Hollywood to Get a IInd Chance : Hoopla to Point Up Positive Aspects of Neighborhood

They’ll be turning on some special lights in Hollywood tonight to celebrate the fact that Hollywood, the place, is coming back.

A weeklong celebration called “Hollywood II: Sequel to a Golden Era” will begin this evening in front of the newly restored Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard with appearances by film and television celebrities, politicians, singers, dancers and bands playing ‘40s-style music.

Charlton Heston, Debbie Reynolds, Martha Raye, Buddy Rogers, Ray Bradbury, Edy Williams and Rose Marie headline the list of celebrities who will speak at the 8:30 p.m. event.

The boulevard, now a national historic district, will be transformed into a Hollywood-of-old by 40 klieg lights placed up and down the street from Sycamore Avenue to Vine Street. A scheduled flyover by the Goodyear blimp will serve as the signal to set the boulevard lights flashing in the sky, and a beam of light from the Capitol Records building will light up the HOLLYWOOD sign for the evening.

On Wednesday, a city helicopter crew lowered a 45x45-foot Roman numeral II to the side of Mt. Lee, where it was attached to the bottom of the HOLLYWOOD sign to mark the start of the week’s celebration.

Councilman Mike Woo, who represents the Hollywood district, is the brainchild of the Hollywood extravaganza.

“The main reason I wanted to do it is that it’s important to get the word out to the public about the positive things that are happening in Hollywood,” Woo said. “We’ve put together support from the city and from the business community and we wanted to make obvious some of the strengths of Hollywood.

“Hollywood is really significant for the whole city. People come to movies and restaurants and just to see it because it is Hollywood. We’re building up a resource for the whole city of Los Angeles here. Other communities might be able to have a day’s celebration, but I felt that Hollywood is so diverse we could justify a whole week.”

Diverse is also a proper word for the events, being held through May 1 on Hollywood streets, in parks, storefronts, churches, museums, theaters. There will be an ethnic festival, symposiums, an art workshop, nature walks and Boulevard tours, a jazz concert and a chorale composed of about 700 vocalists from many of Hollywood’s churches.

The closing ceremony, at 2 p.m. Thursday, features the placing of the cornerstone and time capsule of the Screen Actors’ Guild’s new national headquarters. Located at 7065 Hollywood Blvd., the new SAG office building is the refurbished Hollywood Congregational Church, a historic landmark constructed in 1920.

The SAG headquarters is one of about 15 restorations of Hollywood buildings currently under way or recently finished.

Along with SAG headquarters, the Roosevelt, a $35-million restoration, serves as anchor for the comeback of Hollywood Boulevard. A black-tie, invitation-only reception will be held in the Roosevelt’s Blossom Room--site of the first Academy Awards on May 16, 1929--after the lighting of the boulevard.

Restoration of the Janes House, a former school for children of Hollywood movie moguls, has been started, as has that of Wattles Mansion, formerly a private estate that will become the home of Hollywood Heritage, a nonprofit preservationist group.

The Janes house, at Hollywood Boulevard and Hudson Avenue, will become a tourist information center, something Hollywood is badly in need of to assist the 3 1/2 million tourists who visit the city each year.

And in the same Hollywood that used to have no museums, there are now four: the Hollywood Studio Museum, the barn where Cecil B. DeMille shot his first feature film in 1913, located on Highland Avenue near the Hollywood Bowl; the Hollywood Bowl Museum at the Bowl; the Max Factor Make-up Museum in the historic Max Factor building on Highland just south of the Boulevard; and the Hollywood Miniatures, a display of Hollywood of the 1940s, done in miniature models and located at On Location, 6834 Hollywood Blvd.

New projects in Hollywood also are being finished. The new Hollywood branch of the Los Angeles County Municipal Court just opened; the new Hollywood library is scheduled to open in June. Sunset Galleria, a shopping mall, and the Mercedes-Benz building have been completed and construction began this month on Lanewood Apartments, a luxury apartment complex.

“It’s been a long, slow process to get all of these things started in Hollywood,” said Marian Gibbons, co-chairman of Hollywood II with David Abel, a Los Angeles attorney and public affairs consultant. Gibbons is the founder of Hollywood Heritage; Abel, a member of the Central City Assn., is a Hollywood resident.

Although the celebration is not officially linked to the city’s redevelopment, Hollywood II planners are hoping their event will coincide with the City Council’s approval of the Community Redevelopment Plan for Hollywood, a 30-year plan expected to cost $920 million in tax increment financing.

“It’s taken us years to get all these projects under way,” said Gibbons. “A lot of people didn’t think it could be done, but we’re doing it. A whole bunch of new people have come in and are committed to bringing back Hollywood. It can’t be done overnight. It was left alone so long. But if the CRA passes, that will be really important to Hollywood, to move things along faster.”

The City Council is expected to vote on the CRA plan this morning. If approved, it will be the largest redevelopment project in Los Angeles outside of the downtown area.

Gibbons, Abel and scores of volunteers have put together Hollywood II in just five weeks.

Level of Cooperation

“The level of cooperation on this is staggering,” said Brenda Eddy, former executive director of the End Hunger Network who has helped Gibbons and Abel coordinate the planning of Hollywood II. Community corporations and businesses donated the funds to produce the celebration, with the largest contributions coming from Tandam Realty Group and Melvin Simon & Associates.

“People have just come out of the woodwork. It’s really been very inspiring, like seeing hometown America in action.”

“It’s been incredible,” said Mark LaFont, who volunteered his time to produce the opening ceremonies. “The Olympics had four years to plan. We’ve done it all in five weeks.”

Following the opening, events are scheduled daily for Hollywood II.

On Saturday, guides will take groups on one-hour walking tours along the Boulevard, pointing out architecturally or historically significant buildings. Tours will leave from the Guaranty Building at 6333 Hollywood Blvd. continually from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Major film studios, past and present--among them Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers/ABC, United Artists/MGM--will provide exhibits in storefronts along the boulevard all week.

Thai Tradition

Also on Saturday, a Thai Traditions Festival will be held at Barnsdall Park from noon to 5 p.m., featuring Thai dancers and musicians, sword fighting and kick boxing as well as booths selling Thai food.

At noon Saturday, nature enthusiasts may tour Hollywood’s newest park, Runyon Canyon at the end of Fuller Avenue, and see the ruins of Errol Flynn’s former estate.

Several symposiums and breakfasts concerning Hollywood are scheduled during the week. A schedule of those and other events may be obtained at the Hollywood II headquarters, 6333 Hollywood Blvd., at the corner of Ivar Avenue, or by calling (213) 466-8888.

On Sunday, about 700 vocalists from many Hollywood church choirs will gather at the Hollywood High School football stadium at 3 p.m. to present an hourlong concert.

Tuesday features the dedication of a manhole cover in the sidewalk at 1608 N. Cahuenga Blvd., where jazz drummer Shelly Manne ran his jazz club, the Manne Hole, for 12 years. A noontime jazz concert will follow.

Final List of Events

Surveying the final list of events this week, Eddy, also a Hollywood resident, added: “This is a different side of Hollywood than people have ever seen. I had no idea there were so many social service agencies and groups and that they all know each other and are working together. Fifty or 60 of them. This really is a neighborhood. It’s almost as if the community has been organized forever, but just started to show off its vim and vigor.”

Like Eddy, Abel had not been involved with Hollywood functions until both signed up to get Hollywood II under way.

“It’s really working and I’m having a lot of fun,” Abel said of the upcoming celebration. “I was just a resident before, but now I understand about people being involved with Hollywood. It does that to you.”