My mom has always had a thing for beige McMansions. You know the type; built but two feet from the McMansion next door. The tasteless drywall and wall-to-wall carpeting and structure that starts crumbling within 6 years?
In the suburbs of Washington D.C., the McMansions stick to a conservative theme; either colonial or Cape Cod. Here in Los Angeles, we have Mediterranean McMansions. Only, there is a subset of these monstrosities that prove even scarier. They have unnecessary columns that aren't needed to hold the structure, gaudy gold and black wrought iron, oval windows, oversized marble lions on the porches, etc. There wasn't a name for it until I discovered the genius who started Ugly Persian Houses. As could be expected, the not-so-smart reactionaries call the guy who started the website a racist. But of course race has nothing to do with it - it's about architecture. He is simply expressing a disdain for a certain culture's taste in architecture.
But if we were to delve into race, we might want to touch upon the Persian issue. My hairstylist is Iranian and always says,"Iranians call themselves Persian because they're trying to sound cute. Persia is an ancient civilization and has been dead for a long time. Its time they called themselves what they really are; Iranians!"
And who am I to argue? She's holding the scissors.
