Walk around Hollywood today and you’ll see thriving businesses, from the Hollywood & Highland shopping and entertainment complex to the soon-to-open W Hotel and apartment tower at Hollywood and Vine. But not long ago, the Walk of Fame was more grime and grit than glitz. Leron Gubler, the head of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, remembers that well. When he took over the chamber 17 years ago, Hollywood was in such a rundown state that many of his friends and colleagues were shocked he’d even consider the job. Now, Gubler presides over a neighborhood bustling with tourists and clubgoers, more in keeping with its world-renowned name. Gubler, born and raised in a small town in Central California, graduated from Brigham Young University, started his career at the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, quickly moved to the job of general manager at the San Pedro chamber, and from there jumped to Hollywood. Gubler sat down with the Business Journal recently in his office off Hollywood Boulevard to talk about his rise in the chamber world, how he’s seen Hollywood transform and his favorite Walk of Fame ceremony.

Question: What did Hollywood look like when you took over the chamber?

Answer: Very different. The riots had happened earlier that year, and Hollywood had been hit. There were a lot of empty stores, some boarded-up buildings. The sidewalks were dirty, there were a lot of homeless – you couldn’t go too far without being panhandled. There was an old motel down on Sunset Boulevard where the In-N-Out Burger is now that was one of those hourly motels for those, how should I say, ladies of the night.

And what was the state of the chamber at the time?

It was a challenging era. The chamber was involved in a couple of major lawsuits, they had terminated three executives in three years, and it had just received a lot of adverse publicity. Everybody was talking about how bad Hollywood was and how businesses were leaving in droves.

Given all that, how did people react when you told them you were leaving your job in San Pedro for this one?

The general reaction was, “What are you thinking? Are you out of your mind?” (Laughs.) People thought I was inserting myself into a situation where the ship was sinking.

But you took the job anyway?

I felt that where the biggest problems are is also where the opportunities are. And my experience is that in any job, you don’t want to follow a legend. You’d much rather follow somebody who didn’t succeed because then you can make a real difference. And, no matter what you do, you’ll look pretty good.

What’s been the biggest change in Hollywood since you took over 17 years ago?

Undoubtedly one of them is the change in the attitude and mentality in the Hollywood community. At the time I got here, a lot of people had lost their spirit. There were only a few real diehard boosters left in Hollywood. A lot of residents didn’t even want to say they lived here. But now, people are proud of the community.

What’s a typical workday like for you?

I’m usually in the office by 8 a.m., and I typically have meetings first thing in the morning, maybe with our economic development committee or a committee that’s working on a special project. Then I may get a call from a developer who needs us to write a letter or contact someone, or from a business that’s having trouble with a permit and needs some help at City Hall. Or I may help put together an event, find a keynote speaker or something like that. I usually try to get out of here by 6:30 or 7 p.m., though I’m usually working late or there’s some evening function I have to go to.

What about time with your family?

I try to limit the work I do on my weekends as much as possible, and I spend as much time with my family as I can. The other weekend, for instance, I took the kids to the library, then we went and bought a tree at the nursery, and I helped them plant that. We do a lot together.

Where were you born?

I was born in Central California in a small town called Woodlake, and I grew up in Porterville, about 30 miles southeast of Visalia. It’s farm country. My father was a high school teacher who was head of the local ag program and my mother was a housewife. There were seven kids in the family.

Was it tough growing up in such a crowded household?

No. We were a very close-knit family, we didn’t fight much. And I was the middle child, which is supposed to be the most well-balanced, right?

What was it like to grow up in Central California?

Oh, it’s a totally different world up there than it is here. Porterville (was) a very close-knit community of about 20,000 or 25,000 people at the time. There’s a huge amount of community spirit in small towns like that, a lot of boosterism, and as a kid I was always interested in what was going on. I’d read the paper about what the city was doing in terms of improvements downtown or a new business opening. And every time there was a ribbon-cutting or groundbreaking, my father would always take us to one of those.

What were your favorite things to do?

I read a lot. I was interested in public speaking, and I was on the public speaking club and the debate squad in high school. It was fun, and it was an opportunity to compete against other schools and to learn and develop a skill.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

At that time, the one thing I was kind of interested in was journalism. I worked for the local newspaper when I was 12 as a paperboy. Then they offered me a job at the paper working an address-o-graph machine, which had metal plates with the addresses of all the subscribers who had the paper mailed to them. And I handled the complaints department at night. The publisher of the paper would sometimes come in late at night, and he used to smoke cigars and talk to me about different careers.

Where did you go to college?

Brigham Young University. I majored in communications, and I was the entertainment editor of the student newspaper. After I graduated in 1975, I took a year off to earn a little extra money to go back to BYU to get my master’s in public administration.

Where did you work?

I worked in several different places, mostly industrial-type work. I worked on a farm, at a soda pop factory and a factory that manufactured tennis shorts.

