What the Palladium looked like in 2008 and a year and half later
HOLLYWOOD: When it comes to making a list of the neighborhoods that that saw a big spike in development over the last decade, you can start with Hollywood and downtown. City Councilman Eric Garcetti's district include parts of Hollywood, and now that there's a brief lull before the hammers start up again, perhaps it's a good time to reflect on what projects and initiatives worked, and err, which ones didn't? During today's Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum luncheon, held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, Garcetti weighed in on what he felt were the biggest development achievements for Hollywood, and what he would have done differently. On his Thumbs Up List: Bringing Jimmy Kimmel to the neighborhood (Kimmel's studio is on Hollywood Boulevard); bringing back the Oscars to Hollywood & Highland; saving the Palladium; the Hotel Cafe; and Triangle Square, a gay and lesbian elder housing complex.
And on his What Hollywood Could Have Differently list? No, there was never a mention of razing Gower Gulch, but there was a mention of, ach, signage. Garcetti even used the dreaded “penciling out” phrase. “One of the early things in Hollywood, there was a tipping point when it was important there was signage when things wouldn’t pencil out..." he told the audience. "At a certain point, some would have penciled out without signage...one of the things I would have done is to cut the rope earlier and we have done that now. But you’re still seeing things that come up that were planned and entitled from six, seven years ago."
And finally: There's been much speculation that Garcetti will run for Mayor. At this point, it's known that City Councilman Jan Perry is running and there's also chatter that developer Rick Caruso is running (fingers crossed it's a monorail platform). Asked if he was running, Garcetti left the door open with his answer: “As of now, I am not,” he told the audience.
He also stated: ““I tend not to live my political life too far into the future, and I think it’s one of the faults of my profession where you’re always looking at what’s next instead of what’s here. And I have a great job. We saw Antonio Villaraigosa declare six months before. If I were to run, I wouldn’t wait that long?.I think you can wait a lot longer than people think. I will take the next 12-18 months to decide [whether to run]."
· Hollywood Archives [Curbed LA]
Loading comments...