Hungarian-born Paul Laszlo studied in Vienna, Paris, and Berlin, then opened his design office in Stuttgart prior to WW2. He emigrated to the USA in 1936, famously buying a car on landing in New York and promptly driving cross-country to Los Angeles, where he quickly set himself up in Beverly Hills designing modern houses and interiors. He enjoyed rapid success, in part due to his European references and cosmopolitan style, and his client list soon included such luminaries as Cary Grant and Barbara Hutton, Billy Wilder, Barry Goldwater, and the Vanderbilt family.