What did you do after your master’s?

I was focused on local government, and I thought I’d get on the staff of city management somewhere in California and maybe try to become a city manager. But I graduated right when Proposition 13 was on the ballot here, so every city I’d apply to or visit would say, “The sky is falling, we’re doomed.” It was rather discouraging.

So what did you do?

Well, while I was at BYU I had had an internship with a gentleman who ran an industrial development promotion association, and when I left I asked if he had any contacts in California. He said, “I used to work at the Chamber of Commerce in Santa Monica, so check in with my old boss.” And when I got to the end of my rope on my job search, I remembered this and called up the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and asked for Sam Porter, the CEO. He remembered my old boss, and he invited me in. He took me to lunch, and the next day called and offered me a job.

What did you do there?

I was an administrative assistant, and I was assigned to staff several committees of the chamber. I also put together the newsletter.

How did you end up at the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce?

I was in Santa Monica for about a year and a half, and there was a job opening in San Pedro’s chamber for a general manager. And Sam Porter encouraged me to apply for it. So I went down there to interview, and afterward they asked me to step out and wait, and then they invited me back in and offered me the job. And I was stunned.

Why?

I didn’t expect them to offer me a job just like that. I told the current president that I needed to think about it, and she looked at me and asked, “Why?” But my boss in Santa Monica encouraged me to take it, so I did. It was a small chamber with only about three people. But it was a lot of fun. I stayed there for 12 years.

What did you accomplish in San Pedro?

We worked very hard to get an office building and hotel built in downtown San Pedro, and we were able to get both of them done. The hotel was a Sheraton, and the office building housed an aerospace firm that was eventually acquired by Northrop. Both those projects were critical to get the downtown area going again.

Why did you decide to take the Hollywood job?

After 12 years in one spot, there’s a burnout factor. You do the same thing over and over again and I needed some fresh challenges and an opportunity to grow. And at the time there weren’t a lot of people in the chamber world who were interested in applying for the job in Hollywood. I wasn’t even sure I wanted it, but they ended up offering me the job. And I accepted. My goal was to last two years, since the other guys before me had only lasted one year.

Was it tough dealing with Hollywood’s reputation at that time?

Trying to sell Hollywood was a challenge. Once, we gave a presentation to a fairly prominent state assemblyman, and when I gave my spiel he just burst out laughing. He said, “Hollywood? Hollywood? There’s no hope for Hollywood!”

Who was the politician?

I don’t think I should say his name.

What’s been your proudest accomplishment?

I would say getting the chamber back as a viable organization that is respected and is a strong advocate for the business community. And I’m proud to see that Hollywood has come back. This is a world-famous community, probably one of the most famous brands in the world, and seeing its state of decline was sad. To have been able to play a part in helping it achieve its potential has been very satisfactory.

What’s the top priority for the Hollywood chamber in 2010?

Our top promotional activity is marketing and planning events for the 50th anniversary of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And we’re trying to help businesses survive this recession.

What do you do for fun?

I jog, and I like to garden. My wife and I like to travel; we’ve taken some nice trips to Italy and France, and we’ve done a lot of travel around California in particular. Though my wife teases me when we go on trips, telling me, “All you do is look at these cities and see what they’re doing in terms of redevelopment.”

Do you really do that?

There are things that we can always learn from other cities. But one thing I’ve also learned is that you aren’t going to succeed in revitalization if you just copy another community’s success. You have to see what the strengths are of your community and build on those. We got a call once from Niagara Falls in Ontario and they said they wanted to re-create Hollywood Boulevard. And I said, “Why in the heck would you want to recreate Hollywood Boulevard in Niagara Falls? You have Niagara Falls!”

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in business?

Well, one thing I’d say is not to move around too quickly. I’ve seen a lot of young people who are very ambitious, they want to jump to the next job, and keep promoting themselves. And I’ve found that people who move too quickly generally jump right out of the

profession that they’re in. They need to stay and make their mark and prove that they can do it.

You attend the Walk of Fame ceremonies – what’s been your favorite one?

There’s been a lot that have been memorable: The “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” crowd, Raquel Welch, Christopher Reeves. I always had a crush on Jane Seymour, so when we had her ceremony someone told her this and she kissed me on the cheek. That was fun.

Leron Gubler

TITLE: Chief executive and president

ORGANIZATION: Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

BORN: 1951; Woodlake

EDUCATION: B.A., communications; M.P.A., both at Brigham Young University

CAREER TURNING POINT: 1992, the year he was hired as chief executive of the

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE: Sam Porter, former CEO of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and his first boss out of college; Johnny Grant, the late honorary mayor of Hollywood

PERSONAL: Lives in La Crescenta with his wife, Audrey, and two children, Lauren, 5, and Seth, 3

ACTIVITIES: Gardening, jogging, hiking, reading