Oliver Hardy’s Home Will No Longer Be a Fine Mess

The pink lady of Hollywood Boulevard will soon be ready for close-ups again.

Built in 1917 for actors because landlords routinely posted signs saying “No Actors, No Dogs,” the Hillview Apartments is about to be reborn with the help of a $10.7-million project that is restoring the pink Mediterranean Revival structure to its former glory.

The renovation has cheered many merchants and Hollywood boosters, who tired of the drug dealers, squatters and other unsavory types around the four-story building that was once the home of such movie notables as Oliver Hardy and Mae Busch.

“I’m thrilled,” said Leon Vahn, who owns the building across Hudson Avenue from the Hillview. “It’s going to help everybody on the street. The smell of urine can chase people away.”

A ceremony to kick off a yearlong renovation of the building is set for this morning. Hollywood real estate developer Jeffrey Rouze, a partner in the Hillview project, oversaw the 1995 $5.5-million renovation of the El Capitan office building, where the famed movie theater is located. He said he believes in reclaiming Hollywood’s glamour and glory.

“The Hillview building is a unique structure in a unique place -- Hollywood,” he said. “It makes perfect sense to do this.”

A native of Madison, Wis., Rouze enticed a hometown real estate development company, Great Lakes Cos., to be a partner in the revitalization. Although they have developed 16 hotels and resorts in nine states, Great Lakes officials say they are excited by the chance to be involved in the Tinseltown project.

“With the rich history of the building, we felt we could pull it off, returning it to the luster of 1917,” said Marc B. Vaccaro, a founder and co-chairman of Great Lakes. “That would be a major achievement for us.”

The Hillview’s historic past is a strong incentive to refurbish it, many say.

In the years preceding World War I, the movie industry was growing in power and influence in Hollywood. But not everyone was enamored of moving pictures.

Landlords particularly weren’t impressed. They didn’t want actors or dogs in local apartment houses and said so in rent signs. Some landlords did not rent to actors because they were considered transient.

By 1917, movie pioneers Jesse Lasky and Samuel Goldwyn were so discouraged by the lack of housing available to actors that they built Hollywood’s first apartment building specifically for actors who worked at the nearby movie studios.

The Hillview at Hollywood and Hudson soon became the place to be. Actress Viola Dana lived in the building, as did Busch, a flirtatious beauty, and comic legend Hardy.

There was a speak-easy downstairs where legend has it that Charlie Chaplain was a fixture.

The 54-unit, U-shaped building featured a central courtyard and many amenities of the day. That included a ladies’ waiting room, a writing room, automatic elevators and Murphy beds in some of the studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The pink building’s significance was recognized years later by federal officials, who said it was a contributing building of significance to the Hollywood Commercial and Entertainment District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hillview’s opulence, though, eventually faded. Although actors and others continued to live there through the 1980s, the building was rife with drugs, runaways, prostitutes and other problems.

A few people were living there when the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged much of the structure’s fourth-floor units. Several months later, the building suffered another setback when a portion of Hollywood Boulevard collapsed during the Red Line subway construction.

Many in the area, including the owners, were in favor of demolishing the building.

Then, a New Year’s Day fire last year substantially damaged the building, which was mostly used by squatters. The fire caused an estimated $500,000 in damage.

Soon after, Rouze and Great Lakes officials began studying the prospects of rehabilitating the structure.

Hollywood Boulevard’s revitalization is anchored by the Hollywood & Highland shopping and entertainment complex, the El Capitan, some upscale restaurants and an MTA subway stop at the west end, and is bolstered by the Pantages Theater, several new nightclubs and the MTA subway station at Hollywood and Vine Street.

Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Entertainment District, a business-improvement group of property owners that covers 18 blocks, says she supports the project.

“This is a symbolic development for the middle zone of the boulevard that has been waiting for a jump-start,” Morrison said.

Rouze, Great Lakes and other investors purchased Hillview for $3.8 million in October.

The project’s price tag includes a $2.3-million loan for residential earthquake repairs that was obtained from the federal government by Los Angeles officials.

“This is absolutely huge for that area,” said Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents that portion of Hollywood.

Rouze and other Great Lakes officials said the Hillview will retain the original mix of 54 studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

“I’ve got to believe this will be a perfect place for a young actor and anyone else who wants to live there,” Vaccaro said.