Book excerpt: "An architectural designer and an important architectural critic, Chase explores a myriad of locales and examines their architectural features - from the gay community space of West Hollywood, to the stucco box apartment complexes of the 1950s, to the truly weird mix of domestic arrangements in Venice Beach, to gated communities, to some of the historic houses of Hollywood and Beverly Hills and to the most recent transformations of the casino architecture in Las Vegas."--BOOK JACKET.