The Urban Village Issue-2

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URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
20 26
EASTSIDE
More diverse and eclectic than any other West
Hollywood neighborhood, the Eastside is experiencing
a resurgence thanks to new development
and new people moving in.
32 38
WEHO HEIGHTS
The Sunset Strip! Nightlife! Clubs! Restaurants!
Shops! The glitz and glamour of the world- famous
Sunset Strip draw millions each year.
44
TRI-WEST
Compact and densely populated, Tri-West is the
second smallest of West Hollywood’s seven
neighborhoods, but the fourth most populated.
54
NORMA TRIANGLE
One would never guess while driving through
West Hollywood that there is a quaint, picturesque
neighborhood tucked behind the Pavilions
supermarket on Santa Monica Boulevard.
CENTER CITY
The most populous of the West Hollywood neighborhoods,
Center City is home to one fifth of the
city’s 37,000 people.
WEST HOLLYWOOD NORTH
Sandwiched between the gritty glitz of the Sunset Strip
and the flashy flamboyance of Boystown lies the West
Hollywood North neighborhood.
48
WEST HOLLYWOOD WEST
West Hollywood’s answer to Mayberry is the West
Hollywood West neighborhood. The neighbors know
one another (and their pets) in this cluster of mostly
single family homes.
58
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WEST HOLLYWOOD MAGAZINE
IS WEST HOLLYWOOD AN URBAN
VILLAGE?
rants and grocery stores on the east side
of Santa Monica Boulevard. If celebrity
is what thrills you there are restaurants
That depends on how you define the
term, which emerged in the 1980s. Its
most prominent early user was the
U.K.’s Prince of Wales, who outlined the
concept in his book “A Vision for Britain.”
such as Craig’s and Catch you can visit.
Missing New York City’s Jewish cuisine?
Stop by Greenblatt’s on Sunset Boulevard,
known since its opening in 1926
for its homemade matzo ball soup and
Reuben and corned beef sandwiches.
(And of course there is the classic Can-
PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Henry E. (Hank) Scott
henry@westhollywoodmag.net
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Allana Johnson
allana@yokcreative.com
SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR
Doug Stichler
Doug@WeHoMediaCo.com
CONTRIBUTORS
James Mills: Writer (The Urban Village)
Michael Jortner: Writer (The Getaway:
Palm Springs)
Edward Ipp: Copy Editor
Urban planners denote an urban village
as a place with medium-density housing,
zoning that allows for both homes
and business, good public transportation
and an emphasis on walkability
and public space such as parks. The City
of West Hollywood meets all those criteria,
although we have some work to do
on public transit (Metro is coming, eventually).
BUT PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT,
IS THAT WEST HOLLYWOOD IS
A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE GET TO
KNOW THEIR NEIGHBORS AND
CARE ABOUT THEIR NEIGHBOR-
HOODS.
tor’s on Fairfax Avenue, part of what we
call Greater WeHo).
If you live in and love West Hollywood
because it’s an urban village, there are
ways to take advantage of that. One is
to join one of the city’s many neighborhood
associations, which are mentioned
in the stories that follow. Another is to
sign up for one of the 17 Neighborhood
Watch groups. The purpose of those
groups is getting neighbors to work together
to reduce crime. Joining them
also is a great way to make friends who
care as much about their neighborhood
as you do. You can find a list of them
on the city’s website at http://www.
weho.org/services/public-safety/neighborhood-watch/neighborhood-watch-
By Henry E. (Hank) Scott
Hank Scott is editor and
publisher of WEHOville.
com and West Hollywood
Magazine.
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(323) 454-7707
advertising@westhollywoodmag.net
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westhollywoodmag.net
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instagram @westhollywoodmagazine
Who could imagine that a city that
spans only 1.89 square miles could have
seven officially designated neighborhoods?
And then there are the various
business districts -- the Sunset Strip,
Boystown, the Design District and those
that haven’t yet been labeled on the
city’s Eastside and Center City.
groups.
All in all, the best way to enjoy WeHo’s
urban village vibe is to walk its sidewalks
rather than drive and remember
to stop from time to time and bend down
and say hello to your neighbors’ dogs.
