President’s Message

Adaptive Reuse For Buildings Comes To Hollywood As New Housing Initiative

by Fran Offenhauser

There’s an encouraging “comeback” happening in historic Hollywood!

On September 21, Hollywood Heritage joined Mayor Hahn and leading Hollywood organizations in hosting a tour of “adaptive reuse” sites in Hollywood. Landmark buildings which have long been vacant are about to see new life, not as shops or offices but as loft housing.

The Equitable Building at Hollywood and Vine; the historic Broadway Building on the opposite corner (see photo); the Gothic Revival Professional Building at the corner of Hollywood and Sycamore; and the Cosmo Street storage building-- all are in various steps of transformation to loft housing. How refreshing and hopeful to finally see public policy that supports our landmarks rather than working to tear them down!

These lofts are all the buzz in Downtown LA, with numbers ranging from 9,000 – 12,000 units created or under construction. The Mayor wants this trend to continue into Hollywood. He is aggressively pushing to create a “24/7” lifestyle by returning residents to Los Angeles’ urban deserts. Together with Jeff Rouse’s Hillview Apartments restoration on Hollywood Boulevard, this is a significant trend for Hollywood.

The tour for 100 real estate developers, lenders, and property owners introduced the concept of reusing old buildings to “movers and shakers” who would normally never consider anything but new construction.

I worked with the Mayor’s office for 4 months on your behalf. Hollywood Heritage hosted the kick-off at the Linwood Dunn Theater on Vine Street, which was generously donated by the Academy of Motion Pictures. This was an appropriate spot, being an adaptive reuse success story itself, and designed by yours truly! Marc Wanamaker and Kay Tornborg helped me behind the scenes—many thanks.

The CRA, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Holly-wood Business Improvement District introduced the group to the “new” Hollywood, one which has vibrant night life, reduced crime, cleaner streets, and young hipsters that I didn’t know much about. The tour ended at the “new” Schwabs at Sunset and Vine, with a rousing talk by Councilman Eric Garcetti promising his backing for adaptive reuse efforts.

Folks, this whole event was a marvelous high for a preservationist. On your behalf, I promised enthusiasm and cooperation. Los Angeles is finally catching on to what cities across America have been capitalizing on for decades – that historic buildings can be the source of economic and urban revival. For a moment I saw hope for historic Hollywood – and I wasn’t dreaming.

Due to space limitations, the final installment our history of Hollywood Boulevard will not appear in this Newsletter. But it will appear in the next one!