Hollywood - why did it go downhill (Highland, Culver City: motels, houses)

[the city]

Originally Posted by robertpasa

I was reading articles about the recent murder and they said Hollywood started to have more crime and homelessness around 1990. Why did that happen?

LOL? Have you visited that place? Beyond the "tinsel town" hollywood hills is a **** hole. Prostitution, red light district, drug dealing, and a night of horror. Where do you think Hollywood gets their crazy horror inspirations? Just go down the block from the studios.

[Aldous9]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Still a lot of transients, junkies, and petty crime. Wonder if there were more murders

probably

also, there were a lot of prostitutes on sunset blvd. Once you got to Sunset and La brea you would see them. Sunset west of Fairfax was fine but once you got to La Brea you would see it: junkies, transients, pimps, prostitutes, dangerous looking mopes cruising around looking for people to harass.

When i was like 16 and first got my license i used to drive around sunset blvd mostly out of curiosity. The further east you took Sunset the grittier it got. One time i saw this really fat chola prostitute and it freaked me out. It looked like a red light district the way all the prostitutes hung around outside the liquor stores.

Maybe it looked especially gritty to me because I had grown up in Santa Monica. But I remember it having a certain meanness to it.

[Noleto84]

I lived in Sherman Oaks from 1989 to 1996. Almost every weekend me and my buddies drove over Laurel Canyon. We liked Bar One a lot. Back then Hollywood was seedy day and night. Pros ( working gals ) everywhere. SM Blvd young gay boys walking up and down Sat Nights looking for tricks. All those years the Media pumped out Hollywood as this place for young people to come and the propaganda worked. Many runaways from back east hitched a greyhound and ended up at the YMCA. Sad ... But the Hills were nice. I remember once walking on Outpost Drive in the Hills and seeing high class people there then drive down to Sunset and see scum everywhere!

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by Aldous9

probably

also, there were a lot of prostitutes on sunset blvd. Once you got to Sunset and La brea you would see them. Sunset west of Fairfax was fine but once you got to La Brea you would see it: junkies, transients, pimps, prostitutes, dangerous looking mopes cruising around looking for people to harass.

When i was like 16 and first got my license i used to drive around sunset blvd mostly out of curiosity. The further east you took Sunset the grittier it got. One time i saw this really fat chola prostitute and it freaked me out. It looked like a red light district the way all the prostitutes hung around outside the liquor stores.

Maybe it looked especially gritty to me because I had grown up in Santa Monica. But I remember it having a certain meanness to it.

OK, fair enough, now that I've done my research I think Hollywood has been considerably cleaned up. Especially the prostitution/child prostitution thing. The only prostitutes I've ever seen are transsexuals by Santa Monica and Highland and they aren't really opening cruising because police are always coming by. Sunset and Hollywood blvds are pretty much safe their entire stretch now, even at night. Santa Monica and Fountain aren't too bad either. Lots of transients and crazies but murders are still super rare. I take back waht I said earlier, Hollywood is much better now.

EDIT: But at the same time... I have this dying curiosity about Hollywood back then. Would have been kind of fun to walk around and see all the craziness, and the danger.. now everything is so sanitized, which is a better thing overall, but 90% of the fun and intrigue is gone

[robertpasa]

I took a bus to Hollywood yesterday (Sat. June 22) and Hollywood Blvd was closed to cars Vine and east. But it was open to pedestrians. Why did they do that?

On the bus to Hollywood, I swear to God I saw four incidents of the police arresting people. I don't know what for. I couldn't help thinking that the climate of fear and violence went up after the murder of Ms. Calderon.

I was in Pasadena around noon and a skywriter wrote the words "Hollywood Bowl Wow." What was that for??
I rarely see skywriting.

[Mashi]

Originally Posted by robertpasa

I took a bus to Hollywood yesterday (Sat. June 22) and Hollywood Blvd was closed to cars Vine and east. But it was open to pedestrians. Why did they do that?

On the bus to Hollywood, I swear to God I saw four incidents of the police arresting people. I don't know what for. I couldn't help thinking that the climate of fear and violence went up after the murder of Ms. Calderon.

