Sep 24, 2002 4 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The corner of Hollywood and Vine was once famously busy with star traffic during the fabled era of the major movie studios. The same crossroad today is both bustling and broken, home to hipsters and the homeless – and a perfect place to debate the future of Hollywood. Secessionists want to turn Tinseltown into an independent city, claiming Los Angeles has done little to halt a decades-long decline that began with the departure of the studios and left Hollywood dirty, crime-ridden and decayed.

But business owners, civic leaders and some residents fear that if Hollywood splits off, it could jeopardize an ongoing renaissance.

The secession measure will appear on the Nov. 5 citywide ballot along with a separate proposal calling for the vast San Fernando Valley to split from Los Angeles, breaking up the nation’s second-largest city.

Los Angeles currently has about 3.7 million people. A proposed city in the Valley would include 1.3 million residents, rivaling Phoenix as the nation’s sixth-largest city. Los Angeles would then fall to third in population behind New York and Chicago.

The proposed city of Hollywood would cover 15 square miles and be home to 180,000 people.

Most polls and analysts say the Hollywood secession measure is unlikely to pass. But if Hollywood does go, it would take with it some of Los Angeles’ most recognizable symbols – the Hollywood sign, Chinese Theater, and Walk of Fame – and deprive the city of much of its international stature.

With the vote just weeks away, both sides are squaring off.

Nightclub owner Gene La Pietra, who is bankrolling a million-dollar campaign to make Hollywood an independent city, points to graffiti on the windows of the empty office building on the southwest corner of Hollywood and Vine.

“This is why we’re taking Hollywood independent,” says La Pietra. “We’re taking back these streets from the gangsters. We’re telling the city you can’t let these buildings sit here empty.”

Jose Malagon, a building owner and businessman, sees something different on the northeast corner, home of the renovated Equitable Building, with new offices, a nightclub and restaurant.

In making their case against a split, people like Malagon talk about the $1 billion in completed commercial projects, a steep drop in crime and a spike in real estate values.

They say the most visible symbol of revitalization is the $615 million Hollywood & Highland retail and entertainment complex, which opened last year and includes the Kodak Theatre.

“Hollywood has totally transformed itself,” said Eric Garcetti, a Los Angeles City Council member who is leading the anti-secession campaign. “It is not a perfect place. There’s plenty of grit, but that’s what people love about Hollywood.”

Secessionists counter that Hollywood & Highland has not been the boon that city officials promised. Some of its retail shops have struggled, and the city-owned parking garage was forced to cut rates from $10 to $2 to attract more business.

The new projects have also increased noise and traffic jams on Hollywood streets, where the hip and tawdry thrive side-by-side. A block from the upscale shops and restaurants at Hollywood & Highland, the Hollywood Mini Market sells five “City of the Stars” T-shirts for $9.99.

After dark, the sex shops bustle but so do dozens of new nightclubs like Beauty Bar, Star Shoes, The Nacional, Las Palmas and the new Hollywood and Vine Diner.

“If secessionists had proposed this 10 years ago they’d have had a strong case, but not today,” said Leron Gubler, president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

To aid revitalization, the city has invested $77 million in services and improvements. Last month, the chamber’s 24-member board voted unanimously, with one abstention, to oppose secession.

While Hollywood remains less affluent than much of the city, it has also become home to a whole new generation of hipsters who don’t want the place to become too tame.

“You see a lot of strange characters running around outside,” said Mike Harrison, the manager of a punk record and magazine store called Fantastic Shop. “I just hope it doesn’t become a new city that has nothing but Starbucks.”

If nothing else, the campaign for the future of Hollywood will be colorful.

By Election Day, La Pietra says he will have spent more than $1 million promoting secession and his candidacy for Hollywood City Council.

Angelyne, the blonde, buxom artist made famous by her depiction on numerous billboards, is also running for a possible council seat. She is auctioning off her bras and panties to raise campaign money and promising to clean up Hollywood with regular “Bubble Bath Days.”

“I’m a symbol of glamour,” she said. “Why not vote for a symbol that represents the most glamorous city in the whole world?”