder, A. P. Giannini, personally popped into Trousdale's Westwood Hills office to quiz him on how much he was paying for nails and concrete.
A marketing innovator, Trousdale taught prospective buyers of his three-bedroom, two-bath homes in Westdale Village--a development built in West Los Angeles in the late 1940s--how to furnish such a house on a limited budget. Giving his project decorators only $1,000, he had them prepare a model as "The House of Hand-Me-Downs," buying furniture and knickknacks at second-hand stores and bargain basements.
Contributor: Doug Hooper (47401292) • [email protected]
Original comments when the memorial was added:
One of his many developments Trousdale Estates broke ground in 1954. This is considered as one of Paul Whitney Trousdale's golden achievements - and the only project that bears his signature name. Built-in Los Angeles there's an enormous amount of history from the stars who lived there to the extension of Beverly Hill borders to include Trousdale Estates.
To view homes and see the complete history please visit http://www.trousdale-overthetop.com/history/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Trousdalefan
Trousdale's sales talent emerged during his single year at USC, when he sold cars, clothes, and automobile spotlights, earning enough, he once told an interviewer, to "take out 4,000 or 5,000 girls."
Loading freight elevators during a vacation job with an uncle in New York, Trousdale suffered a crushed foot. The New York State Industrial Department awarded him $5,000 for college, and the adventuring Trousdale took it, got on a steamer, and went around the world. Landing in San Pedro, 20 years old, and broke in the height of the Depression, he immediately eloped with a USC sweetheart, Margaret Reid. The marriage lasted nearly 30 years.
Trousdale started selling gum--but switched to real estate because he decided it was better to sell something big, like buildings.
In 1946, he established Trousdale Construction Co. and began building tract homes and communities complete with churches and shopping centers, including many in minority areas, in Long Beach, Wilmington, Compton, and the San Fernando Valley.
"I built community centers in those projects," he proudly recalled, "and a community swimming pool, play yards, and a clubhouse in each."
At one point, his company had so many outstanding loans with Bank of America that the bank founder, A. P. Giannini, personally popped into Trousdale's Westwood Hills office to quiz him on how much he was paying for nails and concrete.
A marketing innovator, Trousdale taught prospective buyers of his three-bedroom, two-bath homes in Westdale Village--a development built in West Los Angeles in the late 1940s--how to furnish such a house on a limited budget. Giving his project decorators only $1,000, he had them prepare a model as "The House of Hand-Me-Downs," buying furniture and knickknacks at second-hand stores and bargain basements.
Contributor: Doug Hooper (47401292) • [email protected]
Original comments when the memorial was added:
One of his many developments Trousdale Estates broke ground in 1954. This is considered as one of Paul Whitney Trousdale's golden achievements - and the only project that bears his signature name. Built-in Los Angeles there's an enormous amount of history from the stars who lived there to the extension of Beverly Hill borders to include Trousdale Estates.
To view homes and see the complete history please visit http://www.trousdale-overthetop.com/history/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Trousdalefan
Paul Whitney Trousdale grew up shuttling between relatives in New York, Tennessee, and Los Angeles. He graduated from Los Angeles High School.
Trousdale's sales talent emerged during his single year at USC, when he sold cars, clothes, and automobile spotlights, earning enough, he once told an interviewer, to "take out 4,000 or 5,000 girls."
Loading freight elevators during a vacation job with an uncle in New York, Trousdale suffered a crushed foot. The New York State Industrial Department awarded him $5,000 for college, and the adventuring Trousdale took it, got on a steamer, and went around the world. Landing in San Pedro, 20 years old, and broke in the height of the Depression, he immediately eloped with a USC sweetheart, Margaret Reid. The marriage lasted nearly 30 years.
Trousdale started selling gum--but switched to real estate because he decided it was better to sell something big, like buildings.
In 1946, he established Trousdale Construction Co. and began building tract homes and communities complete with churches and shopping centers, including many in minority areas, in Long Beach, Wilmington, Compton, and the San Fernando Valley.
"I built community centers in those projects," he proudly recalled, "and a community swimming pool, play yards, and a clubhouse in each."
At one point, his company had so many outstanding loans with Bank of America that the bank founder, A. P. Giannini, personally popped into Trousdale's Westwood Hills office to quiz him on how much he was paying for nails and concrete.
A marketing innovator, Trousdale taught prospective buyers of his three-bedroom, two-bath homes in Westdale Village--a development built in West Los Angeles in the late 1940s--how to furnish such a house on a limited budget. Giving his project decorators only $1,000, he had them prepare a model as "The House of Hand-Me-Downs," buying furniture and knickknacks at second-hand stores and bargain basements.
Contributor: Doug Hooper (47401292) • [email protected]
Original comments when the memorial was added:
One of his many developments Trousdale Estates broke ground in 1954. This is considered as one of Paul Whitney Trousdale's golden achievements - and the only project that bears his signature name. Built-in Los Angeles there's an enormous amount of history from the stars who lived there to the extension of Beverly Hill borders to include Trousdale Estates.
To view homes and see the complete history please visit http://www.trousdale-overthetop.com/history/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Trousdalefan
Trousdale's sales talent emerged during his single year at USC, when he sold cars, clothes, and automobile spotlights, earning enough, he once told an interviewer, to "take out 4,000 or 5,000 girls."
Loading freight elevators during a vacation job with an uncle in New York, Trousdale suffered a crushed foot. The New York State Industrial Department awarded him $5,000 for college, and the adventuring Trousdale took it, got on a steamer, and went around the world. Landing in San Pedro, 20 years old, and broke in the height of the Depression, he immediately eloped with a USC sweetheart, Margaret Reid. The marriage lasted nearly 30 years.
Trousdale started selling gum--but switched to real estate because he decided it was better to sell something big, like buildings.
In 1946, he established Trousdale Construction Co. and began building tract homes and communities complete with churches and shopping centers, including many in minority areas, in Long Beach, Wilmington, Compton, and the San Fernando Valley.
"I built community centers in those projects," he proudly recalled, "and a community swimming pool, play yards, and a clubhouse in each."
At one point, his company had so many outstanding loans with Bank of America that the bank founder, A. P. Giannini, personally popped into Trousdale's Westwood Hills office to quiz him on how much he was paying for nails and concrete.
A marketing innovator, Trousdale taught prospective buyers of his three-bedroom, two-bath homes in Westdale Village--a development built in West Los Angeles in the late 1940s--how to furnish such a house on a limited budget. Giving his project decorators only $1,000, he had them prepare a model as "The House of Hand-Me-Downs," buying furniture and knickknacks at second-hand stores and bargain basements.
Contributor: Doug Hooper (47401292) • [email protected]
Original comments when the memorial was added:
One of his many developments Trousdale Estates broke ground in 1954. This is considered as one of Paul Whitney Trousdale's golden achievements - and the only project that bears his signature name. Built-in Los Angeles there's an enormous amount of history from the stars who lived there to the extension of Beverly Hill borders to include Trousdale Estates.
To view homes and see the complete history please visit http://www.trousdale-overthetop.com/history/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Trousdalefan
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