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COUNCIL FILE NO. __../_{)_-_f~_b3__ COUNCIL DISTRICT NO. 13

APPROVAL FOR ACCELERATED PROCESSING DIRECT TO CITY COUNCIL

The attached Council File may be processed directly to Council pursuant to the procedure approved June 26, 1990, (CF 83-1 075-S1) without being referred to the Public Works Committee because the action on the file checked below is deemed to be routine and/or administrative in nature:

_} A. Future Street Acceptance. _} B. Quitclaim of Easement(s). _} C. Dedication of Easement(s). _} D. Release of Restriction(s). _L} E. Request for Star in Hollywood Walk of Fame. _} F. Brass Plaque(s) in San Pedro Sport Walk. _} G. Resolution to Vacate or Ordinance submitted in response to Council action. _ } H. Approval of plans/specifications submitted by County Flood Control District.

APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL FOR ACCELERATED PROCESSING:

APPROVED DISAPPROVED* Council Office of the District I v 2. Public Works Committee Chairperson

*DISAPPROVED FILES WILL BE REFERRED TO THE PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE.

Please return to Council Index Section, Room 615 City Hall

City Clerk Processing:

Date ____ notice and report copy ma iled to interested parties advising of Council date for this item.

Date ____ scheduled in Council.

AFTER COUNCIL ACTION:

___} Send copy of adopted report to the Rea l Estate Section , Development Services Division, Bureau of Engineering (Mail Stop No. 515) for further processing. ___}Other:

PLEASE DO NOT DETACH THIS APPROVAL SHEET FROM THE COUNCIL FILE ACCELERATED REVIEW PROCESS ~ E

Office of the City Engineer

Los Angeles

To the Honorable Council JUt 2 6 Ofthe City of Los Angeles

Honorable Members: C. D. No. 13

SUBJECT:

Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street- Walk of Fame Additional Name in Tenazzo Sidewalk­

RECOMMENDATIONS:

A. That the City Council, designate the unnumbered location situated one sidewalk square westerly of and between numbered locations 11 p and 12P as shown on Sheet 21 of Plan D-13788 for the Hollywood Walk ofFame for the installation of the name of Neil Diamond at 1750 Vine Street.

B. Inform the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce ofthe Council's action on this matter.

C. That this repmt be adopted prior to the date of the ceremony on August 10, 2012.

FISCAL IMP ACT STATEMENT:

No General Fund Impact. All cost paid by permittee.

TRANSMITTALS:

1. Unnumbered communication dated June 20, 2012, from the Hollywood Historic Trust of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, biographical information and excerpts from the minutes of the Chamber's meeting with recommendations. City Council - 2- C. D. No. 13

DISCUSSION:

The Walk ofFame Committee ofthe Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has submitted a request for insertion into the Hollywood Walk of Fame the name ofNeil Diamond. The ceremony is scheduled for Friday, August 10, 2012 at 11:30 a.m.

The communicant's request is in accordance with City Council action of October 18, 1978, under Council File No. 78-3949. Following the Council's action of approval, and upon proper application and payment of the required fee, an installation pennit can be secured at 201 N. Figueroa Street 3rd Floor, Counter 23.

Respectfully submitted,

l!Jo_()A_ __ ~ Lemu7M~~ P.E. Central District Engineer Bureau of Engineering

pkt:wof.02 (213) 482-7030 cc: Construction Services Center, Counter 23 Bureau of Street Services Administration +IOLLVWOOD- wALK 0!= !=AM~

June 20, 2012

J'vlr. Gary Lee Moore Public Works Engineering Att: Lemuel Paco 201 N. Figueroa St. 3rd Floor, M.S. 503 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Fax 213 482~ 7007

Dear Mr. Moore:

The Walk of Fame Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has approved the below listed name for insertion into the Hollywood \Valk of Fame:

NEIL DIAMOND (Category -RECORDING)~ Requested star location to be 1750 Vine Street, on the east side of the street, in front of CAPITOL RECORDS. The star for Neil Diamond will be situated in the second row, (next to the stars in the original tow) of NATALIE COLE (11p), to the north and CONRAD NAGEL which is numbered (12P) to the south. According to sheet# 21 plan 13788, NEIL Dli\MOND's star has no number as it will be placed in the second row closest to the building. The star for NEIL DIAMOND is between a blank square (south) and another blank square in the second row and 'vill point to the North. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for Friday, August 10, 2012 at 11:30 a.m.

