Went to LA last summer and did the middle-class thing of driving around Sunset Blvd, Bel Air, etc to look at the beautiful mansions. What really surprised me was that everything was made of timber, could see the frames on the couple of houses that were being constructed. I still don't know why this preference of construction material in LA even for mansions worth millions of dollars. 
But I'm from a country where everything is made of brick or concrete blocks because we don't have wood and it's too hot for wood to be a safe construction material.
Maybe this preference will now change in California at least. Someone could make big money making and selling concrete blocks there.