Bring me tracing paper

 


Bring me tracing paper


     One of Greg's early jobs in Los Angeles architecture was with a highly regarded but very brusque German-Jewish immigrant named Abe Shapiro. Abraham Shapiro's designs are historically important and worth plenty today. Abe ran a tight ship in his offices over in West LA just off the San Diego freeway. It was before computerized drafting and everything was orthographic projection, hard copy, drafting pencil to large plans on tilted tables. Greg had to stay on his toes and even though he had Palm Desert experience this experienced professional had little  patience for lollygagging. While young Sheehy did not stay long with Shapiro, Greg spoke of the man with respect toward his knowledge and economy in creating drawings. He described one day when trying to explain a part of the project they were working on Shapiro barked "bring me tracing paper! Sharp pencil!" That meant right damn now and pay attention. Greg quickly grabbed some onion skin paper and a ticonderoga number 2 and learned a lesson from Herr Shapiro in the old-fashioned way. Despite his time at UCLA Greg was destined to find his way downtown where he worked for several distinguished firms including A.C. Martin, Dan Dworsky and his wonderul luck at Gensler where Alice Ziesing was waiting for her knight in shining armor. In regards to Abe Shapiro, Greg never forgot his time in that small office and sometimes just snapped his fingers and shouted at me "Bring me tracing paper!" 







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