AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:
Paramount Contractors and Developers

By: Brian Folb, Exec. VP Leasing Management for HOLLYWOOD OFFICES

From the official FHCP Mission Statement:
The Hollywood Central Park is a landmark infrastructure project that will create more than 38,000 direct and indirect jobs over 10 years, provide economic stimulus and long-term economic security, provide healthy communities and provide children with open green space in which to grow and thrive.
The Hollywood Central Park will transform Hollywood’s disadvantaged communities into thriving economic engines and is an investment in our children, our community and our future.
Friends of the Hollywood Central Park is formed to raise funds to create a new park in Hollywood. One of the most dense and green space starved neighborhoods in Los Angeles, by covering a portion of the Hollywood Freeway (US 101) with a 38-acre street level community park.

What’s not to love about this project? When Paramount Contractors and Developers’ second-generation son Brian Folb first learned about the idea of the Hollywood Central Park at a Hollywood Chamber board of directors meeting in 2005, he was immediately smitten. When his good friend and fellow chamber board member Laurie Goldman came up with the idea of creating a non-profit to help organize and direct this project into fruition, he was all in.

This is how he became a founding board member of Friends of the Hollywood Central Park, a legacy project in the perfect location, right here in the heart of our famous community of Hollywood.

Paramount Contractors and Developers have proudly sponsored FHCP’s For the Love of Hollywood Gala since its inception in 2010 because the Folb Family has a long-standing commitment to the environment and to giving back to the Community.

We all have a responsibility to do our part in creating a sustainable future.  For owners and managers of commercial buildings, that often means performing updates and upgrades whenever new technologies and methods for improving energy efficiency become available.

This has been a top priority for the Folb Family, who have invested heavily in retrofitting each of their buildings from top to bottom with state-of-the-art HVAC, lighting, and electrical systems, and who remain committed to keeping all of their properties operating at the highest possible standards of energy efficiency.

The Folbs and all of us on the Hollywood Offices management team are proud of that commitment, having earned Energy Star certifications from the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy at all our locations. We remain determined to continue doing our part in moving our society toward true sustainability.

Although Hollywood is the globally recognized name for the capital of the entertainment industry and celebrity culture, for locals, it is simply the name of the neighborhood where we and other ordinary people and families happen to live, work, play, or some combination of the three.  Like many neighborhoods, Hollywood is not without its challenges, which only through the support and participation of its community can we hope to overcome and raise the tide.

Angelenos for multiple generations now, the Folb Family remains a long-standing pillar in staunch support of many local efforts and organizations, including the Hollywood Central Park, working to elevate the quality of experience for all of Hollywood’s residents, professionals, and visitors.  Whether it’s through donations to local charities, sponsoring community events, service within local organizations, or just hosting a free ice cream day for the neighborhood, the Folbs and all of us on the Hollywood Offices management team feel that it is not only our duty, but a pleasure to give back to our community and do what we can to uplift and benefit all of Hollywood’s inhabitants.

Legacy and making history are familiar territory for our family company, Paramount Contractors and Developers, Inc.

Stanley Folb started developing real estate in Los Angeles in the late 1940s & 50s.  Later in the 60’s & 70’s, the focus of his business evolved into developing commercial buildings, where he would set the standard for office space in Hollywood for some of the entertainment industry’s biggest names of the time.

Committed to upholding and building upon that legacy, Stanley’s sons Brian and Brad now manage all Hollywood Offices locations under the umbrella of the family’s development and management company, Paramount Contractors & Developers, Inc., and continue to play active roles in the management, maintenance, and reinvestment into their properties.  
To this day, the Folbs remain determined to continue providing Hollywood’s creatives and business community with a premium workplace experience that is up-to-date with the latest standards in technical systems, energy efficiency, safety, amenities, aesthetics, and everything else you would expect from corporate-owned Class A office buildings, but with the personalized service and customer care that only a family-owned boutique can provide.

Hollywood Offices is a full-service boutique office rental agency with over 50 years of experience serving the entertainment industry and Hollywood’s business community with premium, turn-key office space and personalized customer service.
Working closely with our in-house team of experienced commercial property management personnel and our network of trusted specialist vendors, we manage and operate multiple high-profile office buildings, on Sunset Boulevard, in the heart of Hollywood, all privately owned by the Folb Family since their original construction by Hollywood development pioneer Stanley Folb.

Getting To Know You:Thaddeus Hunter Smith
A series of interviews with the FHCP Board of Directors

The Henry Fonda Theatre, once a vibrant star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, was brought back to life by Thaddeus Hunter and renamed The Music Box @ Fonda in 2005. Since then, he has hosted over a thousand concerts, 1080 special events, and 2,300,000 guests. More than 10,000 people a day have read the positive sayings on the Fonda’s marquee while driving by, bringing positivity and light to the street. Thaddeus has sat on the Boards of Directors for 15 organizations in Hollywood, playing a pivotal role in its revitalization. He has also been honored with 17 community awards, 15 commendations and ensured all his projects had give-back programs for local charities. He is also an accomplished artist whose work can be seen in galleries, private collections and even City Hall.

