Issue: Issue Fall 2012

From the Editor

Growing up in Los Angeles, my school year began about the middle of September and in the days before a/c, it seemed cruel and unusual punishment to send children away from the beach or their lawn sprinklers and off to a hot classroom.  Maybe that’s the incentive these days for starting the school year in August and the thankfully cool air-conditioned school.

  Rena LeBlanc takes us on a nostalgic journey to Hollywood High.  However, there’s no backward thinking on today’s campus.  With a student body that looks like the United Nations and a Performing Arts magnet to keep them literally “on their toes,” the beautiful art deco school was recently placed on the National List of Historic Places.  A nice feather in Hollywood’s cap.

  Over the past several years, Hollywood has welcomed many secondary schools that offer an outstanding array of vocations and classes in the Hollywood arts to choose from.  These schools are changing the landscape of the community as students arrive from all over the world to take classes in Hollywood.  These schools will soon be joined by prestigious Emerson College which is in the process of building an amazing campus that includes both classes and residences in one location. “Hollywood U” is thriving and the energy these motivated learners bring is a boon for all.

  A chance encounter with Paul Haddad resulted in a delightful article about the "Faces of  Hollywood.”  They’re not who you might think and are literally everywhere.  A stroll through Hollywood will never be the same after reading his fascinating discovery.

   A much as we think we know a place, it seems there’s always something to learn and discover.  I often say “A day you don’t learn something is no day at all.”  Like the thousands who are arriving on Hollywood’s doorstep eager to learn and try new experiences, let’s try to remember that the true joy in life is living in the question and wondering “what’s next?”    

Nyla Arslanian.