Community members and civic leaders gathered on June 11 to celebrate the opening of The Goldrich Cultural Center, an expansion of the Holocaust Museum LA in Pan Pacific Park and a cultural center for Jewish history and performing arts.
Set to officially open its doors in August, the center will have more than 50,000 square feet of interior space and will be able to host 500,000 visitors annually. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and 24th State Senate District candidate Brian Goldsmith attended the opening ceremony.
The Goldrich Cultural Center will feature the new S. Mark Taper Theater, a reflection garden, a new pavilion, a virtual survivor experience and “GRoW @ Annenberg Rooftop Garden,” offering panoramic views of the Hollywood Hills. The center will host performing arts programming throughout the year, feature a 60-seat theater for interactive dialogue with a virtual survivor using holographic technology, and include a new pavilion featuring an authentic railway car used by the Nazis to transport Jews and other prisoners during the Holocaust.
The expansion was designed by Hagy Belzberg, principal of the architectural firm Belzberg Architects and a Beverly Hills High School alumnus.
CEO Beth Kean said the center’s expansion comes at a vital moment when antisemitism and bigotry are on the rise.
“None of this happens without extraordinary generosity,” she said. “Together this community raised $63 million for our expansion and the future of our institution. Your generosity has created opportunities for millions of future visitors, students and families who will walk through these doors and leave transformed. What makes that achievement truly powerful is when it happened. At a time when antisemitism, hatred and division continue to challenge our society, this community responded by doubling down. You all leaned in. You said this work matters, and we’re going to make sure it reaches and impacts further than ever before.”
Bass marked the day as a significant moment in expanding the legacy of Jewish history in Los Angeles.
“We celebrate today, but we celebrate in the context of the history that this museum symbolizes, and how important it is for all of Los Angeles to come through here and be anchored in a history that absolutely under no circumstances should ever, ever happen again, and that’s so important in the environment we’re in right now,” she said. “The Goldrich campus will expand that mission, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and providing space for learning, reflection and dialogue. It will be a landmark for Los Angeles that brings communities together and strengthens understanding.”
The center is named after Jona Goldrich, a Holocaust survivor from Poland who went on to build a real estate empire in Los Angeles and Marina del Rey and was a significant supporter of the Holocaust Museum LA. His daughters, Melinda Goldrich and Andrea Goldrich Cayton, spoke about their father’s legacy during the ceremony.
“Our father Jona would be very proud to see his vision come to reality, beginning with the pillars, then the original museum, which opened in 2010 and expanded into what you will see here today as a memory of all survivors and the history of the Holocaust, as well as a home for the future education of the Holocaust, and here it is in the center of the city, bringing the story of survivors into the light,” they said. “Our dad said nearly on a daily basis that no one should ever forget the greatest tragedy and crime in the history of the world, that there should be a Holocaust museum on every corner.”
Susanne Reyto, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Hungary in 1944, said that the opening of the center will allow the stories of survivors to reach further than ever before.
“The circumstances of my birth could not have been more uncertain, but I know my parents never regretted for a moment having a child and believing in the Jewish tradition of choosing life, even in the darkest moments. I survived Nazi-occupied Hungary because of the courage and help of others,” she said. “This museum was the first place where I realized my story had purpose and certainly relevance. I never imagined we would one day have such a permanent home like this in Pan Pacific Park, and as I look out and see the new Goldrich Cultural Center, I’m excited and hopeful for the potential to make an impact in the community for generations to come.”
The Goldrich Cultural Center is located at the Holocaust Museum LA in Pan Pacific Park and is scheduled to open in August.
