Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres would be the first to say she didn't earn the gig of presiding over Sunday's 79th Annual Academy Awards with her movie work. Instead, she did it the old-fashioned way: by being good at the job she was hired to do.
It’s more than just nine white letters spelling out a city’s name; it’s one of the world’s most evocative symbols – a universal metaphor for ambition, success, glamour …for this dazzling place, industry and dream we call H-0-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D.
The best part is a series of interactive demonstration rooms that teach various tricks of filmmaking; visitors can create Foley soundtracks for a movie segment, test their skills at digital editing, and try out other fun, educational procedures. Fans of the defunct Max Factor Museum of Beauty will be happy to learn that the collection from Hollywood's premier motion-picture cosmetic designer is shown here -- antique makeup pots, glamour photos, and superstar toupees intact. If you're still not satiated, sign up for the studio back-lot tour to learn all about the film-making process.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 For decades, tourists deposited themselves at one of the most famous intersections in America Hollywood and Vine and looked around in puzzlement, wondering what exactly they were supposed to be seeing. The surrounding Hollywood neighborhood had fallen into such miserable disrepair that its main consumers were people seeking drugs or tattoos. Many entertainment companies were long gone.
Mr. Malmuth joined a development firm that committed to a mixed-use project that would become the home of the Academy Awards ceremony.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which had been sniffing around for new options for the Oscars, embraced the idea of a live theater surrounded by retailers and other tenants. “When I took this into the board of governors, I thought it was going to be a hard sell,” said Bruce Davis, the executive director of the academy. “At that time, Hollywood definitely had a seedy reputation.”The Hollywood and Highland project, first proposed at a cost of $150 million in 1998, came to fruition in 2001 at a cost closer to $600 million. The restaurant fell to seed like much the neighborhood in the 1970s, and closed in 1985. In a depressing coda, most of the building burned in 1987, and it was demolished in 1994. The new project at the intersection, expected to open in 2009, will include the 300-room W Hotel and a 14-story luxury condominium tower. Across the street, a converted office building has sold out its luxury condos, including one to Charlize Theron, said Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles City Council speaker whose district includes Hollywood.“People are seeing stars here again,” said Mr. Garcetti, who helped pass an ordinance to increase housing in the area. Developers creating apartment and condo complexes with city money are required to set aside 20 percent of the units for low-income residents, and a few sites offer more, like one along two blocks at Hollywood and Western, in colorful block buildings that look like a Mondrian painting. But displacement of the residents who stood by Hollywood at its worst the seamy underbelly of neighborhood renewal is no doubt happening.“The more they put up big flashy apartments, the more difficult it is to make ends meet, said Tita Stallings, who has lived in Hollywood for 20 years.
The Gap is in Hollywood now, which may just about say it all. And the subway is now open for business, ferrying people in and out of the area and setting the foundation of what may become a new Los Angeles, with fewer cars and more urban living.
