Hundreds of volunteers recently gathered in a soundstage at The Lot at Formosa studio campus in West Hollywood, California, but they weren't acting. Instead, they prepared 2,000 emergency family hygiene kits that were distributed by Direct Relief as part of ongoing efforts to support victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
The kits were distributed to some of the thousands of residents displaced from their homes by the Eaton and Palisades fires that torched more than 11,000 structures and caused about $30 billion of damage in Los Angeles in January. CIM Group, the global development and investment firm that owns The Lot at Formosa, hosted the relief event.
"We all know someone whose life was impacted by the wildfires," said Markley Lumpkins, general manager of The Lot at Formosa and regional vice president of property management at CIM Group, in an email to CoStar News. "Relief comes through action, and it was an honor to provide this support to the community knowing that every effort, no matter how small, could make a difference."
Dotdash Meredith, publisher of People, Entertainment Weekly and InStyle, and cosmetics brand Neutrogena organized the event and collected donated items for the hygiene kits such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, band-aids, hair brushes and combs, disposable razors, washcloths, and more. Some 120 staffers gathered at the soundstage where HBO shows "Euphoria" and "The Sympathizer" were filmed, and spent four hours putting the kits together.
CIM Group acquired The Lot at Formosa in 2007, and has since modernized and expanded the property into a 200,000-square-foot hub including seven soundstages, creative offices and parking lots. The Lot at Formosa has housed productions ranging from Hollywood classics "Some Like It Hot" and "West Side Story" to newer hit streaming shows, including "Big Little Lies."