Hating downtown Los Angeles isn‘t new. My old friend Father Malcolm Boyd — who served in Hollywood’s bureaucracy before his ordination — remembers people hating it nearly 50 years ago, at least in the screen community.Back then, you had to go downtown for your income-tax refund. As the story goes, one of the sexiest stars of the era refused to: For her, she told reporters, a lousy $7,200 (easily $70,000 in today‘s money) wasn’t worth going to Civic Center.Maybe we live in times of diminished principles. But I doubt that even Madonna or Julia Roberts would turn her back on that much money out of pure snobbery (and just think of the publicity opportunity!). As to whether either star would remain downtown all day for 70 grand — well, maybe on a location shoot. It‘s still hard to find anyone who’ll profess affection for our regional center.
Source: Doing the Medici | L.A. Weekly