Hundreds gathered in a long white tent on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gordon Street in Hollywood Thursday for the official groundbreaking of Emerson College’s Los Angeles campus.

Speakers at the event:

Actor and author Henry Winkler, who graduated in 1967.

President M. Lee Pelton.

Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio R. Villaraigosa .

City Councilman Eric Garcetti.

Jeff Greenhawt, a 1968 graduate who chairs the Board of Trustees.

Lucia Cottone, a 1992 graduate, Sony Pictures Television executive, and Emerson L.A. Advisory Group member.

Thom Mayne, the project’s acclaimed designer from Morphosis Architects.

Also seated on the platform: 

Former President Jacqueline Liebergott, who initiated the project about 10 years ago.

Rob Silverman of Silverman Associates, who managed the construction.

Leron Gubler, the president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

Linda Moore, the college’s vice president of academic affairs

Rachel Livingston, a college counselor at the Helen Bernstein High School where the college is granting scholarships.

Mark M. Stewart, an attorney who graduated in 1977 and presides over the L.A. chapter of the Emerson Alumni Association.