HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE LAWSUIT

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

 

  1. Who is Hollywood Heritage?

·                     Hollywood Heritage is a local 501(c)3 non-profit historic preservation organization . We are dedicated to the preservation of the historic built environment in Hollywood and to education about the early film industry and the role its pioneers played in shaping Hollywood’s history.

 

  1. Why is this lawsuit being filed now?

·                     Something has suddenly changed. Hollywood Heritage has worked productively and cooperatively for over 20 years with the City and developers. 

·                     Now the Redevelopment Agency has shifted its process.  We don’t know why.

·                     The City is now allowing private developers to prepare highly biased reviews, which find that their previously historic buildings are suddenly no longer historic.

·                     The Redevelopment Agency unilaterally deleted Federally listed monuments on Hollywood Boulevard from its list of monuments—an impossible action under the law.

 

  1. Is Hollywood Heritage trying to stop development?

·                     No.  This is not a lawsuit about stopping development. 

·                     Developers will gain from our lawsuit because it requires the City to clear up the confusion in their processes, and to treat all developers consistently according to stated rules.

 

  1. What do you want to happen?

·                     We want to stop unlawful demolitions of historic buildings. Hollywood’s historic buildings give a substance to the aura of Hollywood and make one of the few walkable urban areas in Los Angeles come alive. Hollywood’s historic buildings have been a major factor in the new social energy here.

·                     Hollywood Heritage wants to fill these great old buildings with new life.  Every unlawful demolition brings us closer to blandness and blindness to heritage.

·                     We want to stop City approvals that appear to follow no consistent rules.  

 

  1. If the City followed its own rules, what difference would it make?

·                     The City was required to prepare a Transportation Plan and an Urban Design Plan for Hollywood Boulevard in 1986 to deal with the pressing issues of traffic and historic buildings. 

·                     These Plans were required because the Redevelopment Plan appeared to give “blanket permission” for larger scale development,  when actually a finer grain of urban design and planning was required and wanted.

·                     The Redevelopment Agency was required to start many programs to aid in historic preservation, including a grant program; a transfer of development rights program, an historic survey; a listing of landmarks with the Cultural Heritage Board;  and a delay of demolition program.

·                     These plans and programs have been required and promised over and over again.  The Redevelopment Agency and City Planning have ducked responsibility for over 20 years while landmarks tumble.

 

  1. Why is historic preservation in Hollywood considered an “environmental” issue?

·                     The state of California law groups together all the aspects of the environment we live in – from our air quality, our plants and animals, to our urban aesthetics and preservation of our heritage—under the protections of “environmental law”

 

  1. What is Hollywood Heritage’s vision for Hollywood Boulevard?

·                     Hollywood Boulevard in its heyday was the "5th Avenue of the West."  Hollywood Heritage got Hollywood Boulevard listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In the 1920’s and 30’s Hollywood Boulevard was a classy cosmopolitan street, lined with banks, retail shops, fine restaurants, and well-appointed apartments. 

·                     We do not accept the vision of Hollywood as a new Times Square—slathered with huge billboards, buildings obliterated with advertising, attracting a night time and tourism crowd of outsiders but offering little in terms of an authentic healthy main street.

·                     The country is full of vibrant restored historic areas.  Pasadena and Santa Monica thrive while keeping their culture and identity.  Why should a world famous town get treated with less-- with cheap "development-as-usual?"

                      

  1. Haven’t many major landmarks in Hollywood been saved?

·                     Yes.  Hollywood Heritage has been involved in and instrumental in saving most of the landmarks which have been saved—the El Capitan Theater, the Chinese Theater, the Cinerama Dome.  Fortunately, many property owners have found that preserving their buildings has been great for their companies and for business. 

·                     Many property owners are fixing up historic buildings now and putting new life in our landmarks.  We work very cooperatively with these people.

 

  1. Isn’t the new mall at Hollywood and Highland the reason Hollywood is coming back?

·                     No—it was the restoration of historic buildings by local people that began the turn-around in Hollywood.  It was the success of the El Capitan and the Cinerama Dome—hard-won preservation fights-- and the hard work of neighborhood clean-up groups that made Hollywood attractive enough for outsiders to dare to come in.

·                     The surge of nightclubs and restaurants follows a consistent pattern in rebounding historic urban neighborhoods.  It is actually quite separate from the influence of tourism and the mall.