Belmont Village of Hollywood Celebrated its Fifth Anniversary With Celebrity Auction

Belmont Village Senior Living of Hollywood celebrated its fifth anniversary with a community party and celebrity handbag and one-of-a-kind auction to benefit the Hollywood Beautification Team (HBT). More than one hundred-fifty friends and neighbors mixed and mingled at the affair located adjacent to the Hollywood Bowl.

“It doesn’t seem as if five years have passed since this building opened,” said John Peters, Belmont Hollywood’s community manager. “Being a part of the Hollywood landscape and the community is important to us, so we naturally thought to celebrate by giving back to Hollywood. HBT seemed like the perfect fit—their projects make this a better place for all of us. We are also very pleased that Hollywood’s Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant attended—he made our opening and our fifth anniversary party.”

Los Angeles Councilmember Tom LaBonge and Belmont CEO Patricia Will co-hosted the event along with HBT executive director Sharyn Romano. Actor Victor Garber and actress Glynis Johns attended the event.

The highlight of the evening was the live auction led by celebrity magician and auctioneer Rob Zabrecky who was assisted by 2007 Miss California USA Megan Tandy. Some of the most popular items in the auction were several haute couture handbags from Sharon Osbourne, a reversible handbag from Eva Mendes and handbags from television star Leeza Gibbons, silver screen actresses Glynis Johns and Jean Simmons, screenwriter Diane Drake, NBC-4 news anchor Colleen Williams and actress Shiva Rose. A wool coat worn by Telly Savalas during the taping of the Kojak TV series and a golf club from the actor along with two dresses from designer Rachel Palley were also auctioned.

Belmont Village also donated a bag on behalf of California Senator Barbara Boxer, who autographed the bag along with a copy of her book. Local businesses such as The Roosevelt Hotel, The Magic Castle, Yamashiro Cal-Asian Restaurant and Intuition boutique also donated auction items. Some of the favorite silent auction items included, two watercolor paintings by Frances Fisher, autographed ball caps and tee shirts from Jay Leno, Joan Collins’ new book, The Art of Living Well, Cheri Oteri’s DVD The Best of Cheri Oteri from Sat. Night Live and George Winston’s Autumn CD.

Each year the non-profit environmental organization HBT plants 2,000 trees, abates over two million square feet of graffiti, and removes more than 30 tons of trash from city streets throughout Los Angeles. Additionally, they have adopted over 110 public schools, hired 2,500 youth and implemented 250 mural walls. They give art and environmental instruction and have mentored more than 27,000 children in interactive art, tree planting and cleaning projects at their schools.

Belmont Village Senior Living, located at 2051 N. Highland Avenue, is an upbeat and vibrant community where seniors receive personal support, meals, housekeeping, transportation services and programs for individual interests. The Belmont Village community provides a hallmark program for residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. For more information on Belmont Village visit www.belmontvillage.com.