President Laurie Goldman sat down with FHCP Board Member and Fundraising Committee Co-Chair, Thaddeus Hunter Smith:

LG: You have often been named Hollywood’s # 1 supporter of our nonprofit community, from raising funds, to donating The Music Box for events and executing successful fundraising events. As an FHCP Board member, past president of HEBID, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Board Member, Hollywood PAL Board member among many other Hollywood nonprofit organizations, what are the motivating factors that define your passion for Hollywood and contribute to your nonprofit and social activism?

THS: I have always believed that giving back is an incredibly beautiful way to be a part of Hollywood and for those that are not fortunate to have what I have built. The more you give back the more you are blessed, and I have been very blessed from all the business associates in Hollywood & the neighborhood. I build my visions as if I lived where my business is located so I would always be concerned about parking, noise and making the neighborhood safe.

LG: In general, the benefits of the Hollywood Central Park are innumerable. Specifically, as a long-time Hollywood stakeholder, what do you see as the most compelling benefits of the Hollywood Central Park?

THS: Oh my, there are so many, but I will tell you a few of my favorites.   Providing a park for thousands of kids in the Hollywood area that don't have a park or green space to play in. Another one is how green spaces like parks help people heal faster and now with this virus, we need to be healed and let nature do its thing. Hollywood Central Park will be for everyone...children, teenagers, and adults. It is going to be a great green space to have a place to meet your neighbors and hold community activities.

LG: As a follow-up question, will these benefits support and encourage a livable and sustainable Hollywood community?

THS: Yes, the park is like having a miracle happen right before your eyes. As we begin to build it, the Park immediately starts bringing the communities together even before it’s open, just watching it being created. It’s guaranteed happiness being created right before everyone's eyes. I get excited just thinking of the park's future… WOW

LG: From the Red Line to mixed-use developments, the past two decades have changed Hollywood. What changes have been favorable and unfavorable?

THS: Well, the Red line and mixed-use developments have been a blessing to Hollywood. People from all over get to come to Hollywood instead of just watching everything on Social Media. And now there's affordable housing and developments that give everyone a place to live while they chase their dreams. I love it! I was one of those dream chasers that could afford to be in Hollywood. Of course, traffic, noise and everything that comes with a city growing and maturing is part of the gripes. I believe it is all working and now we are bringing an incredible Hollywood Central Park to complete the vision of a wonderful and magical city -- HOLLYWOOD...

LG: You are the previous owner of The Music Box Theatre and will soon re-open the Earl Carroll Theatre, as a community of residents and businesses, what can we do to create a common vision for the future of Hollywood?

THS: That is quite simple, WE all need to work together as a city and community and keep moving forward with ideas and plans. Everyone needs to know that it is profoundly important to be active and to get involved. WE must become the change that we wish to see in Hollywood.

IOBY (In Our Back Yard)

By Orletha Andersen

Orletha Andersen has spent the better part of the last 10 years working as a consultant in the real estate development community in Hollywood. Currently, her efforts focus primarily on affordable housing projects, as the need for more affordable housing only grows greater by the day. She has also been actively involved in the Thai CDC marketplace and business incubator project above the Metro at Hollywood & Western and is extremely excited for the positive impact it will have on the community when completed. In her spare time, she is a freelance photographer and volunteers with Reading to Kids at local elementary schools. She also enjoys volunteering with HMEMSA, a non-profit whose mission is to bring much needed medical treatment to orphans in Morocco. She brings her camera along to document the work they do and help spread the word.

Imagine if you will… it’s a beautiful California day, the sun is shining bright, the sky is perfectly blue, the birds sing a harmonious melody perched above in the trees, a gentle breeze glides through your hair as you enjoy a delicious picnic in the park with family and friends… you look up and see the Hollywood sign just ahead, nestled in the hills – wait a minute… where are you? The Hollywood Central Park, that’s where!

That could be the experience, just minutes away, for everyone in Hollywood. A destination for the whole City perhaps? Can we make it cool enough to become the next international attraction to LA?

Instead, we have the not so peaceful, green, or relaxing 101 freeway running straight through the middle of Hollywood. I know, personally, how loud, and dirty it is, my living room window used to look out over it for a time. It is an eyesore of epic proportions; generates untold amounts of pollution: exhaust fumes, freeway dust, noise at all hours; and draws a stark divide between two not so different sides of Hollywood.

With the divide our country is currently going through, a little bit of coming together could do a lot of good for everyone. The Hollywood Central Park can be a bridge between what sometimes feels like two different worlds on either side of the 101, a place where neighbors can be neighborly, people can walk their dogs, take their morning jog. At 38-acres there ought to be enough space to keep up the social distancing if we haven’t gotten out of the “new” normal yet.

