Throughout his career, prolific designer Milo Baughman opposed what he considered the cold, inhospitable forms of high modernism, advocating instead casual, comfortable furniture that appealed to a broad market. Raised in Long Beach, California, he attended Art Center School and completed his degree at Chouinard Art Institute.

Baughman’s interest in modest, livable modernism made his work an ideal match for Glenn of California, an Arcadia-based company that produced furniture on a small-batch scale. The cocktail table exemplifies his informal approach to design, aligned with the prevailing design trends in mid-century California. Light and elegant, the table came in solid birch or walnut, with panels of glass and wood, a storage compartment with a perforated Masonite lid, and a lacquered cigarette tray. In a 1951 Masonite advertisement, Baughman described the table as “modern, but not self-consciously so… functional, but not coldly efficient.”