Health & Fitness
Blog: Hollywood Needs An Encore!
Scott Crawford, candidate for Los Angeles city council, wants to bring back the theatres on Hollywood Blvd.
What do you think the biggest industry in Los Angeles is? Believe it or not, it is tourism. People travel here from all over the world and wheredo you think one of their first stops is? Hollywood Boulevard.
Now, Hollywood Blvd has improved greatly in the last couple of years, but I think we all know it still has a long wayto go. And yes, the quiz part is now over.
One of the saddest things about Hollywood is that so many of our wonderful theatres are sitting empty! These vacant show places could be bringing in major dollars to our community. But instead, they are sitting neglected and ignored.
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A theatre not only brings in the ticket prices. A booming theatre also brings in diners (pre and post show!), taxis and limos, souvenirs… lots of dollars flowing into our local economy.
And it’s not just revenue. Working shows mean working professionals WORKING at those shows. This is a jobs program if there ever was one!
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In 2011, Broadway brought in 11.9 BILLION Dollars to the New York City economy! 11.9 Billion! And now WE have the Book of Mormon in LA! Even more unsettling, Branson, Missouri has a thriving theatre and show community. Now
Branson is a lovely mid-western town, but it AIN’T Los Angeles! If they can do it in Branson, MO - why can’t we do it here?
Nearly every single tourist that visits here goes to onecultural site. If we had more to offer, more dollars would be spent. Los Angeles is home to the STARS. There is no reason why a few of them could not put on shows in our show places. But we don’t have to limit it to star shows. Our wonderful dance community has no place to showcase their talent.
The stars of So You Think You Could Dance would look great at the Montiban Theatre or perhaps we could use the Ivar like the JOYCE Theatre in NY, so our local dance companies could have a show place.
Milt Larsen of the Magic Castle has been talking about bringing modern Vaudeville to Hollywood. America’s Got Talent proves that folks still love it!
The potential of our majestic theatres are only as limited as our imaginations. We have a good start with the Dolby and the Pantages. Now all we have to do is fill those theatres in between them.
Are you listening AEG’s eventual buyer, House of Blues, Shuberts, Neaderlander, Live? Are you listening City
Council?
