More than a decade ago, Wallis Annenberg began noticing something that truly troubled her.
Yes, people were living longer than ever before, but too many were living those years alone.
Too often, Wallis saw older adults spending afternoons by themselves, many times in dark movie theaters. She’d visit spaces meant for seniors and find that many felt static and uninspired. Aging seemed to come with isolation built in, and that was unacceptable to her.
So, in true Wallis Annenberg form, she rolled up her sleeves and went to work, guided by her strong belief that later life could look different. Fuller. More connected. More expansive.
She began to research, and eventually launched, a project that would lead to a new kind of community space – a new model for aging. Here, older adults could continue to learn, connect, and contribute as vital and valued members of their communities.
A partnership was launched with the Stanford University Center on Longevity, which included bringing a Stanford PhD candidate specializing in aging and longevity onto the Wallis Annenberg project research team. Together, they surveyed national and global models for aging centers, studying emerging research and identifying best practices.
Focus groups with adults aged 70 and older revealed a clear message: older adults were seeking opportunity. They wanted access to technology, meaningful programming, creative expression, and genuine connection. They wanted spaces that recognized and respected them as dynamic, capable, curious, and engaged.
The insight was energizing and impactful and helped chart next steps.
The new and forward-looking space, Wallis Annenberg GenSpace, would approach aging as a stage defined by growth, learning, and contribution.
Design and planning unfolded between 2018 and 2022, guided by award-winning age-inclusive architect Susi Stadler. GenSpace took shape as a vibrant and dynamic culture for those who are aging, built around how older adults said they wanted to live. The age-inclusive design emphasized light, flexibility, accessibility, and community. Every detail reinforced vitality and engagement.
When GenSpace opened in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood in 2022, it reflected that ambition. Bright, adaptable spaces. Technology-enabled classrooms. A dedicated tech bar for training. Areas for gathering, learning, wellness, and creative work. A rooftop garden designed to promote wellness and renewal.
Today, GenSpace is alive with movement, conversation, and creativity. Each day it reaches capacity because of the extraordinary desire of GenSpace members to be there in community to learn and connect.
Members participate in Zumba, knitting, painting, and comedy workshops. They sing in a choir, dance at community gatherings, and gather around pool tables and art studios. They explore digital media, photography, and storytelling. Many begin as students and later volunteer to teach classes themselves, turning experience into leadership.
Programming spans health and wellness, lifelong learning, financial literacy, technology, arts and culture, and horticultural therapy. The rooftop garden hosts hands-on learning that blends wellness with environmental awareness.
Intergenerational connection is central to the model. Graduate and undergraduate college students from UCLA and the University of Southern California majoring in longevity-related fields, learn alongside members, collaborating in classes focused on mobility, flexibility, and overall well-being. The exchange flows both ways, pairing academic research with lived experience.
The aim is to work to change the outdated narrative on aging in our country and begin that process as early as possible.
Thus, elementary school students alongside older adults interact weekly to plant in the outdoor garden, exercise on the rooftop fields, and collaborate with members in many other ways. High school students provide generalized and one-on-one tech support in the GenSpace tech lab. These partnerships bring younger and older generations together in ways that foster mutual respect, patience, empathy, and shared learning. A Sing for Hope piano, painted collaboratively by members and students, stands as a daily reminder that creativity strengthens across generations.
GenSpace operates as a living laboratory, ensuring that innovation in aging is shaped by lived experience rather than assumptions. At GenSpace, older adults are placed at the center of emerging innovation. Through the Reimagine Aging Lab, members engage directly with startup founders developing technology in health, mobility, and engagement. Instead of pitching to a distant market, entrepreneurs receive candid feedback from the very people their products are meant to serve.
In 2025, GenSpace co-hosted a panel on artificial intelligence and lifelong learning, bringing together university leaders and social innovators to explore how AI can connect generations and expand opportunity. The discussion sparked member interest in learning how to use AI tools thoughtfully and safely, reinforcing GenSpace’s role as a place where curiosity evolves alongside the world itself.
The national spotlight has followed. CBS Sunday Morning traveled to California to record a feature story on GenSpace and Wallis Annenberg’s vision to reimagine aging, highlighting the center’s energy and its growing influence. Members and visitors described it as “phenomenal” and called for more spaces like it across the country.
The Wallis Annenberg Legacy Foundation is proud to have the GenSpace as a flagship initiative and a living expression of Wallis Annenberg’s belief that philanthropy should innovate boldly and serve generously.
The Foundation is also proud that GenSpace represents a new model for how communities can invest in aging and longevity, where older adults are positioned as active participants in civic life, experience shapes innovation, and leadership and learning flow in every direction.
As communities across the country confront the realities of an aging population, GenSpace offers a blueprint grounded in research, design, partnership, and lived experience. Organizations and leaders are studying its approach. Entrepreneurs are seeking its insight. Communities are asking how it can be replicated.
Wallis Annenberg once said she would love to see a GenSpace on every block.
“It starts with a deep connection to the cause. I have to give from my heart, first and foremost.”
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