Bringing Back Broadway

LEADERSHIP & BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Councilmember Jose Huizar, Initiator & Chair

Jessica Wethington McLean, Executive Director

CITY OF LOS ANGELES & PUBLIC AGENCY TRUSTEES

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles

Bud Ovrom, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Building & Safety Dept.

Richard Benbow, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Community Development Department

Chris Essel, Chief Executive Officer, Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA)

Olga Garay, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

Gail Goldberg, Director, City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning

Paul Taylor, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO)

Jon Kirk Mukri, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation & Parks

Rita Robinson, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation

Cynthia Ruiz, President, City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works

PROPERTY & BUSINESS OWNER TRUSTEES

Ezatollah Delijani, Los Angeles, Palace, State and Tower Theaters

Joseph Hellen, Cameo, Roxie & Arcade Theaters; Spring Arcade; Chester Williams Building; Jewelry Trades Building; others

Allen Kirkland, Broadway Jewelry Mart; 351, 621, 640 and 716 S. Broadway

Boris Mayzels, Broadway Exchange

Cedd Moses, 213 Inc.

Steve Needleman, Orpheum Theater, Anjac Fashion Buildings

Peklar Palivjian, St. Vincent’s Jewelry Center

David Gray, The Judson

Pierre Toulakany, 610 S. Broadway

Robert Voskanian, Million Dollar Theater

Adele Yellin, Grand Central Square, Lyon Building, Million Dollar Theater

CIVIC & BUSINESS LEADERSHIP TRUSTEES

Dennis Allen, Executive Director, Los Angeles Streetcar Inc.

Russell Brown, Executive Director, Historic Downtown LA Improvement District

Linda Dishman, Executive Director, Los Angeles Conservancy

Tara Jones Hamacher, Director, National Preservation Partners

Michael McDowell, Senior Director, Cultural Tourism, LA Inc., Convention & Visitors Bureau

Terence McFarland, Executive Director, LA Stage Alliance

Carol Schatz, President & CEO, Central City Association / Downtown Center Business Improvement District

Kent Smith, Executive Director, LA Fashion District

Shiraz Tangri, Downtown LA Neighborhood Council

José Luis Valenzuela, Artistic Director, The New Los Angeles Theater Center, Latino Theater Company

ADDITIONAL SUPPORTERS

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard; Senator Gilbert Cedillo; Assemblymember John Perez;

James L. Atkins, Merlone Geier Management, Inc.; John Bani, Broadway Jewelry Mart; 351, 621, 640 and 716 S. Broadway; Millage Peaks, Chief, Los Angeles Fire Department; Ken Bernstein, Manager, Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources; Alvin Y. Blain, General Manager, Los Angeles Department of General Services; Mike Buehler, Los Angeles Conservancy; Gary Cobrae, Chris Ortman, 737-745 S. Broadway; Ed Ebrahimian, Director, Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting; Filomena Eriman, General Manager, Grand Central Market; Estela Lopez, Executive Director, Central City East Association; Emily Gabel Luddy, Manager, Los Angeles Urban Design Studio; David L. Gray, FAIA, Philip Miller, Jeremy Miller, Broadway Lofts LP (The Judson); Gerry Miller, Chief Legislative Analyst, City of Los Angeles; William A. Robertson, Director, Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services; Mohammed Saab, 749 S. Broadway; Ramin Saghian, 437 & 523-527 S. Broadway; Ben Saeidian, 621 S. Broadway; Eli Sasson, Abe Sasson, 4th & Broadway; 722-724 S. Broadway; Gary Toebben, President & CEO, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Jane Usher, President Emeritus, Los Angeles Planning Commission; Brady Westwater, Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council; Homer Williams, Williams & Dame Development;

Message from Councilmember José Huizar

I consider the downtown Broadway theater district, with one of the largest concentrations of historic theaters in the country, a true treasure of Los Angeles.