There’s no better way to become part of
the West Hollywood family!
The fact that West Hollywood is the central
location in an urban community
that includes downtown Los Angeles,
Beverly Hills, Culver City, Glendale and
Pasadena also reinforces its urbanity.
West Hollywood is also a cosmopolitan
village. You can get a literal taste of Eastern
Europe by stopping by the restau-
WHMC, 1138 Hacienda Place, No. 211,
West Hollywood, CA 90069. 323.454.7707.
16
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 17

18 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
WEHO’S 7 NEIGHBORHOODS
EXPLORE WEHO

astsideMORE DIVERSE
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DYLAN APARTMENTS PHOTO COURTESYOF THE HUXLEY
PHOTO COURTESY OF AVALON
PHOTO COURTESY OF LORELEY THE BEER GARDEN
AND ECLECTIC THAN ANY OTHER WEST HOLLYWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD
MORE DIVERSE AND ECLECTIC
THAN ANY OTHER WEST
HOLLYWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD,
THE EASTSIDE IS EXPERIENC-
ING A RESURGENCE THANKS TO
NEW DEVELOPMENT AND NEW
PEOPLE MOVING IN.
Made up of the areas south of Fountain
Avenue and north of Willoughby Avenue,
between Fairfax Avenue and La
Brea Avenue, the Eastside is the panhandle
of West Hollywood (or the gun
barrel if you prefer to view the city as
shaped like a gun).
“The Eastside is a vibrant, exciting
place to be,” says longtime resident
Tod Hallman. “It’s experiencing a revitalization,
and I am hopeful for the
possibilities of things that are going to
PHOTO COURTESY OF DOMAIN WEHO
TOD HALLMAN
happen. But at the same time, there’s a
lot of history and a lot of neighborhood
here too.”
With four large retail-residential buildings
(the Dylan, Huxley, Avalon and
Domain) having opened in the past
three years, the face of the Eastside
has changed dramatically in
the area near La Brea. But longtime
resident Mike Dolan says
those six- and seven-story buildings
are helping give the Eastside
the feeling of a city, and also
helping it move away from its
grittier past, which is still evident
on some stretches of Santa Monica
Boulevard.
“There’s an energy on the street that’s
been missing until recently,” says Dolan.
“It feels like the Eastside has finally
grown up. Those big buildings [along La
Brea and Santa Monica Boulevard] create
a city effect.”
Indeed, the Eastside is no longer a sleepy
place. Clubs like Harlowe (7321 Santa
Monica Boulevard, at Fuller Avenue)
and Bar Lubitsch (7702 Santa Monica
Boulevard, at Stanley Avenue) are bringing
nightlife to the Eastside. Meanwhile,
Loreley (1201 La Brea, at Lexington), the
German beer garden that opened in late
2016, draws people from the neighborhood
and beyond.
20 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 21
MIKE DOLAN

Single
GAY AND STRAIGHT,
Women
YOUNG AND OLD
A “HIPSTER” CROWD OF YOUNG, UPWARDLY MOBILE PEOPLE,
ESPECIALLY UPWARDLY MOBILE SINGLE WOMEN.
With these changes, the Eastside is also experiencing
an identity crisis. “What you’re seeing on the
Eastside is a lot of different realities,” explains Steve
Martin, who moved to the Eastside in 2014 from the
Tri-West neighborhood. “Long-term residents are
having one experience, while the new people moving
in are having a different experience. They’re not
connected to the businesses that used to be there.
They’re not looking back with nostalgia, but are
looking forward and seeing the possibilities for the
area.”
The area was once made up almost entirely of Craftsmen-style
and Spanish Colonial revival single-family
homes. Over the decades, apartment buildings replaced
many of those homes, but enough remain to
give you the idea of what the area looked like a century
ago.
With Hollywood surrounding the Eastside on three
sides, many think of it as more a part of Hollywood
than West Hollywood. In fact, back in 2010 when
Adam Bass moved into an apartment on the Eastside
from the nearby Fairfax district in Los Angeles, he
proudly told his friends he had moved into West Hollywood
proper. However, when he told them he was
living on Ogden Drive, many of them responded,
“That’s not West Hollywood. No, you live nearby.”
