Breaking Ground: Art and Urban Redevelopment in Hollywood, CA

Center for the Arts in Society Fellowship Lecture
Matthew Reynolds, Ph.D., CAS Fellow 2007-08
Thursday, March 6, 2008, 4:30 PM
Adamson Wing (Baker Hall 136A)

“Breaking Ground: Art and Urban Redevelopment in Hollywood, CA”

Abstract: The city of Hollywood, CA is currently in the midst of a thirty year, multi-billion dollar urban renewal project. At one time, the corner of Hollywood and Vine was the most famous intersection in the world; a point where the ordinary and the extraordinary, fame and anonymity, fantasy and reality converged. But since the 1960s, Hollywood Blvd. is as synonymous with tacky memorabilia shops, fast food restaurants, and pornography theaters as it is with the glory years of movie production.

The Hollywood Redevelopment Project (HRP) is an attempt to transform this “seedy” location into a tourist-friendly theme-park designed to profit from a nostalgia for the city's golden years.

But this rebirth raises a number of problematic issues concerning the complicated intersection between the visual arts, cinema and the city. What image do tourists expect when they visit Hollywood and where and how was that image itself produced? Who will benefit from the Hollywood Redevelopment Project, and who will be left out? This lecture investigates the social and political dynamics of the HRP and the role of art in the gentrification of urban space.