Holiday Profile Of A Mythical Developer

The Los Angeles Times profiles the mythical California developer Fritz Burns who went from riches to poverty and back to riches.

1 minute read

December 17, 2001, 5:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"No developer saw the housing boom coming more clearly than Burns. He was a developer of near-mythic talent, a combination of optimism, patriotism and hype. In 1921, he arrived in Los Angeles to head the Minneapolis-based real estate firm of Dickinson & Gillespie. Immediately, he recognized Los Angeles as a developer's promised land and quickly began buying up acreage... From Maine to California, he recruited private builders under the umbrella of the group he formed in 1942, the National Assn. of Home Builders (NAHB). Two years later, foreseeing that a fortune could be made when GIs came home from World War II to start families, he pushed a federal program that offered mortgages to veterans, and in 1945 teamed up with Henry J. Kaiser to form Kaiser Community Homes."

Thanks to Chris Steins

Read the full story: He Turned a Dream Into Reality: 'If You Build It, They Will Come'

Sunday, December 16, 2001 in The Los Angeles Times

History / Preservation California

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