Even when people thought of the Eastside as part of
West Hollywood proper, they tended to view it more
as an “ugly stepchild.” That attitude likely arose in
large part because of the industrial businesses once
based on the Eastside, like a cement factory and a
plating shop. Similarly, many businesses that supported
the motion picture industry were housed
here.
Ruth Williams, who has lived on the Eastside since
1948, reports the area was originally referred to as
the “East End.” Shortly after West Hollywood was
incorporated in 1984, she pushed to have it called
the “Eastside” to match calling the other end of the
city as the “Westside.”
“I felt the names should be equal, Westside and Eastside,”
says Williams. “I took offense at calling it the
East End. That name gave the feeling it was ‘less
than’ the Westside.”
The Eastside is where many Russian emigrants settled
in the last half of the 20th Century. Even today,
many signs in the area are still written in both Russian
and English. Likewise, many businesses
still cater to the Russian community.
There’s even a Russian library
near Plummer Park.
That Russian influence helps give the
area a different feel from other parts
of the city. Life moves at a slower pace
and family plays a much more significant
role on the Eastside. This is the
part of town where you’ll find a wider
cross-section of generations, from babies
to great grandparents, all living together,
or near each other.
The area also has a strong mix of gay
and straight, young and old, married
and single, as well as many other ethnicities.
As the Russian population is
dying off, or moving away, they are
being replaced a “hipster” crowd of
young, upwardly mobile people, especially
upwardly mobile single women.
“The new demographic is single
women,” reports Mike Dolan. “A decade
ago, you didn’t see many young, upwardly
mobile women living here, but
now you do.”
The Eastside dates back to the 1870s
when Captain Eugenio Plummer built
a six-room, adobe-style house on his
large ranchero, which extended all
the way to what is now the Hollywood
Bowl. Plummer gradually sold off parcels
of his land and also allowed his
backyard to be used as a community
park where a dance pavilion and barbeque
pits once stood.
Today, Plummer Park is the centerpiece
of the Eastside and plays a central role
in the lives of many residents, much
more so than the parks in other areas of
town.
“There’s an old-world feeling to Plummer
Park,” says Stephanie Harker who
has lived beside the park for 35 years.
“People use the park like they do parks
in Europe. They’ll spend the entire day
there. They meet their friends there.
23

The park really is an extension of their
living room.”
Back in 2012, the city planned to close off
the central portion of the park to dig a
179-space underground parking garage as
part of a $41 million makeover of Plummer
Park. While some residents favored
the upgrades, many others felt the extensive
redesign would completely change
the character of the neighborhood park.
Harker successfully spearheaded an effort
to halt the park construction just
a few weeks before it was scheduled to
begin, something that ultimately proved
to be fortuitous as Sacramento snatched
away a large portion of the park redevelopment
money during a state budget crisis
in 2012.
“THERE’S A SENSE OF COMMUNITY THAT HAPPENS
WHEN WE HAVE LARGE COMMUNITY GATHERINGS...”
Now that the economy has improved, the
city will likely soon begin holding public
meetings to discuss a more modest park
makeover.
In the meantime, Plummer Park continues
to be heavily used throughout the day.
However, Adam Bass would like to see it
used even more, wishing the city would
use it more often for official functions and
events.
“There’s a sense of community that happens
when we have large community
gatherings,” says Bass. “We could foster
that more on the Eastside with more
events in Plummer Park. We don’t always
have to go to the Westside when we get together
as a city for rallies and events.”
Ruth Williams hopes the city will open a
substation of the Sheriff’s department in,
or near, Plummer Park. She notes that not
only would response times be quicker, it
would help the neighborhood feel more
connected to the deputies.
The Eastside is also home to one of the
oldest motion picture studios in the region,
Pickfair Studios, opened in 1919 and
later acquired by stars Mary Pickford
and Douglas Fairbanks. Located on the
southwest corner of Santa Monica Boulevard
and Formosa Avenue, today the studio
is now known as The Lot. Films like
“West Side Story” (1961), “Some Like It
Hot” (1959), and “Wuthering Heights”
(1939) were shot there. More recently, the
TV series “True Blood” filmed at The Lot.
