New Orleans born and educated, John Churchill Chase studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts before returning to his city of birth, it being better suited for "living purposes." He lived on Music Street, not named, he used to say, because his children used to take lessons and practice on the piano every day. During his life, Chase was the number one authority on the streets' histories, in fact, on much of New Orleans history. He was frequently contacted by the city before a street name was changed, though many were changed anyway.
John Leighton Chaseis currently an urban designer for the city of West Hollywood, California. He is the author ofA Sidewalk Companion to the Architecture of Santa Cruz,Exterior Decoration: Hollywood’s Inside Out Houses, and a forthcoming volume of collected essays,Glitter, Stucco, and Dumpster Diving. Margaret Crawfordis Professor of Urban Design and Planning Theory at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is the author ofBuilding the Workingman’s Paradise: The Architecture of American Company Townsand editor ofThe Car and the City: The Automobile and Daily Urban Life in Los Angeles. John Kaliskiis a principal of Urban Studio, an architecture and city design firm in Santa… Monica, California, and teaches urban studies and design studio at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He is the author of numerous articles on urban design.