By Laurie Goldman, President

It is with a heavy heart that I join my FHCP Board colleagues in grieving the loss of our founding Board Member Edward V. Hunt.

FHCP was founded because of Edward Hunt’s desire to create more green open space in Hollywood. And his idea? Cover the Hollywood Freeway with a Park! Edward was relentless in his passion to rid our community of scar that the Hollywood Freeway is on our landscape.

Edward’s immense talent gave the FHCP Board a master class in creating Parks. He educated and empowered his colleagues to think big and never give up. Edward encouraged us to take risks and dared us to make a difference.

Without Edward there is no Hollywood Central Park and we are forever grateful for his vision.
In a few short years, the Hollywood Central Park will serve as a lasting reminder that one man’s vision – one man’s dream can change the world. Edward’s legacy will endure in every element of the Hollywood Central Park’s 38 acres (or as Edward would remind me, 37.6 acres).

Edward’s first love of course was his beloved wife Martha, daughter Lucy and her husband John and his granddaughter Addie. His second love? Hollywood. Projects throughout Hollywood have been touched by Edward’s ideas, suggestions and emails! There are many famous Edwards in Hollywood who have inspired and created from Edward G. Robinson to Edward James Olmos to Edward Norton and even Edward Scissorhands, but none is more famous than Hollywood’s very own Edward Hunt who had a heart of gold, was one-of-a kind and had the uncanny ability to change hearts and minds.

To the Hunt family thank you for sharing Edward with me. Edward’s spirit will live on in my heart forever.

As a longtime Hollywood stakeholder, Edward struggled with solutions for Hollywood’s lack of green space, the soaring diabetes and hypertension rates among our children and teens and the 2 Hollywood’s created by the Freeway. Building a deck park in the air space above the Hollywood Freeway was a no-brainer.

To honor Edward’s memory, FHCP held an Ideas and Inspirations Competition. Inspired by Edward’s passion for the Hollywood Central Park, the Competition grew out of our discussions surrounding how to engage and include students, our future architects, designers, artists and stakeholders, in this process of creating the Hollywood Central Park. Using the concepts imagined by the Hollywood Community as their foundation, we asked the students to focus their entries on connectivity, placemaking and technology. The entries we received demonstrated smart, creative and thoughtful ideas, which will inspire and guide the creation of our Park. Edward would be proud. (Ideas and Inspirations video)

l to r: FHCP Board Members John Goodwin, Jose Malagon, Dave Gajda, Laurie Goldman, Scott Campbell, Brian Folb, Todd Warner and Phil Hart