While The Lot continues to do a lot of
business, some residents wish the city
would do something to honor the city’s
motion picture history and the films shot
there. Meanwhile, the Eastside is home to
the only remaining movie theatre in the
city limits, the Studs theatre (7734 Santa
Monica Boulevard, at Spaulding Avenue),
which is one of only two adult theatres
in Greater Los Angeles and which shows
both gay and straight porn films.
With the new energy and new development
happening, many hope it will bring
in new restaurants and stores (several say
they want to see clothing stores). Steve
Martin reports the neighborhood desperately
needs a good coffeeshop where people
can linger over their laptops or meet
up with friends. Ruth Williams says more
neighborhood-serving businesses are
needed like a dry cleaner or laundromat
on the eastern side of the Eastside.
A major problem confronting the Eastside
is the homeless population. While homelessness
is an issue throughout West Hollywood,
it seems most pronounced on the
Eastside, especially in Plummer Park.
The Eastside has historically been a draw
for the homeless. In the 1990s, there was
a homeless shelter on the block where
the Target now stands. Likewise, until a
few years ago, the West Hollywood Food
Coalition fed homeless people nightly at
the corner of Romaine Street and Sycamore
Avenue (just across the WeHo border
in Los Angeles). Today, the Coalition
still feeds the homeless there on weekend
nights.
Despite all that, the area is still home.
Ruth Williams moved to the Eastside as
a child and even after she married, opted
to live on the Eastside. Tod Hallman first
moved to the Eastside in the early 1980s.
Over the years, he’s moved away several
times (sometimes to other states, sometimes
to other parts of Los Angeles), but
keeps moving back to the Eastside. Both
Williams and Hallman explain it simply,
“The Eastside is home.”
24
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 25

enter City
The most populous of the West
Hollywood neighborhoods, Center
City is home to one fifth of
the city’s 37,000 people. Comprised
of the areas below Sunset
Boulevard to the city’s
southern border (Waring Avenue,
Willoughby Avenue or Romaine
Street, depending on
which block you’re on) between
La Cienega Boulevard and Fairfax
Avenue, Center City may be
densely populated, but residents
describe it as cozy and quiet.
With tree-lined streets, the area
feels residential, yet also urban
since two major commercial
corridors are nearby on Sunset
Boulevard and Santa Monica
Boulevard. It’s an easy place
to get to know your neighbors,
especially if you have a dog
(which most people do).
This is a neighborhood of renters.
The vast majority of the
buildings are apartments, although
a few have been converted
to condominiums. Only a
handful of single-family homes
or duplexes remain.
“IT FEELS REAL, IT FEELS GRITTY...”
#MOSTPOPULARNEIGHBORHOOD
“This area tends to be younger because
there are so many renters,” says
Stacey Jones, who has lived in Center
City for 12 years. “It’s also incredibly
diverse because there are so many
renters.”
That’s not to say there aren’t longterm
residents here. Nadia Sutton
has lived in Center City for 22 years
and wouldn’t consider living anywhere
else. “It feels real, it feels gritty;
there are some beautiful parts and
some gritty parts,” says Sutton. “It’s
not slick and shiny like Beverly Hills.
It feels like a true neighborhood.”
The styles of the apartment buildings
range from contemporary to mid-century
modern to Spanish Colonial revival
to art deco to French Colonial revival
to eclectic and everything in between.
Oh sure, there are plenty of nondescript
apartment buildings in the area, but
there are also some true gems.
NADIA SUTTON
26
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 27

“If you’re looking for architectural diversity
in the apartment buildings,
Center City is where you’ll find it,” says
Rogerio Carvalheiro, an architect who
has lived on Laurel Avenue in the historically
designated Villa D’Este apartment
building for the past three years.
“Fountain Avenue and the adjacent
streets have some of the most amazing
buildings.”
Nowhere is that range of architectural
styles more evident on a single block
than on Hayworth Avenue, where
walking between Sunset and Fountain
offers a time-capsule of the many
styles popular over the decades.
