CLOSE-UP

Norma Sklarek came to Los Angeles in 1960--10 years after getting her architecture degree at Columbia University--with a husband, two kids and letters of recommendation from her previous employer in New York. “The quality of life was better here. I was tired of the noise and subways, and I hated the cold,” she says.

Sklarek, who says she was the country’s first black woman architect, quickly found a position at Gruen Associates, where she stayed for 20 years. “My first try here!” Sklarek, who is “60-plus,” says. “In New York, I was turned down 20 times before getting a job. I never knew why, if it was because I was black or a woman or the recessionary times.”

Since then, she has contributed to such landmarks as the Pacific Design Center, Fox Hills Mall and South Coast Plaza. She built a reputation for her work on such projects as San Bernardino City Hall, Fox Plaza in San Francisco, Park Center in San Jose and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In 1980, she became the first black woman honored as a fellow by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

“All her designs are solid,” says Eddie S. Wang, executive vice president of the Jerde Partnership, where Sklarek is now a principal partner. “She knows how to correct flaws with creative solutions.”

“I’m more practical than Frank Gehry,” Sklarek says, laughing. That pragmatism inspired her career choice. “The only blacks who earned more than whites were professional women,” she says. “My friends and I weren’t expected to rely on a husband. You had to take care of yourself.”