“We’re really trying to choose people from the broadest range as possible. You can be a really creative auditor. When a scriptwriter is around someone developing micro-cameras and campaigning for human rights in Syria, then really interesting stuff happens,” notes Aldenton, who emphasizes putting established entities alongside startups. For companies and individuals monthly fees start at $250, which provides access to collaborative workspaces. Companies can pay $675 or more per person for access to private studio space.
Anchoring the campus is the newly-restored 1964 building by iconic L.A. architect Paul Revere Williams, who built homes for stars like Lucille Ball, Barbara Stanwyck and Lon Chaney, as well as the Ambassador Hotel, famous for the Coconut Grove and the site of RFK’s assassination.
A late career Colonial Revival-style structure, Williams’ building was originally the headquarters for the Assistance League of Southern California, dedicated to solving community problems at the local level. In its new iteration it will house a corner bookstore and a restaurant by Croft Alley's Phuong Tran (both open to the public). The rest of the area will be dedicated to 37 workspaces, a recording studio and an auditorium large enough to seat 200.
“Having a chance to celebrate him as an architect is more of what that’s about,” Aldenton says of the restored and reactivated building by Williams. “We’re really going to make this the piazza of the development. It’s open to the public. We’ve tried to find a way to get the most out of the building. If you can find a way to make it active for eighteen or twenty hours a day, it’s a great thing. The idea is that we can activate this, do yoga early in the morning or run a cultural program.”
