HOLLYWOOD | Development News

[Fern~Fern*]

^ Yet around Universal Red Line Station their building like crazy, especially down Lankernshime Boulevard. To where the new midrise apartment complex are almost connecting with the NoHo area . Where you catch people walking/hanging at local coffee houses and eateries throughout the day and late evening.

[klamedia]

Very good point "solong". The Southbay wants to stay the way the Valley would have liked to if they didn't experience such a population boom.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

From CurbedLA:

Jeff Kreshek of CIM Group also announced that the British firm, Tesco, had agreed to locate their U.S. flagship neighborhood grocery store on the ground floor of the former Galaxy complex. Construction on the 14,000-sq.ft. store will begin immediately.

[/QUOTE]

[redspork02]

Film Academy Plans Hollywood Movie Museum



LOS ANGELES -- Film executives are moving forward with a long-planned movie museum they hope will lure more visitors to the heart of America's film industry.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is building the museum, has selected a site for the $200 million film archive about a half-mile south of the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, said Bruce Davis, the academy's director.


"I think it has a chance of being enormously successful in getting visitors," Davis said.

Groundbreaking is set for 2008 on the museum, which will occupy 75,000 square feet next to the film academy's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study.
The academy's museum committee hasn't considered an architect yet, but Davis said members want the displays to be shown in pavilions spread over an outdoor space, "since the weather is what attracted the movies here in the first place."

Some of the pavilions would house exhibits on the history of film, while others would be used for changing exhibits on different subjects, he said.

The academy already owns much of the land at the planned site, but still needs to acquire some parcels along an adjacent commercial strip of chain restaurants and discount shops, Davis said.

"People come to Hollywood and look for things that teach them about the art form of movies, and it is astonishing that there are only a few things," he said.

[klamedia]

Half a mile south would be a parking lot, right? It would have to be on the west side of the street because the east side is already spoken for w/ the residential + Whole Foods thing.

[soup or man]

Hollywood and Vine update!!!!!!

It's a mound of dirt!!!!

[godblessbotox]

my wife works in the taft building right next door, ill try to get a constant flow of photos for you all

[future_trance011]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

From CurbedLA:

Jeff Kreshek of CIM Group also announced that the British firm, Tesco, had agreed to locate their U.S. flagship neighborhood grocery store on the ground floor of the former Galaxy complex. Construction on the 14,000-sq.ft. store will begin immediately.

[/QUOTE]


Sweet news!!!

They've got a Famima!! Now a Tesco..all they need now is a Whole Foods!! Wait a minute isn't Whole Foods coming to a development near the Pantages Theater if my rusty memory is correct?

[soup or man]

Whole Foods will be at the Camden Apartments.

[saiholmes]

March 6, 2007

Blackstone to buy Tussauds' parent
The $1.9-billion deal would add to the private equity firm's stable of attractions, which includes Legoland.

LONDON — Private equity firm Blackstone Group is buying Tussauds Group, owner of Madame Tussauds wax museums, for about $1.9 billion in cash, creating the world's second-biggest theme park group, behind Walt Disney Co.

The deal, announced Monday, would combine Tussauds, one of London's biggest tourist attractions, Sea Life aquariums and the London Eye Ferris wheel with New York-based Blackstone's Legoland and Gardaland theme parks, which are held in its Merlin Entertainments Group.

The newly enlarged tourist attraction group plans to accelerate expansion, particularly in North America, with a Legoland in the Kansas City, Mo., area and a Sea Life in California already in the works.

"If we were sitting here five years from now, I think we'd be disappointed if we weren't operating 10 businesses, from three now, under three different brand names in America," Merlin Chief Executive Nick Varney said.

Tussauds is also planning to open wax museums, home to lifelike re-creations of the world's biggest celebrities such as Queen Elizabeth and Brad Pitt, in Washington this year and in Hollywood in 2008.

The group is planning to spend as much as $118.2 million each year to roll out four or five attractions to exploit the brands before an eventual initial public stock offering, Varney said.

"I think all those things point to a stock market flotation in three or four years' time," Varney said. "That is probably the most likely outcome."

Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, bought Tussauds Group for about $1.5 billion two years ago. It is retaining a 20% stake in the merged group.

The combined 50 attractions and four hotels drew about 30 million visitors last year. Only Disney's theme parks attract more visitors globally.

Merlin and Tussauds currently rank sixth and seventh, respectively, Varney said.

The new group, which does not anticipate much in the way of cost savings from the combination, aims to create clusters of short-visit and long-term attractions with related hotels, enabling more efficient marketing and revenue growth.

Tussauds was sold by Pearson, the world's biggest educational publisher, in 1998 to Charterhouse Capital Partners. It has grown to 6,000 staff members last year from 2,000 when it was acquired, Tussauds CEO Peter Phillipson said.