Thank you for your cooperation in this request I forward to a response from your office soon. If you have questions call me at (323) 468-1376.

The following materials are enclosed: NEIL DIAMOND'S bio, and the Board of Director's ~1:.. ~ez Vice President, Media Relations Producer Walk of Fame cc: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa i\J:mcnia Aguilar Councilman Eric Garcetti Ralph Pipes Carmine Goglia Sally Castro Leron Gubler Maureen Schultz James Kuha Sgt. Lamont Jenett Top End Constmctors Inspector Andrews Darin Cohen BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES - JULY 15, 1992 PAGE 5

WALK OF FAME COMMITTEE - MOTION WAS MADE BY JOHNNY GRANT AND SECONDED BY ELLIOT JOHNSON TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING FOR INSERTION IN THE WALK OF FAME: MOT ION PICTURES - SAMUEL Z. ARKOFF, CHEVY CHASE, ARTI:IDR COHN, RICHARD FARNSWORTH, FRI Z FRELENG, ANNA LEE, PAT MORITA, JASON

ROBARDS, OLIVER STONE j' MERYL STREEP. TELEVISION - ROSEANNE ARNOLD,

EDWARD ASNER, FRED DRYER, FARRAH FAWCETT 1 DENNIS JAMES, RICHARD MULLIGAN. RECORDING - NEIL DIAMOND, GLORIA ESTEFAN, , PATTI LABELLE, BONNIE RAITT, LUTHER VANDROSS. LIVE THEATRE - MARTHA SCOTT, RIP TAYLOR. RADIO - RAY BRIEM, ROBERT W. MORGAN.

MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

SUBMITTED BY:

NORA ROJAS EVENTS COORDINATOR NEIL DIAMOND

Neil Diamond's eclectic and universally beloved -as well as his charismatic and openhearted performances of them-continue to make him an international force both as a record maker and a live entertainer. They are the best and most tuneful explanation for his remarkable track record of 16 Top Ten and 37 Top Ten singles. Those very same songs- blue or otherwise-are also the reason that this Grammy winning artist rock icon has been a Kennedy Center honoree, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 's Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award. Among Diamond's many other notable honors, he has to date received a Golden Globe Award, thirteen Grammy nominations and was named the 2009 MusiCares Person of the Year.

This man who has already sold more than 125 million records around the world was born the son of Kieve and Rose Diamond and raised humbly but lovingly in Brooklyn, -other than two early years spent in Cheyenne, Wyoming while his father was stationed there by the United States Army. After attending both Erasmus High School­ where he sang in the school choir with future duet partner -and Lincoln High School, Diamond went on to study at New York University as a pre-med student on a fencing scholarship.

Yet ultimately it was Diamond's overriding, lifelong passion for making music that would trump his interest in fencing or the healing arts. So Diamond put down his sword and scalpel, picked up his trusty and left NYU just short of graduation, putting everything on the line to pursue his dream of writing songs for a living. "There's something inside of me that is released when I'm writing music," Diamond explained in his introduction to his 1996 box set In My Lifetime. "And I think I'll need that release for as long as I live."

Still, for the first half of the Sixties, Diamond would struggle mightily to make his mark in New York's music center . He recorded a couple of little heard singles with friend Jack Packer while in high school, and even recorded a one-off single for before being dropped by the label in 1961. !n 1965-after spending another four years knocking on doors and selling his songs to music publishers-Diamond caught the eye of top songwritrng legend at a recording session for which he had hired her to sing background vocals on a demo.

