NoHo Arts Festival to Celebrate Renewal

No one is talking about changing any street names, but should it secede from the city of Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley may well already have its own Broadway.

And that’s proving to be good business for North Hollywood, where the NoHo arts district will host its fourth annual Theatre and Arts Festival this weekend.

Free performances of live theater, music and dance, along with art exhibits and demonstrations, will be ongoing Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. on Lankershim Boulevard between Magnolia Boulevard and Weddington Street.

“Five years ago, there were just two theaters here,” recalled David A. Cox, founder and artistic director of the American Renegade Theater Co., now one of 18 in the area. “It was a pretty barren place. Everything was really depressing. There were a lot of bums in the street and lots of crime.” Now, he said, “There’s a lot of increased enthusiasm.”

Debra Sakacs, executive director of the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, concurs.

Her list of examples range from the recent decision by the Walt Disney Co. to move its Internet operations into a building at Lankershim and Magnolia formerly occupied by Hewlett-Packard to the opening late last year of Ned’s, a 30-seat eatery on Magnolia.

Like many involved in the NoHo arts district, owner Ned Forman seems as motivated by sentiment as by business potential. “I have good memories of this area,” said Forman, a 1963 graduate of North Hollywood High who still lives locally.

“It has been struggling for a long time, but a lot of people have put a lot of effort into making something happen here.

“It feels like the momentum is changing.”

Fred Bower, also a North Hollywood resident, real estate agent and chairman of the NoHo Development Committee, said a number of entertainment-related businesses “have been quietly moving in” since the district was organized.

“The idea has really caught on,” he said. “People of the arts want to move into an area where other artists and theaters are.”