Speaker 1: On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Paul Revere Williams. No, not Paul Revere,
Speaker 1: the Britagure coming, the Brinager coming, Not that guy. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the black man who was out here designing
Speaker 1: building so dope that folks is still flexing in them today.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe you didn't. No, I didn't know. No,
Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. Now I picture this. It's the early
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, and of course racism is off the charts,
Speaker 1: like segregation is in full effect. Meanwhile Paul's out here
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna be an architect. People probably look at
Speaker 1: him like, bro, you sure black people can't even sit
Speaker 1: and have these buildings and you want to design them?
Speaker 1: And Paul was like, watch me. He was born in
Speaker 1: la in eighteen ninety four, and this man was out
Speaker 1: here grinding y'all. He went to USC, got his architecture
Speaker 1: degree and became the first black architect certified west of
Speaker 1: the mississ That was already boss. But let me tell
Speaker 1: you something that even up that Paul figured out how
Speaker 1: to draw upside down. Why because white people was two
Speaker 1: racest to sit next to him and look at the
Speaker 1: sketches like normal people do. So he flipped the script literally,
Speaker 1: bo can you imagine how smooth you gotta be it
Speaker 1: not just designed dope buildings, but to do it upside down.
Speaker 1: And he wasn't designing regular stuff either. This dude had
Speaker 1: range Mariah Carey in the nineties range you know the
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills Hotel at Pink Palace with rich folks and
Speaker 1: ig influences. Take all them bougie picks. Paul revamped that joint.
Speaker 1: He gave it that drill. Then there's lax. You know
Speaker 1: that funky spaceship looking thing in the middle of the airport. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Paul did that too. Who else could take a barn
Speaker 1: airport and make it look like the set of a
Speaker 1: sci fi movie. And let's not forget the mansions. Paul
Speaker 1: was out here designing cribs for Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball,
Speaker 1: a bunch of Hollywood big shots. But Paul didn't just
Speaker 1: design for the rich folks. He was about the people too.
Speaker 1: He built schools, churches, affordable housing. He made sure his
Speaker 1: work touched everybody. My man was like I'm building legacies,
Speaker 1: not just luxury. Now let's talk about why he's important today.
Speaker 1: First of all, his buildings are still standing, still being used,
Speaker 1: and still looking fresh. But more than that, Paul Williams
Speaker 1: showed us what it means to hustle with style. He
Speaker 1: didn't just survive racism, he out designed it. They wouldn't
Speaker 1: let him sit at the table, so he flipped the table,
Speaker 1: drew from the other side of the table, and made
Speaker 1: that table his own. And here's the kicker. In twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: years after he passed, Paul became the first black person
Speaker 1: to win the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. That's
Speaker 1: like the Oscars of architecture, y'all. Imagine them handing you
Speaker 1: a trophy after you did like, hey man, you was dope.
Speaker 1: I'm bad form not saying it a little sooner. Paul
Speaker 1: Williams is proof that no matter what barriers they put
Speaker 1: in front of you, you can still break through and
Speaker 1: look good doing it. So next time you drive by
Speaker 1: the Beverly Hills Hotel or you flying the lax, remember
Speaker 1: a black man did that, and he did it up
Speaker 1: side down. Just a stunt on them. And I didn't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't either, MHM.