Greenwich and her then-husband were among the hottest in the world at the time, having co-written with producing legend such classics as "Be My Baby," "," "And ," "" and "River Deep, Mountain High," as well as "Hanky Panky" on their own and "" with Shadow Morton, to name just a few. "! was really lucky to get Ellie to do my date with a couple of her friends," says Diamond. "We had a great time doing it and at the end of the session Ellie offered to introduce me to her husband Jeff Barry. Maybe she thought 1 had promise." Soon Diamond was meeting with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who were the owners of the publishing company that Barry and Greenwich were writing for, as well as songwriting and record producing legends in their own right. "Before 1 knew it, I had a one year contract to write for their company with a guaranteed salary of $150 a week," Diamond recalls. "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

One year later-having written what he himself calls "maybe half a dozen mediocre songs," Diamond was let go from his contract with Leiber and Stoller. "I was back on again only worse, I was now married and had a baby coming," Diamond remembers. "! had to make something happen." Teaming with Barry and Greenwich, Diamond formed a publishing company to own the copyrights to his songs and pursued a record deal as a recording artist. of heard something in Diamond and offered him a deal with one of Atlantic's new labels, , which had just been started by the successful producer and songwriter , who penned songs like "Twist & Shout," "Cry To Me" and "Piece of My Heart." "Bert joined in on the enthusiasm and I was back in business in the company of the big boys with a record contract as an artist," Diamond says. "This time it stuck. My first release on Bang was 'Solitary Man.' My second was 'Cherry, Cherry,' and I was on my way to a career of my own and food on the table for my new baby daughter Marjorie."

Fittingly, Diamond's career now took off with a real bang, as he came into his own as a recording artist with a series of hits that began with "Solitary Man"-a song that would forever define his persona as a singular figure in music. As an American solo artist during a time when British groups were all the rage in the wake of , Diamond stood out from the pack and paved the way for the Seventies singer-songwriter movement to come. "I never tried to fit in because that meant conforming what I could write or what I could do to a certain set of rules," Diamond once told . "The last group I joined was the Boy Scouts, and they threw me out for non-payment of dues. So I suppose you could say that I've always gone my own way.''

Diamond's next hit, "Cherry, Cherry" was something else entirely-an instantly infectious blast of joyful pop rock that suggested this was an artist of considerable range. Suddenly, Diamond found himself in great demand as an artist and a songwriter, especially after the Monkees had #1 and #2 hits, respectively, with his compositions "''m A Believer" and "Little Bit Me. Little Bit You." Many more hits like "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon," "Thank The Lord For The Night Time" and "" would follow during Diamond's two years recording for Bang, but ultimately when the label refused to release his powerfully introspective song "Shilo" as a single, he would choose to leave the company and New York behind, signing to MCA's in Los Angeles where he was assured the sort of artistic freedom he sought.

Over the next five years, Diamond would further demonstrate his growing musical range as he recorded some of his greatest and most beloved compositions ever, including such popular standards as "Brooklyn Roads, ", " "Brother Love's

Traveling Salvation Show," "Cracklin' Rose," "I Am .. 0 I Said" and ".'' Diamond did so on a number of albums that would find him pushing himself further as an artist, from 1968's Velvet Gloves And Spit to 1970's with its musically groundbreaking "African Trilogy" to 1972's legendary live . In the summer of 1971, Diamond had played seven sold-out nights at the famed Greek Theatre in Los Angeles to a rapturous reception. The following August, he returned for ten more sold-out shows, an event forever captured on the multi-platinum Hot August Night, a double-record set that demonstrated once and for all Diamond's growing status as a superstar concert sensation. Then in October 1973, Diamond started a 20-performance, sold-out stand on at the famed Winter , before announcing he would take a three-year sabbatical from the road that would last more than three years. That same year, Diamond signed a historic new record deal with Columbia Records, the label that had dropped him more than a decade earlier. This time around, Diamond would stick around considerably longer, and went on to become one of Columbia's core recording artists. Diamond's first album for the company would be one of his most unusual yet highly successful~an introspective and fittingly searching soundtrack to the film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull released in 1973.

