Issue: Issue Winter 2001

From the Editor

For some time we’ve known that a new day was approaching—a day that had been anticipated and worked toward for nearly two decades. On November 8th, the much anticipated Hollywood & Highland project was opened. The day was bittersweet. The celebration was more subdued, yet somehow more meaningful in light of the tragic events on September 11th.

We gathered together to celebrate the triumph of what a united community could accomplish. The business and the residential had resolved their differences. A vision for the future had enrolled key players into a new possibility. The City of Los Angeles joined with developers to create a funding package that worked for everyone. Our elected representatives had carried the banner and worked through the myriad of road blocks to fast track the project.

There is unity and resolve that is bringing forth positive change in Hollywood.

Hollywood & Highland opens and for a time, while our nation and the world adjusts to new realities regarding air travel, the project is ours to explore and enjoy. We can follow the “Road to Hollywood” and take our time reading true stories so familiar they appear cliché. We can enjoy our choice of movies, browse the shops, have a bite to eat or simply marvel at the whimsy of the recreation of D. W. Griffith’s “Intolerance” set, grandiose, but still just ¾ of the original one of Hollywood’s first tourist attractions. For a time, we will have a chance to truly make Hollywood & Highland as much a part of the community as Hollywood & Vine (ironically still more famous, but really never more than an intersection of two streets). In March, the Oscars will be beamed across the world and Hollywood will celebrate itself. But this year, the celebration will be more than box office, more than ego, it will be a celebration of triumph of the American spirit.

While the flags waved and our hearts soared along with the strains of God Bless America and the Stars Spangled Banner, as we came together to celebrate the dawning of a new day not for a tourist attraction. We stood together cheering for ourselves and for our country and what we can accomplish. Happy New Year; let freedom ring.