Los Angeles, California

Ovation Hollywood

A Century of Transformation at the Heart of Hollywood

Project type

Environmental Graphic Design Wayfinding Signage Design

Project sector

Mixed-Use Design Retail Environments & Graphic Design

Project info

Client DJM Capital Partners Inc

Client GAW Capital Partners

Architect Gensler

Landscape OJB Landscape Architecture

Sign Painter Look Signs

Other Geoff McFetridge

Ovation Hollywood takes center stage through a $100 million reimagining

Where the original Hollywood Hotel once welcomed movie stars during cinema's golden age, a new chapter is unfolding at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland. What was once known as Hollywood & Highland—a retail destination that had grown dated with its controversial Babylonian archways and oversized elephant statues—has been transformed into Ovation Hollywood through a $100 million reimagining. Led by DJM Capital and GAW Capital, this metamorphosis demolished the past's heavy-handed theatrics and replaced them with something both timeless and welcoming: a revitalized open courtyard, crisp white facades, and murals by artist Geoff McFetridge that celebrate the diversity and optimism of Los Angeles itself. The stage was being reset for everyone, not just tourists seeking Hollywood's glitter, but for locals who deserved their own neighborhood gathering place.

Navigating the labyrinth with clarity

RSM Design approached the 387,000-square-foot complex with an understanding that great wayfinding is invisible until you need it. Working alongside Gensler, OJB Landscape Architecture, and branding agency Ludlow Kingsley, the team created a sophisticated navigation language rooted in black-and-white minimalism, timeless typography, and strategic lighting that transforms as day turns to night. The system needed to guide up to 25 million annual visitors through a complex network of spaces—from the parking garage to the courtyard, past the TCL Chinese Theatre, through the Dolby Theatre where the Academy Awards unfold each year, and along the Hollywood Walk of Fame with views stretching toward the Hollywood sign. Every directional sign, every illuminated star pattern etched into wayfinding blades, and every bold level number painted on garage corners was positioned at critical decision points to make the journey smooth, seamless, and quietly elegant.

Where everyone deserves a standing ovation

The placemaking graphics breathe celebration into every corner, honoring the brand principle at Ovation's heart: that culture, diversity, and the accomplishments of the Los Angeles community deserve recognition. Bronze letters spelling "We are all stars" are inlaid on viewing deck steps. Colorful murals animate hallways and courtyards. The oversized "OH!" logo invites visitors to pause, photograph, and share in the joyful spirit of a place where the future of Hollywood is being written. This isn't a venue trapped in nostalgia or drowning in excess; it's a contemporary mixed-use destination that bridges entertainment, dining, retail, and creative office space with an authenticity that feels distinctly, inclusively Hollywood. Here, the spotlight doesn't belong to just one star—it belongs to everyone who walks through, and the design ensures that every visitor finds their way to their moment in the glow.

Archival black and white aerial photograph of the historic Hollywood Hotel, a grand Victorian-era landmark at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, featuring a distinctive conical turret roof, wraparound verandas, striped awnings, Hollywood Hotel Florist signage, Amor Arms building in background, tall California fan palms, period 1930s automobiles, and elegantly dressed pedestrians on the sidewalk, capturing early Hollywood California history — Image via Hollywoodpartnership.com (Photo courtesy Marc Wannamaker/Bison Archives)

A Hollywood Icon through the years

In the 1910s, when filmmakers first discovered Los Angeles' year-round sunshine, they flocked to a single address: the Hollywood Hotel. This legendary establishment became the beating heart of early cinema, hosting the industry's brightest names until its decline in the late 1940s. The land evolved through decades of reinvention—from hotel to sprawling commercial complex—until 2001's Hollywood & Highland emerged as a tourist magnet that ultimately lost its luster. Today's vision breaks from that cycle of boom and decline, positioning Ovation Hollywood as a sustainable gathering place where contemporary design, cultural authenticity, and community needs converge.