Britain-based Tussauds Group also operates the Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures theme parks in Britain.

Merlin operates the Dungeons and Earth Explorer tourist sites in addition to four Legoland theme parks and Italy's biggest theme park, Gardaland.

[future_trance011]

So according to that article..Madame Tussuad's should be breaking ground pretty soon this year. I can't wait to see that deadzone next to Grauman's
Chinese Theater disappear!

[LA-dude]

OMG!!!.....I just typed up like this super huge post about my trip to Hollywood last weekend and I took too long writing it because as soon as i clicked post it said i was not logged in!!!....so i went back one page and ALL my writing was gone

....whatever ill probably type it up later but not know because im just a little peeved.

[godblessbotox]

hollywood and vine. the w.
i thought they broke ground, but i was expecting more then this
image hosted on flickr


hey look its that empty lot that i still dont know whats being built
image hosted on flickr


hollywood and vine condo stuff
image hosted on flickr

[klamedia]

Took a walk around Hollywood this evening and I saw banners on lamp posts that said "Whole Foods Hollywood". Now, isn't that being built like a million years from now? Thought I read somewhere that they wouldn't break ground til 2010.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

no, i think they will break ground this year if i remember correctly, probably towards the end of the year.

[saiholmes]

March 15, 2007
Out of castle's shadow
Bar Marmont is not strictly a restaurant, but it does offer a new menu substantial enough to fuel a long night of partying.



By S. Irene Virbila, Times Staff Writer

CHATEAU MARMONT, the glam 1920s hotel on a hill above the Sunset Strip, has always owned the walls of Bar Marmont down below, but until recently the space was leased out. Now this sexy spot is run by the hotel, and changes are afoot. The biggest: a new chef, and not just a line cook, but the former chef de cuisine of the New York gastropub the Spotted Pig. Her name is Carolynn Spence, and her new menu looked good enough to warrant a visit.

The bar's look is an enchanting mix of slightly shabby and bohemian, and the scene is a wild brew of A-listers, poseurs and tourists who've passed muster with the muscle at the door. Drifts of real or fake (it's too dark to tell) Monarch butterflies are pinned to the ceiling. Ornate lamps with red silk shades and marbled glass light fixtures from some antiquarian's stash dangle from the ceiling. A party of rock 'n' rollers may be tucked away in the small room at the end of the bar. And in the long, yellowed ivory dining room animated lovers and friends are seated within inches of one another along banquettes.

Bar Marmont is not strictly a restaurant, but it does offer a short, succinct menu of bar snacks, small plates and a handful of dishes substantial enough to fuel a long night of partying.

In its previous incarnation the food was never the draw, but that could change. As I looked over the new menu, the word "goug–res" leapt out from the bar snacks category. Cheese is supposed to smooth out any rough edges in a wine, and goug–res are a favorite with winemakers in Burgundy. Bar Marmont's are delicious, like miniature popovers, served wrapped in a cloth napkin to keep them warm. Other bar snacks include the usual olives and mixed nuts, but also tarragon lupine beans and "boozy" bacon prunes.

You can get half a dozen oysters on the half shell with Bloody Mary mignonette for seasoning, or a selection of three cheeses with fig toast and buckwheat honey. More interesting is the spicy lamb and pea crepinette with a minty salsa verde or crispy rosemary artichokes with a lemon-drenched aioli. Tomato soup comes with asparagus and a Parmesan crisp. And tomato salad gets a lift from lovely opal basil and ricotta salata.

More substantial appetites can tuck into a "damn good burger" with homemade ketchup and fixings. Spence makes her gnocchi with sheep's milk ricotta — a nice touch. Grilled Porterhouse, though well-priced at $29 (versus the $40-something charged at some steakhouses), wasn't top quality. A hangar steak might fit the concept and the place better.

The menu offers something for everyone: vegetarians (tagliatelle with wild mushrooms and artichokes), fish-lovers (crispy skinned salmon), even French fry connoisseurs (here they come with three different dips). For those with a sweet tooth, there's salty pistachio crumble with pistachio gelato and affogato (ice cream drowned in espresso), which seem pricey at $11 each.

But then, nobody expects a bar like this to be inexpensive. And guaranteed, there's nothing else on the Strip with Bar Marmont's sort of low-key glamour. Tant pis.

*

Bar Marmont
Where: 8171 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood
When: 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Kitchen closes at 1 a.m.
Price: Bar snacks, $5 to $7; appetizers, $8 to $18; salads, $9 to $12; entrees, $19 to $29; sides, $7; desserts, $11. Full bar. Valet parking, $18.
Info: (323) 650-0575

[redspork02]

Hollywood Christmas Parade is a wrap
With revenue and audience shrinking, the Chamber of Commerce ends its annual event.
By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer
March 22, 2007




Hollywood Christmas Parade - A 75-year Los Angeles tradition came to an end Wednesday as officials disclosed that last year's Hollywood Christmas Parade was the final one.

