Hollywood now comes with a big W. I don’t mean HollyWood but the new W Hotel and Residences that opened last Friday on the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

The W Hotel is a mixed-use development with hotel suites and apartment for a total of 143 residences, restaurants, clubs, shops, and a subway station right underneath it. The W Hotel also has energy efficient rooms and is expected to draw more tourists to Hollywood.

The W Hotel presents $350 million in investment, which is expected by the city government to be pumped right back to the economy. In terms of employment this will be true since it will bring about 500 jobs, good news with the still struggling economy. Aside from the jobs they are hoping that the development will end up revitalizing the whole area surrounding the hotel. According to Gatehouse Capital CEO Marty Collins, “It creates and really anchors a vision that allows the whole area to expand and really in some ways become back to what it once was before, that whole renaissance of Hollywood.”

However, some are already calling the hotel “ungainly”. As Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic of LA Times, said, “The rather ungainly result… is not what you’d call an elegant addition to the rapidly expanding Hollywood skyline,” but even he has to agree that how this “urban-experiment” will end is still a puzzle that will only be solved by time. For now we can be sure that this curiosity will be the talk of Hollywood; as to what people will be saying, we can only wait and see.

Many negative things have been said about Hollywood and its inhabitants but one thing is for sure: they have always been ready to lend a helping hand whenever it is needed. The most recent catastrophe to have caught the attention of the international community was the earthquake that hit Haiti. Keeping true to form, Hollywood has not been left behind in the relief efforts.

Tomorrow, a prominent band will be playing to benefit the people of Haiti. Radiohead is scheduled to hold a concert at the Henry Fonda Theatre. It is in fact a last minute show that has been organized to add to the already immense support being poured on the country. An interesting twist to the concert is that tickets are only being sold through bidding. The bidding started on Thursday and will end today at 11 AM – that gives you less than a day to get your hands on some tickets.

Here is the announcement of the band from their web site:

Radiohead for Haiti
We’re doing a show this Sunday (24th January) to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti. The venue is The Music Box Theatre at The Fonda in Los Angeles, doors at 7pm. All proceeds are going to the Oxfam Haiti relief fund. We’re trying to raise as much money as possible, so tickets will be sold by auction at this site from 8pm tonight until 11am Saturday (PST):

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09004434FC1C86AC

We’re in the middle of recording at the moment, so you’ll be catching us on the fly…. but if you’re up for it, then we are too.

See you then
x

Radiohead fans: here is your chance to spend a night with your favorite band in a relatively small setting. While you’re at it, you will be helping those who need it the most! It’s a win-win situation.