I have worked in the real estate industry for many years in East Hollywood. I have watched innumerable residential buildings spring up right in the vicinity of the proposed location for this immense green space, and many more are in the making. This will inevitably lead to further density in an already packed area of LA. Having more available green space to get away from the gridlock of city life will help all of us enjoy a better quality of life. East Hollywood was once the dirty sideshow that no one wanted to see. But the new developments, and invariably this park, will bring a new life to East Hollywood rivaling that of Hollywood proper, its “neighbor” to the west.

This is an idea, decades in the making, whose time has come. Los Angeles may be an international destination, but Hollywood is the star that draws the people in. I support the Hollywood Central Park because it will be a priceless addition to our neighborhood. The value it will add to this community can be best measured in the number of family picnics in the park, wedding day photo shoots among the trees, games of soccer or baseball played amongst friends, the sweet joy of children laughing, and the number of breaths of fresh air we take during our time there.

Remember, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~ George Carlin,” so let us make the Hollywood Central Park a place we create some of those moments.

What We've Been Up to

By Laurie Goldman, President

We miss the bustling streets of our community, where we may have run into you and asked you about your day, or about what would make Hollywood a better place for you to live. We miss meetings that are not at the mercy of an Internet connection. We miss you, our friends and family!

This is a stressful time as we try to cope with our new reality. And, we at FHCP think about how important the Hollywood Central Park will be for the health and welfare of our beloved Hollywood.

Did you know that just looking at trees reduces blood pressure and stress-related hormones?

Forty years of research confirms that parks support human wellness by:

• Increasing energy and happiness
• Improving mind, body, and spirit
• Enhancing focus and creativity
• Strengthening immunity
• Lowering stress, tension, and depression

Likewise, reducing environmental impacts improves health, enhances livelihoods, and encourages a healthier community. The Hollywood Central Park provides an opportunity to create a greener, more environmentally sustainable, and livable Hollywood. It creates an opportunity to access nature in an urban environment while providing ecosystem services, such as increased air and water quality. Healthy Planet = Healthy People!

For these reasons, we want to share with you Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Green Region Initiative Sustainability Indicators Map. This is an innovative and interactive tool that serves to measure and track sustainability progress in 12 categories and 29 sustainability indicators within the SCAG region. The tool measures progress through policy and performance categories to serve as a resource for local governments to explore best practices, collaborate on projects/programs and assess the needs of communities.

To use the tool, explore the categories/indicators, assess and track existing green space in your community, click on this link: https://bit.ly/31sKi7Z

Join us in keeping our community strong and healthy by building the 38-acre Hollywood Central Park!

FHCP is a long-standing member of City Parks Alliance, the only independent, nationwide membership organization solely dedicated to urban parks. We proudly endorse and share with our readers, CPA’s Statement on Racial Equity and Justice.

STATEMENT ON RACIAL EQUITY AND JUSTICE

From Catherine Nagel, Executive Director

We mourn the loss of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others and reflect on the violence, threats, and unjust treatment of people of color. We must reexamine and recommit to our values as people, and as institutions, and do better collectively to end racism and seek justice.

City Parks Alliance remains committed to our organizational values and supporting communities to leverage the power of parks and recreation to empower individuals and to help cities address their equity goals. We will continue to listen and learn together with our members.

City Parks Alliance will redouble our ongoing efforts to ensure that safe, welcoming, equitable parks and recreation services--reflective of diverse needs and identity--can be a part of the solution. We believe that everyone living in urban areas should have access to quality parks and recreation opportunities without the threat of violence. Parks, public spaces, and recreation services have a role to play in addressing cities’ broader equity challenges and community development issues such as affordable housing, environmental justice and resiliency, youth development, incarceration reduction, food security, and more.

City parks and recreation programs have been supporting the physical and mental health of our communities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the health crisis has once again shown that more must be done to address park inequity in our country. Parks and recreation will continue to strengthen our democratic ideals and social resiliency as we exercise our right to assemble and protest peacefully, live powerfully in a diverse environment, and work together in our pursuit of racial equity and justice.

(Reprinted with permission)

Please join the FHCP Board of Directors in welcoming Rob Koplin, Associate Director, to the FHCP Family. Rob’s longtime passion is to enhance the overall wellness of individuals via fitness, nutrition, prevention, and economic security.  He approaches his work with a high level of reliability, empathy, and determination.  “Helping to establish an infrastructure that creates a unified community and 38,000+ jobs, and knowing the numerous health-filled benefits that result from a direct connection to nature, I’m vehemently grateful for my new role at Friends of Hollywood Central Park.”  Please feel free to reach out to Rob at rob.koplin@hfcp.org

Support Your Hollywood Central Park