Wellington Reiter is an architect and designer in Phoenix. Before participating in a panel on whether Phoenix is the next L.A., he sat down in the green room, where he was kind enough to tell the story of how he got the nickname Duke.
Q. What talent would you most like to have?
A. The ability to play a musical instrument.
Q. Who was the last person to ask you for advice?
A. My son.
Q. What’s your favorite city (besides Phoenix)?
A. San Francisco.
Q. What is the last habit you tried to kick?
A. Consuming excessive carbohydrates.
Q. What’s your favorite ice cream topping?
A. Raspberries.
Q. Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares?
A. Wow. … Work-related anxieties about how much I have to do-there’s no doubt about that.
Q. How’d you get the nickname Duke?
A. My real name is Wellington, and my father, who was in the military, was a fan of the Duke of Wellington.
Q. What’s your favorite mascot?
A. I am partial to the Stanford Tree.
Q. What scares you?
A. I could say something flip like “the future”: I’m very concerned for our children’s future.
Q. What comforts you?
A. Work-accomplishing something. Whenever I’ve assembled or built or organized something, it gives me great pleasure and lets me know that change might be possible.
Q. What’s your greatest extravagance?
A. Eating out, which tells you that my greatest extravagances aren’t that exotic, but I do a lot of it.
*Photo by Felipe Ruiz-Acosta