Parking lot owner brought business, non-profits together.

For Steve Ullman, making money and giving it away has been a family affair.

With his brother and son, Ullman, 51, runs a network of companies that, as he puts it, own "a bunch of dirt and parking lots" in Hollywood, along with an Oregon cattle ranch and commercial real estate investments nationwide.

He and his family also do what they can to improve the lives of Hollywood's youth.

That includes contributions to Hollygrove, a haven for the neighborhood's abused and neglected children. "We just think kids need the most help," he said. "If you can make a difference in their lives when they're young, you're going to give them a start."

And when the Hollywood Wilshire YMCA, with which the Ullman family has been involved for decades, decided to renovate its aging building, Ullman gave about $100,000 for a new gym. Over the past 10 years, Ullman has funded 30 scholarships a year for inner city kids to go to the YMCA summer camp.

Ullman has also saved the YMCA $144,000 in annual operating costs by helping renegotiate a money-losing parking lot arrangement with the city. With Ullman now providing free management services, the parking operation is a moneymaker. "He really was a savior to the institution," said YMCA Executive Director Mark Dengler.

Ullman knows something about the parking business. His father was a parking attendant in Hollywood in the early 1940s, and later started Grant Parking. Ullman, who parked cars for the company as a child, took the helm in 1989, when Grant was Hollywood's largest parking lot company and also owned a half-interest in national operator Five Star Parking.

With the sale of Grant's interest in Five Star a couple of years ago, "Grant is back to being a little family business," said Ullman.

Grant owns between 35 and 38 parking lots ("I don't keep track exactly how many"), and family-owned Ullman Investments Ltd. "owns a lot of real estate, all over," including a majority interest in the historic Hollywood Palladium. As for the Oregon ranch, Ullman won't provide numbers, saying only "You don't ask how many head of cattle a person has. It's like asking how much money a guy has in the bank."

Hollywood, however, remains the family's base of business and the focus of most of its charitable efforts. "It's where we started. Hollywood is a community to us. The people in that community are important and we feel we owe them something," Ullman said.

It was around 1996 when he turned his attention to the fledgling efforts at rejuvenating Hollywood. "At that time, people weren't writing articles about success stories in Hollywood," Ullman said. "It was the opposite. Everyone was leaving." Working with then-City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, Ullman became founding president of the Hollywood Entertainment District.

Knowing that local businesses were in no position to make contributions, Ullman convinced 40 property owners to a combined assessment of $600,000 a year for five years. "It was not an easy sell," he said, but it worked. The BID is now the third largest in Los Angeles County.

No less important to Ullman is his support of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation. Ullman donates money to help the families of police officers who die in the line of duty or suffer catastrophic illnesses. "This is really personal to me," he said. "I'm not saying the LAPD hasn't made mistakes, but today the officers on the street are not getting enough pats on the back."

To help the foundation get its message across, Ullman also gave it free use of a billboard on the parking lot that Grant Parking co-owns next to the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. "Millions of people have probably seen that billboard," said foundation Executive Director Alan Atkins. "It helps us make a positive association with the community."

Philanthropist

Steve Ullman

Born: Glendale, 1953

Positions: President, Grant Parking, Inc./General Partner, Ullman Investments Inc., Partner, Ullman Brothers Land and Cattle Co.

Accomplishments: Founding President, Hollywood Entertainment District; Chairman, major gifts committee, Hollywood Wilshire YMCA; Cofounder, California Lutheran University, Ullman Family Scholarship

Quote: "It strikes me funny that anyone would give an award for giving. It goes back to my parents. They taught us to always give back to the community that has given a tot to us."