Just two weeks shy of 47 years later, I took my final files home from Century City after first having arrived as a brand spanking new employee of Kenneth Leventhal & Company. It was Monday, August 13, 1973, and I had just finished taking the bar examination after graduating from UCLA Law School in June. I had chosen Kenneth Leventhal & Company over the major CPA firms known back then as the Big 8, since redesignated as the Big 4 after mergers and the Arthur Anderson debacle, because the Kenneth Leventhal recruiter, Earl Streeter, had described the Kenneth Leventhal tax practice as more akin to a law firm or a corporate tax department. As it turns out, Streeter's statement wasn't entirely true. In fact it was probably hardly true at all. But as things turned out, that was OK. That first day was an extraordinary day, because it rained. Not only does it never rain in Southern California, but in particular it never rains here in mid-August. My mom told me that according to the Chinese, the rain on my first day of work was a good omen. And she was right.
The Kenneth Leventhal & Company office was at 1800 Avenue of the Stars, part of the first set of identical buildings built in Century City on the southwest and southeast corners of Avenue of the Stars and Santa Monica Blvd. As I sat in the waiting room when I arrived on my first day of work, I was surprised to see two long haired accountants walking in the corridor behind the reception area. (I believed they turned out to be Bill Sparks and David Buelow.) Back then accountants were as conservative as bankers and lawyers as far as attire and appearance were concerned. I remember hearing the story of how a newly hired Big 8 accountant began work on his first engagement, and the first written review comment he received on his first write-up was "Get a haircut." Our building, 1800, was also called "Gateway East", with the since demolished 1801 building on the other side of Avenue of the Stars, Gateway West. I developed my routine of walking to lunch every day on the bridge that spanned Avenue of the Stars to the Century City Shopping Center, where I would usually eat at Clifton's Cafeteria.
Meanwhile on the next block south between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East, construction was beginning on the massive triangular Twin Towers. Kenneth Leventhal & Company signed a lease to move to the 17th Floor of the 2049 building, with the actual move orchestrated over Labor Day 1975 by Jack Rodman. That space would be my home for the next 29 years, enduring numerous remodels to the buildings and surroundings. First was the enclosing of the previously open escalator from the garage into the building, and movie buffs may remember the fight scene between Shirley McLaine and Anne Bancroft in "The Turning Point" which was at the time an outdoor scene at the top of the escalator. Later there were things like the building of ramps and glass elevator in the Plaza area, remodels to the interior lobby, expansion of the KL space to the 16th and 23rd floors, and the destruction of the ramps and glass elevator, among other changes. And when Kenneth Leventhal & Company merged with Ernst & Young, they gave up their existing space near the shopping center to join us in the Twin Towers.
While the Century City Twin Towers have been a signature, prestigious office location for as long as most people could remember, it wasn't always that way. When we moved into the Twin Towers in 1975 they were basically empty. I don't think occupancy was even 25 percent and it was really strange to be working in what was essentially a ghost town, which made my last visit to the Twin Towers as a tenant ironic since it was equally devoid of people. Apparently, to entice KL to lease space in the Twin Towers, part of the deal left the 16th floor vacant, with KL having the option to lease that space in the future. Eventually we did expand to the 16th floor, but for a few years I found the vacant 16th floor space a welcome hideout where I could get work done and avoid ringing telephones and intercom calls.
The Kenneth Leventhal & Company office was at 1800 Avenue of the Stars, part of the first set of identical buildings built in Century City on the southwest and southeast corners of Avenue of the Stars and Santa Monica Blvd. As I sat in the waiting room when I arrived on my first day of work, I was surprised to see two long haired accountants walking in the corridor behind the reception area. (I believed they turned out to be Bill Sparks and David Buelow.) Back then accountants were as conservative as bankers and lawyers as far as attire and appearance were concerned. I remember hearing the story of how a newly hired Big 8 accountant began work on his first engagement, and the first written review comment he received on his first write-up was "Get a haircut." Our building, 1800, was also called "Gateway East", with the since demolished 1801 building on the other side of Avenue of the Stars, Gateway West. I developed my routine of walking to lunch every day on the bridge that spanned Avenue of the Stars to the Century City Shopping Center, where I would usually eat at Clifton's Cafeteria.
