Hooray for Holy-wood

The headline belongs to today's Jewish Journal cover story by Joel Kotkin on the recent re-discovery and popularity of religious institutions close to the city's core.

When the media or politicians chatter about Los Angeles' urban resurgence, they usual refer to such things as $700,000 lofts in downtown Los Angeles, grandiose projects like the proposed Grand Avenue development, million-dollar postage stamp lots on the Westside, clubs on Sunset Boulevard or perhaps glittering new cultural institutions like the Getty Center and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

But perhaps a better reflection of Los Angeles' overall civic health might be to look at Temple Israel in Hollywood. There, a $20 million new building program—this being Los Angeles, an expanding parking lot is one centerpiece—will soon be tearing down aging adjacent apartments to make way for an expanded campus, including a new education complex and chapel.

Just two decades ago, Temple Israel was floundering like many shuls in more urban parts of Los Angeles.

Kotkin calls the upswing in Los Angeles religious activity an immigrant-driven "citywide, multiethnic phenomenon." He cites conversion of the former Great Western Forum in Inglewood into the Faithful Central Bible Church and the rise in the Valley of the North Hollywood Thai Temple, the Northridge Islamic Center and the 1,600-seat Korean Valley Christian Presbyterian Church in Porter Ranch. Why, the man even has the good sense to quote me regarding the classic 1920s churches on Wilshire Boulevard.