Los Angeles popped into the international spotlight last week because of the slick gala service for Michael Jackson. Celebrities flocked to Staples Center. Fans flew in from overseas. The city demonstrated that it is capable of handling the Big Event.
Indeed, Los Angeles was at the center of the entertainment world again.
As one observer was quoted as saying, the Jackson memorial event branded Los Angeles in the eyes of the world as the capital of pop music, celebrity and lunacy.
And that was striking because, unfortunately, such moments are becoming rare here. The Jackson memorial seemed almost an anachronism, a throwback to the times when the celebrity industry thrived in Los Angeles.
Movies, commercials and videos are slowly bleeding from Los Angeles, going to such places as Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico wherever states give taxpayers’ money to producers. Technology is nudging entertainment’s locus out of Hollywood and into cyberspace. Stars seem to hang out all across the globe; Brad and Angelina live in New Orleans and Long Island, and maybe Europe this month, I can’t keep up. Los Angeles now is just one home, not the home, to the stars.
When Jackson died, the surprise for me was less in the death itself (the arc of his life seemed destined for an early end) but in the fact that he was living, albeit temporarily, in Holmby Hills. Suddenly, other local spots kept popping up in the national news: UCLA Medical Center, Staples Center, Encino, Forest Lawn. And Los Angeles was center stage, branded or rebranded as the home of celebrity glitz.
In a way, the events of the last couple of weeks seemed to suggest that sure, you can relax in isolated splendor for a few years up in the hills north of Santa Barbara or you can seek temporary refuge in Dubai, but you must return to Los Angeles eventually to work and, in Jackson’s case, to get a proper glam-heavy send-off.
The Jackson event also marked the emergence of AEG. I had just stopped thinking of it as a manager of a zillion arenas and small sports teams and started thinking of it as L.A. Live’s developer of outsized dreams. Now, I’ve got to start thinking of AEG as Hollywood power player, too. After all, it appears to have managed what could have been a memorable mess into a slick, pop-music eulogy for Jackson that played well on an international stage.
All of that is good for Los Angeles. But, alas, the forces that are pushing the entertainment industry out of Los Angeles are still with us. Producers will seek financial breaks and move their work elsewhere. Stars and moguls will live in other places, thanks to technology and easier travel. The diaspora will continue.
Of course, the strongest force working against the old Los Angeles-centric entertainment industry is technology. Hollywood’s greatest strength has always been producing entertainment, or what’s now called content. But content is less valuable, thanks partly to YouTube and other user-generated outlets. Hollywood’s second-greatest strength has been the means of distribution, such as movie theaters and DVDs. But distribution channels have been moving to the Internet.
The Jackson event was a nice reminder that Los Angeles is still a home for entertainers. It’s still a place where a big event can be staged.
But the event was just that, one event. It was not the beginning of a turnaround. L.A.’s grip on the entertainment industry seems destined to weaken further.
Still, it was a gala service. And a nice reminder.
Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at
[email protected].
