Hollywood Ca Development And Redevelopment

Betting on a resurgence in the symbolic heart of the entertainment business, a Santa Monica-based partnership plans to purchase and resurrect Hollywood Galaxy, a failed retail and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard. The pending sale of the property reflects a rekindled interest in the streets of Hollywood. New development has begun to pull the famous district out of a long slump and attract new investment from real estate speculators and the industry.

It was the last Saturday night on Hollywood Boulevard as we knew it, and Jonas West was loitering in the well-lighted doorway of his tattoo parlor, taking drags on a cigarette. His arms were embellished with skulls, waves, flames, naked girls, oaths and swirls too elaborate to easily decipher. "It's beautiful," he said, nodding across the street.

Long after the burned-out structures along Hollywood Boulevard are rebuilt, the effects of a nightlong looting and arson spree will linger. More than the damage, the televised image of a Hollywood in flames will hinder efforts to attract tourists and persuade businesses to invest in the city's troubled revitalization effort, officials said Friday.

By the end of the year, the celebrated views from Hollywood Hills homes may include a new and not unanimously welcomed sight: a big, bright ad for the latest in fashion, media or entertainment. That ad, expected to hang on a 150-foot tower, is planned to be part of the extensive signage at the Hollywood & Highland Project, a $615-million retail and entertainment complex that will include a new theater for Academy Awards ceremonies.

Friday was one of those days when Hollywood preservationist Doug Carlton must have felt like his back was against the wall. And it was as he slumped sadly against the plywood safety wall that a demolition crew had erected at the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Beachwood Drive. Behind the barrier, a bulldozer was razing one of Hollywood's oldest film studios. "They can't tear this down!" yelled Carlton, 50, founder of a group called Keep Old Los Angeles.

The grand vision for a rejuvenated Hollywood first emerged seven years ago during a luncheon for wealthy businessmen at the Brown Derby. By the end of dessert and coffee, broadcaster Bill Welsh had collected thousands of dollars in pledges for the feasibility study that later would qualify the tattered movie capital for an enormous, government-subsidized make-over.

A drive is underway to expand Hollywood's business improvement district, which has hired security and maintenance crews to spruce up portions of Hollywood Boulevard. The proposed expansion would extend the district, which runs from La Brea Avenue to McCadden Place, east to Gower Street, adding 12 blocks. The expansion area includes 225 property owners, who would be assessed $1.6 million annually for three years to pay for private security patrols, sidewalk maintenance and marketing.

After hours of debate Friday, the Los Angeles City Council approved public financial participation in a $385-million project that is billed as the cornerstone of a revitalized Hollywood. But the deal's critics--including Council President John Ferraro--cautioned that the 640,000-square-foot project at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue could still be halted if neighborhood concerns about its impact are not adequately addressed.

With Hollywood seemingly on the verge of changing from dumpy to desirable, property owners are being urged to be more choosy about future commercial tenants. Enough with the junky souvenir shops and tourist-trap T-shirt stores. Instead, fill your empty storefronts with businesses that will attract local shoppers.

The pace of real estate development in Hollywood continues to surge ahead as plans were announced for two new projects, a luxury housing/hotel complex on Highland Avenue and a $60-million office project on Vine Street. Los Angeles-based developer Accord Interests said it is in escrow to buy the old ABC Television studio complex on Vine Street between Fountain and Homewood avenues.

Developer Robert A. Langer has a plan for the historic Broadway building at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street: He wants to make the nine-story tower look much as it did in 1927, when it was new. In the next year, workers will remove the stucco from the lower floors of the Beaux Arts Classical-style building. The classical columns of the front facade, long hidden, will again see daylight.

There is a building at Yucca and Wilcox, in the heart of Hollywood, that once was a decrepit squat for dozens of runaway teens. But with its red-brick facade and spacious interiors handsomely restored, it now is a sought-after apartment house. Down the street on Hollywood Boulevard, a homeless girl used to sleep under a dusty wall that is now part of the stylish courtyard of the remodeled Egyptian Theatre headquarters of the American Cinematheque.

After building countless suburban shopping malls, real estate giant TrizecHahn is betting hundreds of millions of dollars that Southern Californians are ready for something different. Hollywood & Highland, a $560-million retail and entertainment complex that will serve as the permanent home for the Academy Awards show, is being built in Hollywood by TrizecHahn's development arm.

For six years, Nineth Anton has watched impatiently as a cluster of vacant buildings in her Hollywood neighborhood has drawn vandals, trash and vagrants. Her frustration over the blighted properties has only grown with the knowledge that they are owned by the Los Angeles redevelopment agency. A fading sign on one graffiti-scarred building that boasts "The Future Site of Selma Park" is no consolation.

City planners and local environmentalists want to transform at least 50 east Hollywood vacant lots into "pocket parks" over the next decade as an ambitious test of whether the concept can be employed one day across all of Los Angeles. The proposal is contained in a Department of City Planning report on economic development and beautification of east Hollywood.

With Hollywood seemingly on the verge of changing from dumpy to desirable, property owners are being urged to be more choosy about future commercial tenants. Enough with the junky souvenir shops and tourist-trap T-shirt stores. Instead, fill your empty storefronts with businesses that will attract local shoppers.

Pulling back the curtain for the first time, the architect of the $94-million theater that will house the Academy Awards beginning in March 2002 describes its vibe as a grand opera house with shimmering film imagery, high-tech amenities and a lobby walled on one side by glass that will afford a panoramic view of the Hollywood sign.

Downtown Hollywood What's been done: The MTA opened the Red Line to Hollywood; the El Capitan Theatre reopened after seismic repairs; and the American Cinematheque gave serious moviegoers a foothold at the Egyptian.

Even glitter and glamour can trickle down the economic ladder. In the wake of multimillion-dollar development initiatives in Hollywood, including the TrizecHahn and CineramaDome projects, a number of smaller projects have begun to sprout in the movie capital. Roughly 20 to 30 projects--primarily restaurants, clubs and retail/services stores--have recently been completed or are currently under construction or in the planning stages, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler said.

The pace of real estate development in Hollywood continues to surge ahead as plans were announced for two new projects, a luxury housing/hotel complex on Highland Avenue and a $60-million office project on Vine Street. Los Angeles-based developer Accord Interests said it is in escrow to buy the old ABC Television studio complex on Vine Street between Fountain and Homewood avenues.