In 1976, Diamond teamed with of to record an album that reflected their shared roots in the music of Tin Pan Alley. The result was rightly called and it remains of Diamond's best-received and most accomplished efforts, and featured "" and "Dry Your Eyes," which Diamond performed in , 's concert film of the Band's grand farewell. That same year, Diamond would make his debut during a memorable run of shows to open the Theatre of the Performing Arts at the Aladdin Hotel.

In 1977, Diamond returned to the Greek Theatre to record , another massively popular live album, with a successful TV special of the performance to follow. That same year, the I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight album would bring the world another one of Diamond's biggest hits ever-"You Don't Bring Me Flowers"-which was re-recorded as a globally popular duet with Barbara Streisand. After releasing 1979's September Mom with its popular and exquisite title track, Diamond would kick off the Eighties with The Jazz Singer, the multi-platinum soundtrack to his big screen debut that found Diamond co-starring with Lawrence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz. The Jazz Singer album also spotlighted three of Diamond's most popular songs ever-"Hello Again," "Love On The Rocks" and "America," the very American standard inspired by the journey made by Diamond's own grandparents.

During the rest of the Eighties and Nineties, Diamond became ever more popular as a live performer internationally backed by his trusty band, breaking numerous attendance records in America and abroad and winning honors as the top solo performing artist of the Nineties. Diamond would also remain extremely productive as a recording artist, recording everything from the f01ward-thinking (1986), to the retrospective Up On The Roof- Song From The (1993), to Hot August Night Ill and two popular Christmas albums. In 1996, he would release a winning new album celebrating his country roots called as well as an artfully assembled and extremely successful 1996 box set In My Lifetime. This same period found Diamond's past work being rediscovered on many fronts by a new generation of fans through new hit versions of his past classics, including UB40's global smash version of "Red, Red Wine" and Urge Overkill's faithful yet edgy rendition of "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" for Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, to name just a few.

In 2001-after a number of years that saw him collaborating frequently as a songwriter and even covering the songs of other writers-Diamond would make his mark a new century with -a powerful new album that was his first collection of songs he had written by himself in a quarter century. Soon after, in the wake of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, Diamond wou!d tour the world again, giving some of the most emotional and meaningful performances of his life. In particular, Diamond's song "America" had never sounded more resonant. The tour that began on September 28, 2001 was scheduled to run sixty~five dates. In the end, by public demand, it would ultimately stretch to one hundred and twenty dates.

Then in 2005, Diamond released 12 Songs, his first album with acclaimed rock producer . The album entered the charts at #4, which at the time, was Diamond's highest-ever debut on the Billboard Top 200. This album, as well as his 2008 release of , his second effort with Rubin, garnered some of the best reviews of his life. Home Before Dark also debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts ... Diamond's first ever #1 debut. With 12 Songs and Home Before Dark, Diamond renewed himself artistically and earned yet another new generation of new listeners to whom his timeless classics still speak as loudly as his newest creations. As Neil Diamond approaches his second half-century as a songwriter, this legendary solitary man has become a genre in his own right. By this point, he once pointed, "there's probably a little category called Neil Diamond which is a broad spectrum of rock & roll, mixed in with theatrical music, mixed in with , mixed in with Latin music, mixed in with Jewish melodies, throw a little dash of Afro-Cuban music in with some ballroom dancing too."

These groundbreaking releases were followed by the 2009 DVD release of Hot August Nights I NYC, which has been certified double platinum, the 2010 release of Dreams, a 14 song collection of Diamond's favorite songs written by other composers from the rock era, as well as 2 albums in 2011: The Bang Years 1966-1968, which garnered Diamond his 13th Grammy nomination, and The Very Best of Neil Diamond, which features 23 of the legendary singer/songwriter's best loved hits and signature tracks.

Currently Diamond is on his 2012 US sold out summer tour. When he's not traveling he resides in Los Angeles with his wife Katie McNeil.