In its scope, scale and ambition, Panorama City outstripped Greater L.A.'s prewar attempts at creating master-planned neighborhoods. It was the brainchild of Henry Kaiser, a shipbuilder keen to put his formidable industrial might, which had manufactured the famous Liberty cargo ships that transported U.S. goods around the world during World War II, to equally lucrative peacetime uses.
California real estate giant Irvine Co. is in the midst of a building push in one hotspot for future development statewide: apartments in less-than-traditional spaces. The Newport Beach-based company, which owns 125 complexes with 65,000 apartments across California, has 3,000 units under construction at three sites in Orange County. There are another9,000 units in various stages of planning in Orange, San Diego and Santa Clara counties.