Equitable Building of Hollywood

The Equitable Building was envisioned as part of The Five-Finger Plan, an infrastructure plan that made use of both public and private funds to "metropolitanize" Hollywood as an urban core.[2] It was designed by architect Alex Curlett[2] and built in two phases. The first phase was undertaken in 1929, which created 27,800 sq ft (2,580 m²) of office space above the ground floor, which housed retail businesses and the Bank of Hollywood.[2][5] The second phase of construction took place in 1931,[2] at which point Myron Selznick, brother of David O. Selznick, moved his agency into the building.[6] Kenneth P. Butler's Butler Health Institute also began a lease around this time, occupying the entire roof and twelfth story with "tiled steam rooms, showers, private toilet facilities, separate treatment rooms, [and] exercising rooms."[2] The headquarters of Marian Nixon's Beauty Arts Institute also occupied space in the building.[2] In April 1931, the Jassby Drug Company entered a long-term lease for space on the building's ground floor.[2]

The first floor at one time housed Bernard Luggage, Oshkosh Luggage, and other businesses.[7] From the 1950s through the 1970s, storefronts and interior public spaces were modernized, including a front entrance redesign, while between 1999 and 2001, exterior and main lobby alterations were remediated and original features were reconstructed.[2]

As of 2004, the building's upper stories have been converted to residential use, with 60 units' worth of condos designed by Kenneth Brown and Pamela Shamshiri.[8][2][9] Circa 2011, the architectural M2A held office space in the lower retail space.[10]