Alan Hess

Alan Hess is an architect and historian who has written nine books documenting the architectural history of the West's suburban metropolises (including Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses; The Ranch House; Viva Las Vegas; and The Architecture of John Lautner). He has served as architecture critic for the San Jose Mercury News since 1986. He studied at UCLA's Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and has been active in the preservation of roadside and post-War architecture, qualifying the nation's oldest McDonald's drive-in, the 1947 Bullock's Pasadena department store, the 1956 Valley Ho Motor Inn in Scottsdale, among others, for the National Register of Historic Places. He received a 1997 Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for his efforts to preserve the McDonald's. Hess has taught at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SciArc) and UCLA. He lives in Irvine, California.