TAV-Merv Griffin ABC Building–after an inspection by Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and the Community Redevelopment Agency in early July, Hollywood Heritage, Inc. stands firm on its position to retain the original 1935 streamline moderne façade as part of the new Hollywood Marketplace project. The CRA agreed to also look at the conditions of the 1923 Spanish Ballroom façade, covered up since 1938, to determine its condition.

Despite earthquakes, major fires (which the owners have still not cleaned up), a collapsed roof, "poor soil" conditions, and 64 years of aging, not a single crack could be found on the wall of the ABC building. The façade is stronger than we anticipated and has to be protected as was approved in the 1986 Hollywood Redevelopment Plan. As with the Cinerama Dome, Hollywood Heritage, Inc. is willing to take those actions necessary to protect this historic structure. We have already compromised by allowing the interiors to be demolished, but not the architecturally significant façade.

Public hearings are still on-going for this project. Please call Robert Nudelman at (323) 463-6418 for information on how you can help. Check our website at http://www.hollywoodheritage.org for our EIR response.

The Cinerama Dome Theater Entertainment Complex–came to a successful conclusion for most preservation issues last December. Actually, in June of 1998 Hollywood Heritage, Inc. was told that an agreement had been reached with the LA Conservancy on preservation issues that would have allowed the interior to be totally redone, eliminating the curved screen and replacing the two-tiered levels of seating with new stadium seating, as well as other sever alterations to the interior lobby area.

Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and Friends of Cinerama, led by Doug Haines, refused this agreement. We insisted on preserving the historic and unique interior of the theater, although ost of the exterior concerns had been resolved. Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and Friends of Cinerama were willing to do whatever was required, including challenging any public funding and using legal action to block alterations to the interior, which was protected according to the 1986 Hollywood Redevelopment Plan.

This, along with an outpouring of support that Doug Haines and Hollywood Heritage, Inc. generated through the entertainment industry and the general public, led Pacific Theaters and the city back to negotiate. We held our position and won, with the final agreement (signed by Hollywood Heritage, Inc., Friends of Cinerama, and the LA Conservancy) in December, one year to the day after Pacific Theaters had made its ill-received presentation to Hollywood Heritage, Inc.

What is truly impressive is that Pacific Theaters went the extra mile in their modifications, retaining more of the exterior than proposed in June, lowering the new building frontage, reducing the height of the parking structure, and adding more poster graphics to it, as requested by Hollywood Heritage, Inc.

Shortly after the agreement, Doug Haines and Pacific Theaters organized a meeting at the Dome with the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) president Woody Omens and cinematographer John Hoad, as well as with Hollywood Heritage, Inc. and various Cinerama experts from Los Angeles, Ohio, and Europe. The net result, as later reported in Daily Variety in June, was that Cinerama would finally be presented in the Dome. As part of its renovation, Pacific is installing a louvered screen, new sound, and has already put in the three projector Cinerama system (the theater was built for it, but techology during construction replaced it with single projection Ultra Panavision 70)

Pacific owns the rights to most of the Cinerama films, and along with the two owned by Warner Brothers (How the West Was Won and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm) plans are afoot to restore these films for 3-projector presentations here and at the few (less than 10) theaters in the world capable of Cinerama.

It is highly unlikely that a potentially full-fledged Cinerama revival could have been possible if the Dome's screen had gone flat. By not settling for something less in June, we got even more than he had hoped for in December, and an outstanding bonus this year.

Pacific Theaters deserves a major "thank you" for their revised outlook on Hollywood's classic 1963 theater and on their leadership in reviving "real" Cinerama presentations here and elsewhere. Those in particular deserving of recognition at Pacific are Michael Foreman (who was in charge of building the theater for his family in 1963), Chris Forman, Neil Haltrecht, and Jay Swerdlow. Besides ASC, guilds representing art directors, editors, set decorators, photographers, and ASIFA Hollywood, as well as directors Stanley Kramer, John Frankenheimer, Joe Dante, and Martin Scorsese gave their invaluable support.

Though Hollywood Heritage, Inc.'s first contact on this project goes back to August 1997, our work is far from over. Continuing appearances at public hearings for the project's approvals will go on until early fall. Additionally, our continuing support of the Cinerama revival will take us to the project's opening in 2001.

If you need more information, or updates on the projects listed here, please call Robert Nudelman or Barry Milofsky at Hollywood Heritage, Inc.