Life in the Green Room

We’re not saying it happened yesterday. But Southern Californians are gradually turning outdoor space into private living space, creating imaginative new worlds behind the frontyard hedges that have proliferated during the last decade from Pasadena to Culver City. What’s going on behind those green walls? Are these leafy bulwarks a sinister early warning sign of a disintegrating community? Or was the open front lawn an anomaly of midcentury American suburbia? And how will this trend affect Girl Scout cookie sales, religious proselytizers and garden gnomes? In this issue, we find room to get sociological on you while celebrating the latest and best in creative outdoor design.