The Good news & The Bad News: 

Yes,  Hollywood is alive and prospering with new shops and major media.

Trouble is:  It's mainly ‘ over the hill.’ The Hollywood Sign lacks only an arrow pointing  northerly to Studio City, North Hollywood,  Burbank, etc.  So what?  Business  as usual, seeking cheaper, friendlier sites.

Present business climate in the 13th District:   Hostile or indifferent, unless under the tutelage of the boss.

If we accept the following as evident past & ongoing:  i.e.:  The eviction of the  Channels 2 & 9 from their Columbia Square site,  and  radio stations KFWB & KNX; the collapse of Capitol Records, the imminent removal of the Palladium; the imperious rejection of the Nederlander’s (by rights) Plan for a major live theatre and residential complex  by a mere councilman who evidently feared it would deep six his ‘vision’ of a vast publicly subsidised melange of hotel, apartments.  (One cannot justify or finance subsidised apartments in the face of a mass of free market such next door, particularly when they offer greatly desired amenities, and voluntarily include ‘affordable’ units. )  The Nederlanders reportedly having consented to a 90-year land lease on property wanted by this City Council President, and needed to realize his ‘vision’  of Hollywood & Vine. (Eric is son of a former City Attorney, prominent in academia,  land planner extraordinaire (in his view), but lacks any known real life investment experience )

We conclude:

That all rational hope for a regional entertainment draw  in that barren vicinity is lost.  And, without any major entertainment entity, the entire vicinity  becomes a nonentity,  needing to establish a reason for being, other than proximity to mass transit.   Why would anyone wish to expensively  reside near rehab and  federal criminal halfway houses, and venues devoted to the care of the socially diseased.  Without even any ordinary attractions such as popular chain restaurants, and retail such as created in the ‘Grove.’

Eric: Clearly put the cart before the horse.  Hell, he even shot de horse.

He may be remembered as the genius who declined ‘Disneyland’ in favor of a ‘redevelopment scheme’.

The only apparent barrier we can think of: a junk bond designation by underwriters. But, he has clout enough to force State Union retirement funds to underwrite  it.

So much for electing zealots and ideologues with private agendas...(and disastrously for our state and nation, Old Hollywood is not alone).

We take meager comfort in our conclusion voiced before the City Council in the ‘80’s when the ‘revised’ Redevelopment Plan was on the agenda:  Our statement was brief:  “ If you like Hollywood the way it is now, vote no. If you don’t like Hollywood the way it is now,  vote no.”

Councilman Woo, recently elected, had demanded at last moment, that the elected citizen advisory  group alter the redevelopment goal it had realized after many tedious years of hearings and meetings, from revival of the entertainment, to subsidised residentials and social rehab of bum visitors.  Most, disgustedly  just ‘signed off’, but I indignantly refused.  This arrogant demand,  by a twit who’s dad’s money had allowed his election, without serious qualification otherwise, was but the first of such to plague Council district 13. This arrogance towards  ‘elected advisory committees’ immunized this writer.   It was a ‘reality’ check on such.

Councilmember Goldberg, further reinforced that conclusion, when, unhappy with the election of  an ‘advisory committee’  baldly declared that ‘ democracy doesn’t work ‘ and disavowed it,  went on as if they didn’t exist, tho they hung on for many years.

I viewed the calamitous Charter Reform Act as a fundamental betrayal of the citizenry by the entrenched and advised all and sundry to organize, but not to sign up for the sophistries presented. In my experience,  corruption of process, the end design, is in process, all to oft, activists are gulled, leaders, deceived or complix, and the entrenched have a ‘potemkin village’ of support for their aim.

Well,  enuf. We done did our doggone best.  That the Boulevard looks worse than when we started: tough. We wuzn’t guaranteed a rose garden.

Zonings:

We opposed the open air patio approval  request by the Red Buddah and were joined by neighbors. We await the Hearing Officer’s decision, and will abide it.

Graffiti:

We see the blossomings all over: took 40 fotos of sidewalk such around the LIDO alone, for use by the police and the BID, whose task it is to remove such.

Niteclubs,Gangs & drugs:

Graffiti is the turf marking,  for the lucrative trade of niteclub goers, and in contest by familiar names. Our LAPD does its best, but the amazing concentration of licensees with new  applications ongoing, makes for an enforcement problem.   Curiously,  the major new licensee wannabe @ Hollywood  & Ivar, so called to be the Walmart of such, is opposed by  current operators, and supported only by  guess who? Our visionary Eric.  The Hillview Apts. application for a basement  club is posted now.

New Restaurants & the sidewalk ‘problem’

We hear reliably, that club visitors seem to want actual food at late hours, and that venues attractive to them are flourishing.  For sure, that long dilapidated site @ Franklin Ave & Cahuenga, is prospering. Wild, man, who’d of thunk it? It looked like s___t, to all of us. But one person thought not, & put his money on his ‘vision.’   Risk & reward. The American way, the only way.  ...with the sobering consequences of failure ever hovering.

