L.A.'s Telecom Hotel

This September, Bank of America is relocating its seven-state mail and cash operations to Lower Level Three of the Garland, creating the largest cash vault west of the Mississippi. "That means the tear gas, machine guns and grenades are coming back," says David Paul, the building engineer. The security system already includes card-key access and 64 exterior cameras, as well as enough generator fuel to run the building for almost 30 days.

IN IX2'S OFFICE ON LOWER LEVEL 2, Peckovich occasionally spits into the trash can under his desk. "I started chewing tobacco when I was on the crew team in college," he says sheepishly. "Now I can't quit." Peckovich keeps a desktop photograph of himself surfing in Fiji. He stands on the nose of his board, atop a perfectly curled 8-foot wave. The metaphor couldn't be clearer: Peckovich is riding the monster swell of the future, the telecom wave.