Tavis Smiley Opens Up New Corporate Headquarters In L.A

Jet, August 27, 2001

They are calling it the "T.S. Building" or the "Tav Mahal."

They are talking about Tavis Smiley's new spacious office building located in the heart of the Black community in Los Angeles.

More than 1,400 people, including Hollywood stars, city dignitaries and community folk, attended the grand opening. Among those on hand were Cookie Johnson, wife of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, comedienne Kim E. Whitley, TV star Terri J. Vaughn, photographer Howard Bingham, actor Bernie Casey, J. Anthony Brown, comedian Paul Mooney, actress Beverly Todd, actress Alex Dacher, Aaron McGruder, creator of The Boondocks comic strip, and Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks and his wife, Bobbi Parks.

City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas presented a proclamation from the City Council, and Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn also issued a proclamation.

"It was such a great turnout," Smiley, the popular TV talk show host and radio commentator, told JET. "It was a community celebration as much as it was a celebration for The Smiley Group, Inc. and the Tavis Smiley Foundation. All kinds of people wanted to come, and we didn't want to turn anybody away. Everybody from the community was invited. This is ours; this is for the community. It was an open house for the community. People loved what we did with the building."

The building was an abandoned, blighted eyesore off the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and Vernon Avenue when Smiley purchased it last year.

"I am pleased to have taken a building that was blighted and turn it into an architectural structure our community can be proud of," Smiley noted. "It is my hope that our commitment to stay in the community will demonstrate to other folks the value of economic revitalization as well as show banking institutions that continue to engage in financial redlining and predatory lending the absurdity of their insidious practice."

Smiley's minister, Bishop Noel Jones of the Greater Bethany Community Church/The City of Refuge in Los Angeles, blessed the building. Catering was provided by Yvonne E. White & Co. in L.A. Errol Collier, Smiley's longtime accountant who is also a poet, wrote a poem called "The T.S. Building" that recalled how Smiley saw the building and turned it into a dream corporate headquarters.

The architecturally stunning 6,000-square-foot corporate office building has a completely renovated exterior and interior and includes a 16-person fully equipped conference room, a state-of-the-art radio broadcast studio for Smiley to produce all of his radio shows, and a computer technology center for Crenshaw-area youth. The building also includes a collection of original Black art work from such world renowned artists as Varnette P. Honeywood, Annie Lee, Artis Lane, Synthia Saint James and Tina Allen.