Bringing Back Broadway is one of my highest priorities as a City Councilmember. The Broadway corridor features one of the largest concentrations of historic theatres in the nation, set between many other types of beautiful architectural gems.

Broadway enjoys a colorful history as the birthplace of vaudeville and cinematic entertainment in Los Angeles and was once considered the retail capital of the United States. For its rich history and tremendous future potential, Broadway is a true treasure in Los Angeles which is not meeting its potential in a number of different ways.

It bustles with Latino shoppers and many others during the day, but very few of the theaters offer entertainment programming, the upper floors of Broadway's buildings are under-utilized, and the boulevard does not serve the needs of the downtown community, especially at night.

We can change that, together, ensuring that the vibrant, cultural character remains, while helping Broadway provide something for everyone, day and night.

Bringing Back Broadway is a ten year vision – and an ambitious plan – to revitalize the corridor, activate the theaters, reactive more than a million square feet of vacant commercial space, create a sense of place and history through urban planning, design and streetscapes, and make the dream of once again riding a streetcar downtown a reality.

The revitalized Broadway corridor will complement and provide an essential historic connection between new large-scale downtown development projects, such as L.A. Live and Grand Avenue.

This vision has been enthusiastically embraced in its first year, and as I reflect on what we have accomplished since announcing the initiative in January 2008, I am very pleased. The first two years have proven that Broadway’s time is now.

The combined time, talent and dedication provided to this initiative by each and every person involved is truly remarkable. It’s clear Bringing Back Broadway is a passion project for so many of us, and I am honored to lead this historic effort.

We have accomplished a great deal together thus far, surpassing many of our own planned milestones while learning lessons from the efforts of other cities as well. These efforts and accomplishments have set the stage for what we will strive to achieve in the coming years, as Bringing Back Broadway continues to evolve and as we bring our plans to fruition.

A number of plans for Broadway revitalization have come and gone over the years, but each has faded away. The proposals did not lack great ideas, but rather a commitment from both public and private entities to move things forward. It’s a different downtown today with new opportunities that we all find very exciting. Broadway’s time is now.

I initiated Bringing Back Broadway because I believe the City must honor its history as significantly as its plans for the future.

Executive Director, Jessica Wethington McLean and I look forward to continuing to work with you as we bring back a Broadway that offers something for everyone in future generations to enjoy, while honoring its very special place in our hearts and history.

See you on Broadway!

Sincerely,

José Huizar
Councilmember 14th District

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Executive Director of Bringing Back Broadway oversees policies, projects and coordination necessary for the implementation of the Bringing Back Broadway vision. The Executive Director acts as the liaison between the City and the community, and functions as the link between the initiative’s many moving parts and as well as planning and managing its activities, policies and procedures. On behalf of Councilmember Huizar, the Executive Director leads the Board of Trustees, an active group of City General Managers, downtown leaders and property owners appointed to develop and refine the strategic plan and move the initiative forward, and the Executive Director spearheads work in the more than one dozen committees and working groups for the initiative.

Message from Jessica Wethington McLean, Executive Director

Bringing Back Broadway is not a single-minded initiative – it combines urban planning and transportation policy, with historic preservation, cultural arts, entertainment, marketing and long-range economic development and revitalization efforts. I have a passion for the initiative because we have the opportunity to help make a significant, sustainable revitalization of the Broadway corridor a reality.

I'm truly honored to be serving in this position on behalf of Councilmember Huizar, the Trustees, committee members, volunteers and everyone dedicated to helping make this dream a reality. Broadway is where our past meets our future in Los Angeles. Where vaudeville stages and spectacular movie palaces anchor gorgeous architectural gems all along the street. Historic Broadway offers amazing cultural and economic revitalization potential in the midst of new development all around downtown.

The Councilmember’s vision for Bringing Back Broadway is very inspirational. This is a passion project – a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don’t think there’s a more exciting job in the city. Come and work with us, there's plenty to do for everyone who wants to be involved in whatever way they'd like.