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Celebrity expectation. (Whatever Happened to Hollywood?).


AT $10.95 per person, the wax museum is about the only way Hollywood Hollywood.

1 Community within the city of Los Angeles, S Calif., on the slopes of the Santa Monica Mts.; inc. 1903, consolidated with Los Angeles 1910. Most major film and television studios and their executive offices, once located in Hollywood, have moved to nearby areas and suburbs. Although many films are shot on location in cities and countries throughout the world, Hollywood remains the symbolic center of the U.S. motion-picture industry.
 pilgrims are going to see anything resembling a movie star.

It's usually not enough.

"I was expecting to see famous people," said Isolete Ribeiro, a young woman from Brazil entering the Hollywood Wax Museum, with its lifelike figures of Pamela Anderson, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and Will Smith.

Such is the plight of Hollywood tourism, where after a glimpse of a handful of sites odd and vaguely historic, many are left wanting something else.

"Hollywood represents something to tourists. People want to see real movie making," said Julie Evans, standing at the edge of Hollywood & Highland's Babylon Court after having been to the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theatre during their brief stop to Tinseltown. "They should have some kind of factory tour where you can see it all being done."

But that doesn't exist, at least not in Hollywood. Visitors have to take a tour of Universal Studios in the San Fernando Valley.

"There is nothing exciting to do around here," conceded Alex Kosoyan, a supervisor at Holly-woodland Tours, which gives tours of Beverly Hills, the Hollywood sign and famous movie sites. "They say they want to bring the glamour back to Hollywood, but it hasn't happened."

Despite the ballyhooed revamping of the corner of Hollywood and Highland and a facelift to Grauman's, the options for tourists haven't changed much over the years.

The area's revitalization included two more museums designed to give tourists a flavor of Hollywood. Neither is open.

The Hollywood History Museum, in the historic Max Factor Make-Up Studio on Highland south of Hollywood Boulevard, received more than $2 million in Community Redevelopment Agency funds to renovate the 1915 structure from earthquake damage and bring it up to modern-day standards.

Several special events have been held at the museum, but the building is still not up to fire code standards.

Debbie Reynold's planned museum at the Hollywood & Highland complex, showcasing her collection of 2,000 costumes, was to have opened last April. But financing problems and a dispute over the lease with developer Trizec Properties delayed the opening.

The conflict has been resolved, although financing issues are still being ironed out. Reynolds and her son, Todd Fisher, have asked the Community Redevelopment Agency to issue a $15 million bond to help finance the museum, using its collection as collateral, said Donna DeBruhl-Hemer, the CRA's project manager for Hollywood.

Reynolds hopes to open her exhibit this summer in 20,000 square feet of space occupying four floors at Hollywood & Highland.

Until then, tourists must be content with looking at concrete footprints at Grau man's Chinese Theatre to get a taste of Hollywood.
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Title Annotation:tourists' expectations when coming to Hollywood
Comment:Celebrity expectation. (Whatever Happened to Hollywood?).(tourists' expectations when coming to Hollywood)
Author:Belgum, Deborah
Publication:Los Angeles Business Journal
Geographic Code:1U9CA
Date:Jan 20, 2003
Words:450
Previous Article:Tourism lag continues to exact toll at Hollywood & Highland. (Whatever Happened to Hollywood?).
Next Article:Cautious tenants keep office leasing action sluggish. (Real Estate Quarterly-L.A. County).(Industry Overview)
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