Woman's Club of Hollywood seeks public's help amid foreclosure threat

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Woman's Club of Hollywood, a historic organization founded more than 120 years ago, is asking the public for help as it faces foreclosure and the potential loss of its longtime landmark property.

The organization is struggling under mounting debt and fears the national historic landmark could be demolished if it cannot secure financial support.

Founded by 14 women in 1905 with a shared interest in music, art and community service, the organization played a role in building the Hollywood Bowl and the first library in Hollywood.

"We have the old schoolhouse where Jean Harlow went to school. Douglas Fairbanks, Carole Lombard went to school there," said Woman's Club of Hollywood president Rosemary Lord, who knows the group's legacy inside and out.

Costume designer Edith Head, the most decorated woman in Academy Awards history, once taught there.

Today, the organization hosts weddings, concerts, classes and other events. However, the club is also facing a dire financial challenge.

"They are the heart of Hollywood because they really care, and they really want to give back to their community, and we need that energy to survive," said Kim Kelly, director of rehabbing for the Woman's Club of Hollywood.

Previous club leaders took out a $700,000 loan that proved to be fraudulent. Legal bills, interest ballooning and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic buried the club deeper in debt.

Lord said the situation has become urgent.

"We have lenders nipping at our heels, and we're facing foreclosure now. In which case, this will become either a parking lot or a block of condos, so we really need help," she said.

In an effort to raise funds, the club has launched a GoFundMe campaign as it works to meet an August deadline and keep the property from being lost.

"It's literally a perfect venue. It has a great reception room. It has an outdoor space that we're cultivating right now and a large ballroom and a commercial kitchen," Kelly said.

As fundraising efforts continue, club leaders say preserving the club is about protecting the work and vision of the women who founded it more than a century ago.

"We have to save it for them... I mean they've given us this amazing legacy," Lord said.