Meanwhile on the next block south between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East, construction was beginning on the massive triangular Twin Towers. Kenneth Leventhal & Company signed a lease to move to the 17th Floor of the 2049 building, with the actual move orchestrated over Labor Day 1975 by Jack Rodman. That space would be my home for the next 29 years, enduring numerous remodels to the buildings and surroundings. First was the enclosing of the previously open escalator from the garage into the building, and movie buffs may remember the fight scene between Shirley McLaine and Anne Bancroft in "The Turning Point" which was at the time an outdoor scene at the top of the escalator. Later there were things like the building of ramps and glass elevator in the Plaza area, remodels to the interior lobby, expansion of the KL space to the 16th and 23rd floors, and the destruction of the ramps and glass elevator, among other changes. And when Kenneth Leventhal & Company merged with Ernst & Young, they gave up their existing space near the shopping center to join us in the Twin Towers.
While the Century City Twin Towers have been a signature, prestigious office location for as long as most people could remember, it wasn't always that way. When we moved into the Twin Towers in 1975 they were basically empty. I don't think occupancy was even 25 percent and it was really strange to be working in what was essentially a ghost town, which made my last visit to the Twin Towers as a tenant ironic since it was equally devoid of people. Apparently, to entice KL to lease space in the Twin Towers, part of the deal left the 16th floor vacant, with KL having the option to lease that space in the future. Eventually we did expand to the 16th floor, but for a few years I found the vacant 16th floor space a welcome hideout where I could get work done and avoid ringing telephones and intercom calls.
My Century City residency survived the Ernst & Young merger for nine years, until they closed the Century City office and moved all of us to what became Ernst & Young Plaza at 7th and Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. But the Century City connection wasn't entirely closed as Ernst & Young failed to persuade Stan Ross and Kenneth Leventhal to join the downtown move, even though there was an office with Stan's name on the door downtown, though he may have never set foot in it. Since under the terms of the merger Messrs. Leventhal and Ross were entitled to Ernst & Young provided office space of their own choosing, they first continued to occupy the space on the 17th floor of the 2049 building until smaller quarters were rented on the 15th floor of the 2029 building. And having the opportunity to visit that space from time to time, I was not completely separated from Century City.
After about five years, Ernst & Young sort of switched gears and opened up a "drop in" office in Century City for use by employees who needed temporary space in the West LA area. This space was adjacent to, but not connected to the Leventhal/Ross offices in the 2029 building. I made frequent use of this space, particularly during the chaotic period when the downtown office was being remodeled and I was temporarily placed in what I characterized as a broom closet. However, hardly anybody else utilized the Century City drop in space because of one critical error. Nobody thought about taking parking availability into account (or changing firm policy to permit reimbursement of office parking). So unless someone was so familiar with the area to know where free parking was available like I was, or the other guy in the office who lived three blocks away, the Century City drop in office was hardly used by anyone else except for the occasional user who could charge the parking to a client.
Not surprisingly then, the Century City drop-in office lease was not renewed after its four or five year term. By that time, I was shuttling enough between the Leventhal/Ross space and the drop-in space, such that I was graciously allowed by Stan Ross to move into his space when the drop-in space closed down. Now I did a previous posting on this blog a year and a half ago that an era had ended with the closure of the Ernst & Young funded Leventhal/Ross office. But that article also noted that there was last remaining remnant of the KL connection with the Stan Ross Family office on the 28th floor of the 2029 building, manned by two KL alums. And even though I had retired by that time, I still kept some of my old files there and would occasionally visit the premises. However with office availability iffy during the pandemic, it was time for me to take my files and bid goodbye to the offices of Century City today.
