Frank Gehry's early years by: Jessica Bero

Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry was born on February 28, 1929 as Ephraim Owen Goldberg. Gehry was part of a Jewish family and lived in Toronto Ontario. His grandmother Caplan was his encouragement. They used to build little cities of wood together. Also he would watch his grandma put live carp in a bathtub. Gehry would watch the movement and the format of the fish. Having grown up in Canada Gehry was a big fan of hockey and would later on begin a hockey league in his office. In 1947 Gehry moved to California and got a job driving a delivery truck. He was studying at Los Angeles City College. Eventually he graduated from University of Southern California’s School of Architecture in 1954. He began working full time at the Victor Gruen Associates while still in school. After he spent a year in the army he was allowed to go to Harvard Graduate School of Design to study urban planning but he left before he finished the program. When he returned to Los Angeles he worked for Pereira Luckman. Then he rejoined Gruen until the 1960’s. In 1961 Frank Gehry who was known as Frank Goldberg married Anita Snyder who he says was the one who told him to change his name and he did. They had two daughters together. Then they all moved to Paris where Gehry worked in the office of Andre Remondet. While in Europe Frank was facinated with French and Roman churches. In 1962 he returned to Los Angeles and started his own firm.