Hollywood used to be for everybody. Not so in recent years. Around the time we slid into the new millennium, real estate agents and developers started paying a lot of attention to the area. It used to be a place where people without a lot of money, musicians, artists, immigrants, students, could find a cheap apartment. But for the past ten years or so rents have been rising steadily. And the new units that have been built are geared towards people with money. There was a break in the cycle when the stock market crashed, but now it’s picking up again.
In short, the powers that be want to turn Hollywood into a gentrified enclave like Santa Monica. The City Council and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce are trying to transform the area into an upscale haven for club-hopping hipsters. Anyone who makes less than fifty thousand a year is no longer welcome.
The LA Weekly recently ran an article on this trend. I do feel the title, “Hollywood’s Urban Cleansing”, is too extreme, but the story does a good job of laying out what the politicians and the developers are doing to the area. The link is below.
The Horizon and the Skyline 