Hollywood the Place and the Concept

The word Hollywood evokes an image of an industry town that includes the movie and television industry that lead the world in creating entertainment. James Flanigan’s column (“With Aerospace Ailing, Hollywood Looks to Be Region’s New Top Gun,” Nov. 1) supports this giant media image with some hard data regarding the number of jobs that fuel this mighty machine locally, and the overall benefit to our local economy, which is still reeling from the aerospace and defense cutbacks.

Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, NBC, Fox, MGM and others are all thriving.

There is also the revenue generated for our local economy by tourism. They rent cars, stay in hotels, take taxicabs, support the local restaurants, buy souvenirs, go on studio tours and become part of a TV audience. For a personal assessment, go to Mann’s Chinese Theatre any day and you will see the tourists and hear many languages being spoken. They take the tours of the stars’ homes and hope to see an actor out on the front lawn.

Hollywood in reality is an embarrassment to behold. The “industry” could collaborate and financially support a clean-up of Hollywood and reconfigure the image that the tourists see. Whenever I go to Hollywood, I feel ashamed that an icon should have become so tarnished by neglect.

If the entertainment industry were really savvy, it would ante up and transform the real streets of Hollywood into the expectations in tourists’ minds--a place that glitters and is a real attraction. Such a minimal effort would be repaid in megabucks.

MICHAEL J. REARDON

Encino