I was in Pasadena around noon and a skywriter wrote the words "Hollywood Bowl Wow." What was that for??
I rarely see skywriting.

A simple Google search for "hollywood bowl june 22 2013" would show you the answer. It was opening night, which explains why the street was closed to thru traffic and why they were advertising in the sky.

[TrueDat]

I remember those days in the '70s and '80s -- before the revival of Melrose and when hookers plied their wares on Sunset Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. And, while it could be bad, my guess is that Hollywood's reputation for seediness in that time has probably been embellished over the years to the point where the everyday reality for most people was far duller than most people imagine it to be.

Having said that, I certainly didn't hang around side streets after dark and always had a specific reason: work, seeing a band, going to a club, etc. But, after spending more nights than I care to admit at places like Club Lingerie, The Starwood, The Anti-Club, Cathay de Grande, and other like places, I can say I survived without getting shot or knifed or seeing anything too horrific go down.

As for Hollywood Blvd., it started to go downhill in the late 60s/early 70s when most of the first-run movie theaters closed and the movie-theater business pretty much decamped en masse to the Westside. They were replaced by porn theaters and other businesses that made the street look shabby. The influx of runaways didn't help. While LA/Hollywood has always attracted dreamers, drifters and ne'er-do-wells (just read Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust" from 1939, one of the best novels about LA), many of the newcomers of the '70s seemed to have a different vibe. Maybe it was the drug culture. Whatever it was, it sent Hollywood into a commercial death spiral.

So, from my perspective, it's great to go back and see all the developments from Hollywood & Highland to ArcLight Cinemas and all the other things that have popped up in the last 15 years. Whatever happened to the Whole Foods that was proposed years ago for Hollywood Blvd.? Is that totally dead?

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by robertpasa

I took a bus to Hollywood yesterday (Sat. June 22) and Hollywood Blvd was closed to cars Vine and east. But it was open to pedestrians. Why did they do that?

On the bus to Hollywood, I swear to God I saw four incidents of the police arresting people. I don't know what for. I couldn't help thinking that the climate of fear and violence went up after the murder of Ms. Calderon.

I was in Pasadena around noon and a skywriter wrote the words "Hollywood Bowl Wow." What was that for??
I rarely see skywriting.

Cultural Parade or something - streets were closed until 5 PM. My wife was going to use the 217 to get to Wilshire but that was foiled by the closures.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by TrueDat

I remember those days in the '70s and '80s -- before the revival of Melrose and when hookers plied their wares on Sunset Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. And, while it could be bad, my guess is that Hollywood's reputation for seediness in that time has probably been embellished over the years to the point where the everyday reality for most people was far duller than most people imagine it to be.

Having said that, I certainly didn't hang around side streets after dark and always had a specific reason: work, seeing a band, going to a club, etc. But, after spending more nights than I care to admit at places like Club Lingerie, The Starwood, The Anti-Club, Cathay de Grande, and other like places, I can say I survived without getting shot or knifed or seeing anything too horrific go down.

As for Hollywood Blvd., it started to go downhill in the late 60s/early 70s when most of the first-run movie theaters closed and the movie-theater business pretty much decamped en masse to the Westside. They were replaced by porn theaters and other businesses that made the street look shabby. The influx of runaways didn't help. While LA/Hollywood has always attracted dreamers, drifters and ne'er-do-wells (just read Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust" from 1939, one of the best novels about LA), many of the newcomers of the '70s seemed to have a different vibe. Maybe it was the drug culture. Whatever it was, it sent Hollywood into a commercial death spiral.

So, from my perspective, it's great to go back and see all the developments from Hollywood & Highland to ArcLight Cinemas and all the other things that have popped up in the last 15 years. Whatever happened to the Whole Foods that was proposed years ago for Hollywood Blvd.? Is that totally dead?

I have heard rumors of a high-rise behind the Chase Bank at Selma / Vine with a Whole Foods in the ground floor, but other than that, nothing.

[kttam186290]

They've let the transient population get out of control again there...hopefully this tragic incident involving the murder of a 23 year old girl will motivate the city to do more.