Warning: Corny Question for Hollywood Experts (Highland, West Hollywood: transplants, apartments, crime)

[Chelito23]

I just saw Pretty Woman on cable....and since I last saw this movieas a kid, I was wondering whatever became of the neighborhood where Julia Roberts lived in Hollywood?

Online searches say the hooker hotel she lived at was on Las Palmas and Hollywood Blvd. I did a google streetview and it looks like the area has been revitalized...but I was wondering, how is that area nowadays since looks from online can be decieving? Has it been gentrified or is it how it was portrayed in the movies? Not moving there or anything, just a random thought and hope someone has some insight. Thanks.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

I just saw Pretty Woman on cable....and since I last saw this movieas a kid, I was wondering whatever became of the neighborhood where Julia Roberts lived in Hollywood?

Online searches say the hooker hotel she lived at was on Las Palmas and Hollywood Blvd. I did a google streetview and it looks like the area has been revitalized...but I was wondering, how is that area nowadays since looks from online can be decieving? Has it been gentrified or is it how it was portrayed in the movies? Not moving there or anything, just a random thought and hope someone has some insight. Thanks.

Leaving aside that movie being quite unbelievable and ridiculous: that neighborhood is FAR nicer today than it was 15 or 20 years ago. It had been on a downhill slide for many years, got REALLY bad in the '80s, got even worse in the early '90s, and was at an all time low in the mid 90s. After the riots and earthquake there was practically nothing but homeless there. Central Hollywood needed to hit bottom before rising again. Gentrification began at the end of the century. Today it's in better shape than it's been in since the mid 1970s, and even somewhat desirable of a place to live.

20 years ago it was ghetto (not in the sense of being dominated by any particular race or ethnicity - Hollywood is as diverse as America gets - but in terms of its poverty and crime ; Koreatown today resembles Hollywood of the '80s more than Hollywood does. ). Today it's a decent place to live although it still has some major homeless issues. (They don't call Hollywood the "Home of the Homeless" for nothing!) I'd live there.

[BlankVerse]

Not a corny question at all. Maybe a corny movie! But not a corny question.

I think Majoun summed up the situation very well. Hollywood was truly on the skids in the 1970's, 1980's, and the first half of the 1990's. Think Miami Beach in the '70's but far worse and strange.

I am not aware of any actual "hooker hotel" but there was an abandoned old apt building the locals called "Motel Hell" which was a punk rock/teenage runaway crash pad in the 1980's. This was located on Hollywood Blvd a few blocks west of the intersection referenced in the movie.

Some of the punk rock kids that used to crash (or squat) there have created a facebook page and/or blogs on myspace about their old hangout.

Motel Hell/ Garden Court Apartments | Facebook

ZIGGY by Motel Hell Garden Court Apartments (Motel Hell) on Myspace

The orginal apt building (built in 1919) was torn down but MOST of the historic structures on Hollywood Blvd remain in tact.

[BlankVerse]

Originally Posted by majoun

20 years ago it was ghetto (not in the sense of being dominated by any particular race or ethnicity - Hollywood is as diverse as America gets - but in terms of its poverty and crime ; Koreatown today resembles Hollywood of the '80s more than Hollywood does. ). Today it's a decent place to live although it still has some major homeless issues. (They don't call Hollywood the "Home of the Homeless" for nothing!) I'd live there.

Majoun: Good summary. Agree with all your points; however I would simply note that in my view KOREATOWN is FAR more sane, tame, and safe as compared to HOLLYWOOD circa the 1970's and 1980's.

[disgruntled la native]

OK, so for those of you who were around in the 70s and 80s, how was Hollywood back then? Be specific.

And I think Koreatown is mixed. Parts of it are fairly decent, though I've encountered some very seedy blocks too.

[BlankVerse]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

OK, so for those of you who were around in the 70s and 80s, how was Hollywood back then? Be specific.

Are you kidding or asking for real?

Hollywood was truly SEEDY back then...as in a major red light district with whores and pimps and drug dealers and some minor gang activity (by LA's standards).

By the late 1980's the neighborhood just north of Hollywood and Highland had streets blocked off from vehicular traffic in an effort to discourage open drug dealing. Seems the crack epidemic had creeped into the neighborhood (though it was NEVER as bad in others part of LA like So. Central).

Of course, I also have to admit it was a lot of FUN too esp. if you were into punk rock and seeing some wild, crazy gigs. But no doubt that central Hollywood has cleaned up a lot.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by BlankVerse

Are you kidding or asking for real?

Hollywood was truly SEEDY back then...as in a major red light district with whores and pimps and drug dealers and some minor gang activity (by LA's standards).

By the late 1980's the neighborhood just north of Hollywood and Highland had streets blocked off from vehicular traffic in an effort to discourage open drug dealing. Seems the crack epidemic had creeped into the neighborhood (though it was NEVER as bad in others part of LA like So. Central).

Of course, I also have to admit it was a lot of FUN too esp. if you were into punk rock and seeing some wild, crazy gigs. But no doubt that central Hollywood has cleaned up a lot.

Asking for real because I was too young to remember. So who lived in Hollywood then? I mean now it's mostly young white transplants looking to get a leg up in the industry. So what was it back then.

[BlankVerse]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Asking for real because I was too young to remember. So who lived in Hollywood then? I mean now it's mostly young white transplants looking to get a leg up in the industry. So what was it back then.

Well, I do NOT think HOLLYWOOD is "mostly" white transpants today. A plurality, yes but not the majority. If you are talking WEST HOLLYWOOD, that is a different story.

Like Majoun noted HOLLYWOOD (as in central) is diverse and has been for a long time. But there were plenty of white hipsters and wannabes in Hollwyood circa 1980 too.

The Demographics of HOLLYWOOD circa the 2000 Census showed about 50% of the population was foriegn born. The actual breakdown by race/ethnicity:

White (non-hispanic): 47.2%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 9.5%
Black: 4.5%
Other Race: 19.2%

Hispanic (any race): 35.4%

And you've got plenty of Armenians in Hollywood who might identify as White or Other Race. People select whatever category they want. There was also a lot of confusion in the 2000 census for some hispanics. Many chose other.

I don't have the 1980 Census figures for Hollywood but I suspect the Pimp (any race) category would have been very high.

[uptown_urbanist]

I tried to look up the census tract for Las Palmas and Hollywood, but the site wasn't working. In any case, it's definitely not "mostly" white transplants, even today. About five years ago I lived about two blocks away from Las Palmas, and it was great. It had already gentrified enough so that we weren't worried about crime, although we did see it continue to evolve during the few years we lived there. There was a huge mix of residents, including those who had been in their rent-controlled apartments for decades. Voting there was the best experience I've ever had; all of the poll workers seemed to be from other countries, and they applauded when I put my ballot into the machine. The neighborhood is high-density, very diverse (I assume those demographics for Hollywood as a whole also include the more upscale "heights" area, which is a very different crowd than the flat area down below Franklin), and has a mix of very upscale apartments as well as some dumps. We haven't lived there for a few years, but we did still sometimes see drug deals on Yucca, and a prostitute did show up at my father-in-law's motel room (the Motel 6 on Whitley), knocking on the door and telling him that the front desk had sent her up. You could still see signs on Yucca announcing that license plates were being recorded; from what neighbors said, it sounds like cars would get drive down Yucca, cruise along, and pick up whatever vice it was they needed.

[majoun]

A little bit of Hollywood in the '80s, with the poet laureate of Hollywood, Charles Bukowski:


YouTube - ‪Bukowski: Hollywood Tour‬‏