On my way to work in Hollywoood today, aboard the Red Line, I was reading in the Wall Street Journal about David Geffen.

The WSJ says that the 63-year-old Mr. Geffen “became a billionaire through the music industry, with record labels that backed acts from the Eagles to Guns n’ Roses.” He found and later sold Dreamworks and has “made a fortune in stocks, property and art”. His collection is estimated at $2 billion dollars. He recently sold $425 million dollars worth of paintings.

In regards to his eventual exit from the entertainment industry: “I don’t want to keep solving the same problems”. He plans to acquire the Los Angeles Times in hopes of turning it into a great paper.

*******************************************

About three years ago, I worked for another Hollywood TV production company on an AMC documentary called “Women on Top” about powerful female filmmakers. Paula Wagner was one of those profiled, and I remember her coming into our offices on Hollywood and Cherokee, in a lovely vintage 1930 building, to review and clean-up her edited interview. She had glistening white teeth, and exceptionally smooth, well cut and shiny hair. When she looked at you it was a money shot.

She stared out the office window at the vast expanse of parking lots and old buildings that comprise the real Hollywood. “This is so special,” she said, as if she had just arrived in a place that she had never heard or seen before.