Rising costs and shrinking revenues are to blame for the cancellation, leaders of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said.

"This is a very difficult thing for us to have to do," said Jeff Briggs, chairman of the chamber's board of directors. "We're disappointed and sad. But we're out of the parade business."

The business group, supported by member merchants' dues, lost about $100,000 in staging the 2006 parade. Losses were expected to double this year, Briggs said.

Begun in 1928 to draw Los Angeles residents into Hollywood shops and stores, the parade had struggled in recent years to attract celebrity participants and a national TV audience. Fees from broadcast advertising helped finance the $1 million event.

The parade had been on the verge of being canceled several times in the past, officials revealed Wednesday.

"We struggled for 10 years to keep it alive. We were always holding out hope," said chamber President Leron Gubler.

Starting in 1998, the chamber labored to hammer out annual television contracts that would promise celebrities the exposure they were seeking while producing advertising dollars to cover parade and telecast costs.

For the last three years KTLA-TV Channel 5 was the only station willing to pay the chamber a broadcast fee. The station, which — like the Los Angeles Times — is owned by the Tribune Co., upgraded the parade telecast's production and distributed it to other company-owned stations, including "superstation" WGN-TV of Chicago. The parade was accessible to about 80% of the country's viewers.
The parade telecast won a local Emmy for best live event of 2005. "KTLA was going to televise it again this year, but they were going to have to cut their production costs" by using fewer cameras and less nighttime lighting," Briggs said.

Such changes would have discouraged actors and other entertainers from participating in subsequent parades, he said. "You can't get celebrities without TV. You can't get TV without celebrities."

Longtime parade producer Johnny Grant, a former radio personality who now serves as Hollywood's honorary mayor and the head of its Walk of Fame, said he was heartbroken.

"When that last float went down the street last year, half my life went with it," he said. "But L.A.'s changing. America's changing. The public has many more entertainment platforms now."

Initially, when the event was known as the Santa Claus Lane Parade, "people were happy with Sheriff (Eugene) Biscailuz and the police chief in the parade," and movie studios were happy to send actors and actresses under contract to ride in it, said Grant — who rode in the parade in the 1950s as a radio personality and produced it between 1978 and 1998.

The parade was the focus of cowboy actor Gene Autry's hit song "Here Comes Santa Claus," and it annually drew the likes of such stars as Bob Hope and Jimmy Stewart.

That changed when old-guard stars began fading away and Hollywood's new breed of celebrity took hold.

They were shielded by handlers and more inclined to jet away to Aspen or Hawaii during the Thanksgiving break, when the parade was staged, than ride in it.

In 2004 Grant even issued a public appeal in The Times for show business support.

"If you'd gotten the big people like we used to, the parade would still be doable," he said Wednesday.

Chamber officials said they tried various ploys to pump up interest in the parade, including a "Desert Storm" military theme in 1991 and a variety show-type production in 2002.

In 2006 KTLA pressed stars of its CW Network shows to participate, and the chamber hired what officials described as "celebrity wranglers" to line up such entertainers as grand marshal George Lopez, honorary grand marshal Regis Philbin and entertainers Brooke Hogan, Michael Bolton and Shawn Wayans.

The parade was staged annually except for 1930 and during World War II.

Loss of the parade was bemoaned Wednesday by Los Angeles political leaders.

"I'm heartbroken," said City Councilman Tom Labonge, who represents the Hollywood area. "I saw it as a child and as a teenager. I went as a young father, and now as an official I've ridden in that parade. It's a very sad day. Hopefully we can regroup with another kind of event."

LaBonge said the Christmas parade added color and character to Los Angeles. "All of that is what a city is about. We could sterilize our lives and never do a parade, but do we want to do that?"

City Council President Eric Garcetti, who also represents a portion of Hollywood and has ridden in the parade, held out hope that an alternative event could be planned for Hollywood.

"The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has had a spectacular run with its annual Christmas Parade. I'm sorry to see it draw to a close. Hollywood's a pretty inventive town; I think it won't be long before we learn what Tinseltown's next version of holiday cheer looks like," Garcetti said Wednesday.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
bob.pool@latimes.com

[vicecityguy]

saw this from curbed la:



The Chamber was represented at a hearing this week in support of JPI Development’s proposed Jefferson at Hollywood project. Vice President of Public Policy Rochelle Silsbee testified that the development is an important addition to the revitalization of Hollywood at a highly visible entrance to the community. Located at the corner of Highland Ave. and Yucca Street, the project will feature 270 residential apartments, about 8,500-sq.ft. of retail space, with 470 parking spaces to serve the development and an additional 285 spaces provided for public parking. The public parking spaces will fill an important need at this location, since the adjacent historic buildings fronting Hollywood Blvd. do not have parking spaces of their own.