There’s real life on old Wilcox Avenue too, just north of the Blvd. with sidewalk seatings, lending a charming afternoon street life to what, in all too recent times was that of bums squatting.   A dear neighbor protests as being unlawful, but, if we now  cannot prevent sidewalk squattings by the  asocial, why the hell should we enforce against the social?

With every damn nut against innovation and life (unsubsidized is really bad )  and if customers have the naivety to sit outside the Baja Fresh on Sunset & Vine,  god bless ‘em &   Baja Fresh, for their vision. The same for the place @ Cahuenga  Blvd & Selma. Ave. (N.E. corner ), and all not mentioned here. We vote for Life.   The individual commitment, investment and risk.

The John Anson Ford theatre ( formerly the Pilgrimage Theater )

At a recent Rotary Club meeting, the publicity director  gave fresh insight into its operation and venue. It is heavily booked for the Summer season, and has the most diverse of presentations. Happily, it is an intimate theater, with all very close to the performers, the exact opposite of the garguantan Bowl across the Freeway.  It is close, but one can opt for bus or auto transport.  Google it’s website for details.  I know I’d like to attend the Vivaldi night in August.

Additional Public Parking: 

Direly needed for the revival of any Hollywood  Blvd. commerce the Cahuenga Blvd nexus.

The only property able to serve is the Smith property, now leased to Galpin Studio Rentals.
Just south of Yucca St. on Cahuenga Blvd. ,  all commerce on the Blvd is hostage to its availability. 

Countless times, the old Security Pacific Bldg. has had most attractive offers from major tenants, given parking availability, even the CIM group inquired and passed. The famed Catalina Bar & Grille, last year, moved to Sunset Blvd west with on site parking , reluctantly, and most costly, but simply to survive.

The boutique  West Hotel on  Yucca St,  an endearingly charming and most expensive revisitation,  failed to go beyond perceived ample public parking, only to find it expensively rare, and in multiple competition with niteclubs, etc.

Our view: Our sole recourse is:

Approaching and asking for their help, calling upon the the massive civic virtues of the Bob Smith family, and that of Herbert ‘Boeckerman (spelling by memory only).  Maestro of the Galpin folk.    These people have traditional values.  The Smith family endured the very worst of times in old Hollywood, and supported all similarly inclined, ( however outrageous) .  Mr Boeckerman, served on the LAPD Commission Board, amongst myriad civic services.

The How to approach:  One contemplates well in advance, and in concert with needful parties.

Housing:

Housing is the dominant theme in the new Hollywood Community Plan, and is the desperate thought of those who would find any use for old commercial buildings, to the point that even the lowest on the I.Q. chain in civic prominence are chafing.  So far, exorbitant rents in prominent structures have failed to attract, particularly in the subsidized market.  We know of no successful condo/loft conversion in Old Hollywood, but we may not be up to date. Modern major buildings  west of La Brea or north of Franklin Ave have had some success.

More than midway in a housing cycle, we fear the consequences of an economic downturn. In the Yucca Corridor, we fear a repeat of the dire circumstances attendant to the last economic downturn.  With speculators just walking away from heavy loans and leaving incompetent banks to try to manage units which lack desirable amenities as parking, and public safety.

The LIDO apartments were foreclosed on early in the year, by civic lenders, and we hear it is currently being run by the City....and not well by reports and appearances.

Private free market housing construction is going gangbusters, but the wild rise in costs of construction brings us into unknown territory for now. In ordinary times, unreal enthusiasm leading to a plentiful housing supply bring supply and demand into balance, but we are anywhere but in ordinary times.

United Streets of Hollywood

We are down to but a few. Veterans of the period of extreme gang violence and intimidations..attempted.  We  see them at the monthly LAPD meetings. Some have departed the scene, some have passed earthly concern. All are aging, and constricted in their activities, or in the case of JON JAY, he has recently married a long time companion to more functionally parent an adopted child.  All have given ample evidence of the highest order of civic virtue. Leadership in dire and dangerous times, selfless, desiring no profit,  award or advantage from their effort.

It’s been an “interesting’’ time.  to say the least. Not to diminish our past years  each fulsomely redolent of such.  but for one engaged for more than a 1/4 century in advancing  virtually universal civic values, such as those which are addressed on our masthead, it was a time when public policy abandoned those values and goals, endorsing instead speculations and activities which increased the burden on the keeping of the peace, and thus orphaned were traditional values and successes of urban renewal.

We wish all well.  Old Hollywood is rich in great people, however still tattered its facade.

Cordially,

 John Ehretz
co-Chair, Steering Committee
ph  323  465-3505
fax  323  465-3525
email  ehretz@pacbell.net
postal  1811 Wilcox Avenue
            Hollywood, CA 90028