Hollywood’s Chamber Ousts Its President : Business: Move is the latest symptom of local group’s problems. It is in disarray at a crucial time for redevelopment decisions.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has ousted its president, Larry Kaplan, throwing the beleaguered organization into disarray at a critical point in the movie capital’s history.
As Los Angeles city officials try to revive their stalled $922-million Hollywood redevelopment effort, they have relied on the politically savvy Kaplan and the chamber as key organizers of film industry and business support.
But the chamber, the third-largest in Los Angeles County, has been beset by its own problems. Hundreds of dues-paying members have dropped out in recent years and it is suffering from significant financial, management and legal problems, internal documents show.
In recent months, according to some chamber members, internal strife has gotten so bad that some have talked privately of shutting down what is one of the nation’s most famous trade organizations and selling its historic assets. Those assets include the trademarks for the logo of the landmark Hollywood sign and the Walk of Fame, which the chamber administers, and the rights to the internationally televised Hollywood Christmas Parade, which the chamber produces.
It was in recognition of its problems, in fact, that the chamber hired Kaplan, 37, from Councilman Michael Woo’s office two years ago at an annual salary of $88,000 to straighten things out.
Now, with Kaplan’s ouster at a secretive Jan. 22 meeting of the chamber’s 45-member board of directors, and board Chairman John O. Adams’ apparent decision not to seek reelection in April, some Hollywood watchers are bracing for a tumultuous year.
“All I can say,” Woo said, “is that this brings up a lot of uncertainty about what comes next for Hollywood.
“Lack of direction by the chamber takes away a key part of the equation for Hollywood’s future,” Woo said. “We really need the support of Hollywood businesses to provide momentum for redevelopment efforts.”
Some members said Kaplan’s ouster paves the way for much-needed new leadership at the chamber, which has about 1,400 members, ranging from mom-and-pop merchants to major studios. The chamber has an annual budget of about $1.4 million.
“I’m a cockeyed optimist,” said board member Nyla Arslanian, a publicist. “The board is up for the challenge and realizes the work they have to do. I think we are going to weather this.”
Kaplan refused to comment on the matter, which was completed Wednesday when the chamber board bought out the remainder of his contract for an undisclosed sum. In a statement, he said: “I feel I have accomplished the goals I set out to achieve. Now it’s time to move onward and upward.”
The chamber board voted in its former president, Bill Welsh, to take over Kaplan’s duties until a search committee finds a permanent successor.
Welsh presided over the chamber for 10 years, but stepped down two years ago in large part because of the chamber’s worsening financial and organizational problems.
After Kaplan took over, many blamed Welsh for the chamber’s alleged mismanagement of funds earmarked for the upkeep of the Hollywood sign and other problems. But he was given a lifetime contract when he left and was earning $40,000 this year even though he had few, if any, specific responsibilities, chamber documents show.
Kaplan, Woo’s former chief of staff, is credited with forging better relationships with City Hall and with the Community Redevelopment Agency, which is engineering the 30-year redevelopment effort. His efforts to improve the police presence in Hollywood and create theater and movie districts also have been applauded.
Although Kaplan inherited many of the chamber’s longstanding problems, some board members said he was never given a mandate to overhaul the 70-year-old organization, or even a detailed job description.
As a result, Kaplan was seen as walking a tightrope between “old-guard” members such as Welsh, a celebrity announcer fond of using the chamber as a forum for glitzy celebrity mixers, and younger, more business-oriented members. Some board members said Kaplan was ill-suited for such a task, describing him as headstrong, abrasive and unwilling to perform the social duties necessary to return the organization to its former place as the voice of the entertainment industry.
“Larry just wasn’t the man for the job,” said Michael Dubin, a board member and a vice president of a development company.
For decades, the chamber was synonymous with the glory of Hollywood. It created the Walk of Fame in 1960 and still chooses the entertainers who can spend $4,800 on a terrazzo-and-brass star. It helped hatch the idea for Hollywood’s regeneration. And in 1978, the chamber refurbished the decaying Hollywood sign, and has since marketed the Hollywood mystique worldwide.
But in recent years the chamber’s influence ebbed, and a scandal ensued after the state attorney general’s office began investigating the handling of the charitable trusts controlling the Hollywood sign.
The chamber now faces potentially more than $200,000 in legal bills and restitution stemming from the state probe, in addition to $200,000 already paid out, chamber sources said last week.