[saiholmes]

This Oscar goes to … the first taker
A 1930s Academy Award lies among the furniture up for grabs at a Hollywood home.
By Deborah Schoch, Times Staff Writer
March 25, 2007

The early morning browsers at the estate sale on Miller Drive found the typical crystal, dining room set, Wedgwood collection — and, in the jewelry case, an Oscar for best supporting actor, on sale for $150,000.

At first glance, it looked too small to be an Oscar. A shopper in a rush might miss it altogether. The figure holding the sword is shorter and a bit more squat than the statuettes given out today, and he stands next to an engraved plaque. But it's an older model.

"Presented to Joseph Schildkraut," it reads, "in recognition of his performance in 'The Life of Emile Zola,' 1937."

This is Hollywood, and one never knows what memorabilia may show up at Saturday garage sales.

But even here on the steep, twisting streets of the Hollywood Hills, Oscars are not a common sale item. On Saturday morning, no one seemed in a rush to buy it. The hot items seemed to be the furniture: the dining room set, the upstairs vanity, the yellow chaise longue.

Some shoppers said they wouldn't want it, even if they had the money.

"I didn't win it," said Mahnaz Hendifar of Los Angeles, who was shopping for glassware instead. "That Oscar means something to the person who won it."

Only a few people interviewed outside the simple two-story home even recognized the name of Joseph Schildkraut, who took home the statuette for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

But Evelyn Kilbrick, a neighbor and self-described film buff, said she went to the sale because she knew Schildkraut's work, and, besides, she is looking for an armoire for her television.

"Most people don't know who he is, or was," Kilbrick said. "He was never a Tom Cruise. But he's a nice-looking man, and he usually played the other guy." She remembers him best from "The Shop Around the Corner." A wonderful film, she said.

Schildkraut, the son of actor Rudolf Schildkraut, may be best known today for his role as Otto Frank in the 1959 film "The Diary of Anne Frank," which he called the culmination of his 60-year career.

He also had roles in dozens of other films, including "Orphans of the Storm," "The Three Musketeers" and "Flame of the Barbary Coast." He performed on Broadway and appeared in a well-known "Twilight Zone" episode in 1962 called "The Trade-Ins."

Schildkraut died at 67 in 1964, leaving behind his third wife, Leonora Schildkraut, who owns the Miller Drive house where the three-day estate sale is being held. She is a former music editor whose radio broadcasts for children became well known.

It was her choice to sell the statuette, said Wendy M. Gerdau, owner of Treasures Estate Sales, which is holding the sale.

"She has been the keeper of the Oscar for many, many years, and it's time for someone else to enjoy it," Gerdau said.

Schildkraut was known as an intellectual, and his extensive collection of records and books has been donated to USC, she said.

Leonora Schildkraut could not be reached for comment Saturday, nor could a spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the awards.

Historically, academy officials have frowned on the sale of Oscar statuettes. Since 1950, they have asked all Oscar recipients to sign an agreement stating that the first right of purchase goes to the academy, for the price of $1.

In one well-known case, Beatrice Welles, the daughter of Orson Welles, fought to be able to sell her father's Oscar as co-writer for "Citizen Kane." Christie's auction house withdrew it from sale in 2003 after the academy raised objections.

The rules haven't stopped the buying and selling of the statuettes awarded before 1950. Ronald Colman's best acting award for the 1947 film "A Double Life" sold at Christie's for $147,500 in 2002. In 1999, Michael Jackson paid $1.54 million for the 1939 best picture Oscar for "Gone With the Wind." Steven Spielberg has bought several Oscars and returned them to the academy.

As of Saturday evening, Schildkraut's Oscar was still for sale.

Kilbrick, who would not give her age — "senior citizen would be preferable," she said — bought only a china hors d'oeuvre dish.

She said she enjoyed viewing the items in Schildkraut's house, including the art prints and the baby grand piano given to him at age 13. It was rather like a museum, she said.

"You just got that feeling of what it might have been like for them in those times," Kilbrick said. "It's a little piece of Hollywood, old-time Hollywood."

[Joey313]

Sunset-Gower Project
In an exclusive to you the reader, we present you with the first glimpses of the proposed mixed-use development at the corner of Sunset and Gower, on the site of the CBS Studios. Featuring 400 dwelling units, 125 hotel rooms, 380,000 sf of office space, 12,000 sf of ground floor retail and 22,500 sf of restaurant space, the project will also incorporate about 105,000 sf of the original CBS Studios. The Columbia Square project, as it is known, will tower 40 stories above Sunset (approx 480 feet). For comparison purposes, the Sunset-Vine Tower is 20 stories and 306 feet tall. It's being developed by Apollo Real Estate Advisors with the fancy design/architecture work produced by Johnson Fain.

Originally Posted by POLA