Hollywood Heritage is a non- profit organization dedicated to preservation of the historic built environment in Hollywood and to education about the early film industry and the role its pioneers played in shaping May 2006 www.hollywoodheritage.org Volume 25, Number 1 Hollywood’s history. Hollywood Heritage to Offer Weekly Tours of National Register Boulevard District ollywood Heritage is once again it’s relatively quiet at that hour, al- Hoffering visitors the opportunity though George’s voice can readily be to see Hollywood from a historic heard at any hour. preservationist’s point of view as The tour takes 1-1/2 hours and ends they recommence their long-absent at the Roosevelt Hotel, after which weekly walking tours. one can return to the starting point Hollywood Heritage Barn docent by MetroRail (1 stop) to reclaim your George “Goldenvoice” Kiel has had car. If you can arrive by MetroRail his practice runs...well, walks...and is it’s recommended, since parking is ready for Prime Time which, in this always a challenge in Holly wood. case, is 9:00 am Saturday mornings, For the opening month, the cost of starting June 17th. the tour is $10 per person and only Walkers will meet at the SE corner $5 for Hollywood Heritage members. of Vine and Selma, original site of Participation is limited to 10 people the Lasky-DeMille Barn near the per tour. Please reserve your spot by Holly wood and Vine Red Line sta- calling (323) 465-6716. Wear com- tion. George chose 9:00 am because fortable shoes. The Wrecking Crew Is Saved From A Wrecking Crew by Robert W. Nudelman history, Hollywood Heritage deter- to the west was later sold off and is arly last year, Hollywood mined that it had to be saved. This today known as Ocean Way Studios, EHeritage was approached by Art was the home of Western United and is still a highly successful opera- Laboe’s offi ce and friends about a Recorders from 1965 to the recent tion. These studios were used by a recently closed recording studio. closing, though having had other number of greats for mainstream pop Located at the edge of the Sunset- names later on. Created from an recordings at the time, whereas the Gower (originally Columbia) Studios existing studio that opened there in eastern studios became the center of at Sunset and Gordon, across from 1959, owner/engineer Bill Putnam rock and roll. the Old Spaghetti Factory, it ap- designed and built three new studios Here is where the famed Wreck- peared to be a fairly nondescript inside, with offi ces above. ing Crew was based. The Wrecking building. Windowless and the victim Putnam was a legend in the record- Crew was a group of studio musi- of a couple of exterior moderniza- ing industry, pioneering in its devel- cians that played on more hit records tions, it had decades earlier been a opment since the 1950s. The studio than any other group, lead by such grocery store. consisted of this and another struc- legends as drummer Hal Blaine, After hearing the stories by the ture a few feet to the west separated bassist Carol Kaye (yes, a woman callers of the building’s exciting by a parking lot. The studio facility continued on page 7 Preservation News City Fumbles Florentine Garden Plan by Robert W. Nudelman ers. If new development is to pro- and LaBonge recommended to a lorentine Gardens: This 1938 ceed, the new fire station must be city council committee to proceed Fnightclub building and sur- built, especially as CEQA approval forward with eminent domain for rounding property were slated to be documents are based on it being the Bernard Luggage Building. purchased by the Los Angeles Fire there when these new projects are Obviously the city has no problem Department (LAFD) last year so approved. If no station is built, the using eminent domain in the area that the land adjacent to the CRA approvals are null and void under (about three blocks on Hollywood landmark structure would become state law (CEQA), and the develop- Boulevard separate the two prop- a new fire station. The Florentine ment must stop until the situation is erties) but the concern is which is Gardens would be restored and used remedied to protect public safety. more important. An approved fire for community meeting space and Hollywood as a live theater/concert facility for Heritage has the Hollywood community (see our spoken on this last newsletter). at the Planning Delays in making the purchase Commission have caused the city to become a and the Prop F victim of its own “success.” Real Bond Commit- estate prices have risen due to re- tee hearings. cently announced projects pushed We realize by the city at Hollywood and Vine the costs are and at Hollywood and Western. This increasing, site is between them and the tide of but the city, as projects has raised the price of these stated, is stuck. properties. Now the LAFD fears Their approv- that the bond money approved to als of projects build this station may not be enough have caused Historic photo of the Florentine Gardens Hollywood Heritage Museum (rising construction costs must also the problem station can wait, while a 4-star be an issue). The Prop F Bond Com- and they must find the money to luxury hotel should move forward, mittee reviewed the situation and move this important project forward. even though the fire station would made a determination on April 25. The need for the new fire station is help to protect that hotel. The city’s They determined to look elsewhere imperative. The cost of land will burning desire was to build the ho- and withdraw the plans for the Flo- be similar wherever they look in tel, not protect it or the surrounding rentine Garden site. the designated area and will prob- community. Yet it is the financial The fact is simple, the station ably result in another site that has impacts of putting forward the Hol- needs to be built somewhere very residential, including historic, prop- lywood and Vine project (where soon, and was already at its third ap- erties. Such proposed demolitions Bernard Luggage is located) that proved location while the other Prop blocked earlier sites. The city must caused the price hike at the Floren- F stations are completed, or nearing act now or, at a minimum, stop new tine Gardens site. To not be able to completion. This one is about to development in the area until it can respond to their own development be priced out of the market before prove that it can provide adequate plans with adequate public safety it can start. This leaves an area of fire protection for all. covering fire safety, puts the com- many historic homes, apartments, On April 25, a this new position munity, and the developer, at unfair and businesses short of adequate was announced by the city an- risk. protection (the existing fire station is nouncing the end of these plans and 1800 N. Highland Avenue: As over 50-years-old). With all the new that the station was to be cancelled discussed in the last newsletter, the projects to be built, plus extensive at this location. Reference was owners of this 7-story office build- new residential development in the made to the problems of price and ing, CIM Group, planned to gut and area, the demand on this station and the need for eminent domain to ob- remodel this 1960s structure which, its one truck is unacceptable to the tain the property. Yet that same af- though not historic, is strategi- community and the city’s firefight- ternoon, councilmembers Garcetti cally located on Highland Avenue 2 Hollywood Heritage Newsletter | May 2006 25, an attempt was made to break this agreement. Though she had supported the original approval of the planning commission to over- turn the variances, Councilmember LaBonge’s planning deputy Renee Weitzer pushed to go around that approval. The plan was to add the building to the Hollywood Boulevard Sign District so as to allow more sign- age by right, including the roof top billboards and the north facade win- dows. Ms. Weitzer was joined by a small army of lobbyists and CIM employees to push PLUM members to appeal the decision and change the district boundaries. The building at 1800 Highland Avenue, under renovation photo courtesy of CIM Group Thankfully, the committee was unable to do this as the date for ap- at Franklin Avenue, serving as a the legal requirements for such sig- pealing the decision had passed. gateway building into Hollywood nificant variances, in addition to the Also, the agenda item was listed as and the Hollywood Boulevard His- aesthetic issues, Hollywood Heri- a harmless “report” on the signage toric District, less than 2 blocks tage prevailed. We convinced the to the committee, not as a appeal away. Covered with six billboards commission to overturn the Plan- or action item requiring a vote, as and wall signs, it became an ugly ning Department Hearing Officer’s required by law. Despite furious lob- signpost that greeted people to Hol- findings. On a unanimous vote, the bying, even long after the vote, this lywood. commission rejected the additional back door attempt to circumvent In its plans to remodel the building, signage except for a rooftop neon the law was thwarted. This, once CIM had proposed variances to the sign to serve as a “welcome to Hol- again, shows that constant vigilance city to keep the two illegal rooftop lywood” sign, if it were to be built.