At the Music Box Theater on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday evening, the Hollywood community said good-bye to legendary preservationist Robert Nudelman, who died in May at the age of 52. Nudelman was director of preservation issues at Hollywood Heritage, an advocacy group that seeks to maintain and refurbish old Hollywood. Last night, friends, colleagues, and sometime foes gave him a tribute.
At the time of his death, Nudelman was working on 58 different preservation projects. He was also a man of many interests, according to friends who spoke at the memorial, who loved film and baseball.
A standing room-only crowd attended the service, which also raised money for the newly established "The Robert W. Nudelman Memorial Preservation Fund."
"This is a totally surreal event that he's not here," said friend and Hollywood Heritage President Marc Wanamaker (above), who also co-authored two books with Nudelman. "But he is here."
"I'd talk with (Nudelman) for two hours and then realize he was writing the Hollywood Heritage newsletter," recalled Kip Rudd (above), a senior planner at the Community Redevelopment Agency, who often tangled with Nudelman on development issues in Hollywood but forged a respectful relationship with the preservationist. "I'd go home and over the weekend I'd obsess over the headline he would write." The line received loud, knowing laughs from the audience.
Valerie Yaros (center), another friend who also collected "Nudelisms"--witty rejoinders the preservationist was known for--remembered the time when at a Hollywood Heritage meeting a member didn't care for one of Nudelman's comments. "Someone is trying to be smart," the man said. "I wasn't TRYing," Nudelman quickly shot back.
Todd Fisher (above), son of movie star Debbie Reynolds, talked about Nudelman's passionate work in collecting Hollywood memorabilia for the actress's motion picture museum being built in Tennessee.
"Over the years," Fisher said, "I think he single-handedly supported EBay...Nudelman was as fanatical about saving Hollywood as my mother."
Fisher also said, "My mother has a history of men letting her down. But she once said Robert was one of the few men in her life that never let her down."
Robert Silverstein, who often represented Hollywood Heritage in lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles and others and worked closely with Nudelman, said of the preservationist, "The selflessness was amazing, and we were kindred souls who would work until 3 a.m. everyday."
Silverstein additionally recalled, "A dazzling intellect...a surprising humility. It was fun to work with him."
For one night in Hollywood, Robert Nudelman was finally the headliner on the marquee.
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Comments
There are 4 comments posted for this article.
A thousand thanks, Patrick, for being there last night and writing up a lovely story. And for including one of my favorite recent "Nudel-isms," which Robert uttered at the final Hollywood Heritage board meeting he attended, April 15th, 2008 ("I wasn't TRYing"). He's gone over a month now - incredible...but I miss him even more. I think we all do. And wasn't it a fine turnout? Even one of Robert's former co-workers at the Aquarium Stock Company in the 1980s, John Fish (yes, that's his real name!) traveled by MTA bus from near LAX to be there. An unforgettable evening for an unforgettable man.
Posted on June 13, 2008 11:17 AM by Valerie Yaros
It is hard to comprehend not only the number of buildings Robert W. Nudelman worked to save, but the number of people he helped while doing it. What's more amazing is that in spite of the vast knowledge he had of buildings and history, Robert had a knack of knowing the best people and this event demonstrated that skill. The People's Preservationist will be missed.
Posted on June 13, 2008 11:38 PM by Richard Adkins
Thanks to everyone who organized and participated in the Memorial, and special thanks Patrick for the coverage for those of us who could not be there. Robert's true value will come to be more recognized in the future as we seek to establish connections with our collective past. His work will mean more and more as time passes.
Posted on June 15, 2008 9:02 AM by Betsy A. McLane
Robert's phantom FOOT- and HAND-prints are now nearly everywhere in this City -- a GIANT forecourt. Those of us who knew him and his work (and shared his guardianship efforts), can see those clearly.
And, those who haven't had the pleasure, can feel some of that spirit, nonetheless -- perhaps not realizing HOW the 'cement was applied'.
It is Robert's legacy, and OUR duty (now more than ever), to CONTINUE weaving the 'golden threads' of Hollywood's past into the tapestry of a more-enduring future, so that generations can always see, and point to, the many 'thereS that are still there'.
Lena G.
Posted on June 19, 2008 8:49 PM by Lena Ghafoor