Jack Singer

In May, 2017, a Los Angeles based real estate company, Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., purchased Hollywood Center Studios from the Singer family for $200 million, then immediately renamed the property as the "Sunset Las Palmas Studios"

Jack Singer (1917 – February 2, 2013) was a Canadian real estate developer, financier, and philanthropist. Although he owned numerous properties across Canada and the USA, he is most famous for his acquisition of Zoetrope Studio in Hollywood, once the primary film property of director, Francis Ford Coppola. Furthermore, the impressive and world-class Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary is named after him.

Over the years, the Singers pumped more than $20 million into various upgrades at the Hollywood Center Studios: the lot's control rooms, camera packages and infrastructure were upgraded to HDTV. This was done to support numerous television clients. Three cvc stages were added and a virtual set stage was also built to provide a cost-effective way to produce high-quality content for broadcast and the web. Additionally, production office space more than doubled, providing homes for dozens of independent companies, representing every niche in the industry. Finally, the studio installed a solar panel, the largest of its kind in Hollywood that provides renewable, environmentally-friendly power to the entire lot. As such, it was a source of tremendous pride when, in 2011, the Los Angeles City Council, via Councilman Tom LaBonge, issued a proclamation thanking Singer for his inspiration in leading the revitalization of the District of Hollywood and his dedication to the film industry. The LA City Council underscored one particular point: "Jack Singer came for an autograph and ended up saving the community."

In 1997, Singer launched an unsuccessful $70 million bid for the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball team.

Named after Jack Singer (thanks to a $1.5M contribution from his sons, Alan Singer and the late Stephen Singer), the concert hall opened its doors in 1985. The Jack Singer Concert Hall is located at the Arts Commons, a performing arts complex occupying 10 acres (4.5 hectares) in downtown Calgary. The Jack Singer Concert Hall is described as one of the most beautiful and acoustically acclaimed venues in North America. Artec consultants designed the adjustable acoustics system that includes a canopy, clad in laminated spruce wood. Suspended high above the stage and weighing 185,000-pounds (90-tons), this massive acoustical reflector can be raised or lowered to adjust the acoustical environment to meet the needs of the broad spectrum of music performed in the hall. Another prominent feature is the Carthy Organ. As one of Canada’s largest pipe organs, the Carthy Organ is hand-carved from solid oak and contains more than 1600 polished alloy and wood pipes. The acquisition of the organ was made possible through the Carthy Foundation, thanks to a $750,000 donation from the Mannix Family. With 2021 seats, the Jack Singer Concert Hall is home to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, BD&P World Music, and TD Jazz. The hall also welcomes a spectrum of events each season from TED (conference) talks and National Geographic speakers to wedding dinners on the stage and rock stars on tour.

In 1981, Jack Singer was golfing in Palm Springs when he was asked if he was interested in touring Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio, where the director of The Godfather films was shooting, "One From The Heart." At that time, Coppola’s studio was located in Hollywood. Singer loved movies, so he tagged along looking for an autograph, not a deal. But he met the director, the pair hit it off, and soon Singer injected $3-million into the film. However, the film was an expensive box-office flop that pushed Coppola into receivership. In 1984, the Singer family bid $12.3-million at auction for the studio and, since they were the only bidders, they won, subsequently renaming it, the Hollywood Center Studios. Several lawsuits followed, along with the inevitable falling-out with Coppola, who, according to the Los Angeles Times, accused Singer of "using the loan as a wedge to take away his studio." Coppola privately believed the Singer family was trying to ruin him; however, eventually, the matter was settled out of court.

Singer co-owned a thoroughbred racehorse named Tyhawk. In 1959, Tyhawk set a world record over six-and-a-half furlongs at one minute 14.4 seconds at Turf Paradise Race Course in Phoenix. In 1960, Tyhawk won the Highlander Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, matching a course record of 1 minute 10.2 seconds over six furlongs on dirt. Tyhawk was inducted later into the British Columbia Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and has been considered "possibly the top BC sprinter of all time."

In 1944, Singer married Shirley Cohen. At the urging of a close friend who was smitten with Cohen, Singer reluctantly agreed to date her, fully intending to hand off Cohen to his buddy. However, upon their first meeting, Singer fell madly in love and, instead of a matchmaker, he became a groom. It would not be long before the Singers were a fashionable power couple in Calgary social circles and, until her death in 2001, their impact upon the city’s culture was most significant.

Jack Singer was born in Calgary in 1917, one of four siblings: Hymie, Diane (Aceman), and Rosalie (Franks). Singer and his late wife, Shirley (née Cohen), had two sons, Alan Singer and the late Stephen Singer, plus five grandchildren: JL, Leslie, Adam, Quinn, and Carly.

His mother, Bella Singer, was born in 1880 in Radom, Poland, the eighth of eleven children. In 1905 she married Abraham Singer and the couple soon left to seek a better life in Canada. Bella first worked as a housekeeper at the Palliser Hotel, and then ran rooming houses during the early years, while Abraham began a number of successful business ventures. He was a scrap dealer, a second-hand store operator, a Banff hotelier, and later owned a number of farming and commercial realty operations. Singer’s immigrant parents used their savings to help hundreds of Jews escape persecution before and during the Second World War, and in doing so, instilled in their son an entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit. The Singers required each person they brought over to bring somebody else, ready to work. Perhaps 1,600 Canadians now count themselves descended from Bella’s "pyramid scheme."