CENTER CITY BOASTS A HIS-
TORIC “COURTYARD THE-
MATIC DISTRICT,” CENTERED
PRIMARILY ALONG HARPER
AVENUE NORTH OF FOUN-
TAIN, FEATURING AN
ROGERIO CARVALHEIRO
ARRAY OF COURTYARD-
STYLE APARTMENT BUILD-
INGS DATING BACK TO THE
1920S AND 1930S.
Center City also features a number of
ornate, historically designated larger
apartment buildings built in the 1920s
and 1930s that were designed to appeal
to people in the motion picture industry.
Among them are La Fontaine
(southwest corner of Fountain and
Crescent Heights Boulevard), El Mirador
(northeast corner of Fountain and
Sweetzer Avenue), Colonial House (Havenhurst
Avenue, near Sunset), Villa
Italia (Crescent Heights at Norton Avenue)
and Savoy Plaza (Crescent Height,
near Sunset). The area is also home to
the historically designated Schindler
House. Built in 1922, this ahead-ofits-time,
modern style home offered a
radical departure from the contemporary
concept of a single-family house.
Located at 833 Kings Road, near Willoughby,
the Schindler House is now
home to the nonprofit MAK Center for
Art and Architecture and is open for
tours or private events.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THEMAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Center City is home to three small but
heavily used parks – Kings Road Park,
Laurel Park and Hart Park, which
has the only dog park in the city. The
area also has two tiny parks, the Matthew
Shepard Triangle (Santa Monica
at Crescent Heights) and the Sal Guarriello
Veterans Memorial (Santa Monica
at Holloway Drive), both frequently
used as gathering spots for protest rallies
and other events.
Two of those parks had long fights associated
with their coming into existence.
In the 1990s, the city planned to
build low-income housing on the property
at 1000 Kings Road, but residents
fought to have it made into a park instead.
In the 2000s, the city also planned to
build low-income housing at 1343 Laurel
Avenue, a property donated to the
city by its elderly owner, Mrs. Elsie
Weisman. While Weisman gave oral instructions
(the house, which she called
“Tara,” but is now known as “Laurel
House,” and grounds were not to be developed),
she failed to put those instructions
in writing. As a result, a gigantic,
eight-year battle over the fate of the
property divided residents throughout
the city, culminating with a lawsuit
that went all the way to the California
Supreme Court.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THEMAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE
28 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018

8300 Santa Monica Boulevard,
at Sweetzer. Behind
City Hall is the “robo garage”
opened in 2016, one of
the few automated parking
garages in operation on the
West Coast.
Parking is an issue throughout
the city, but nowhere
is there a greater shortage
than in Center City. The
“robo garage” is providing
much needed parking for
the businesses along Santa
Monica Boulevard, but it has
done little to ease the severe
parking shortage in the residential
areas.
Stacey Jones explains that
many of the older apartment
buildings do not have
enough parking for all their
tenants. Consequently,
many residents are forced to
park on the street. In fact,
some residents say when
they find a good
parking space,
they are reluctant
to leave because they
might not be able to find
parking in the area when
they return.
“THE ABILITY TO
WALK EVERYWHERE,
BE IT THE SUPER-
MARKET, RESTAU-
RANTS OR STORES,
IS WHAT IS SO GREAT
ABOUT THIS AREA,”
says longtime Center City
resident Cynthia Blatt. “And
if I need to drive, I’m halfway
between everything I
need to do.”
While many businesses along
Sunset Boulevard seem designed
for the tourists, those
along Santa Monica Boulevard
seem oriented toward
the residents. With lots of locally
owned, mom-and-pop
type shops and restaurants
such as Marco’s Trattoria,
the restaurant at 8200 Santa
Monica, and Hector’s Tailor
Shop at 8278 Santa Monica,
this stretch of the boulevard
feels like the city’s “downtown”
especially with the
presence of City Hall.
“Center City is where you
truly support local businesses,”
notes Nadia Sutton.
“And I hope it stays local.
We don’t need chain stores
there.”
Carvalheiro wishes the sidewalks
along Santa Monica
Boulevard were a bit wider
to “enhance the pedestrian
experience.” Others would
like to see more neighborhood-serving
businesses,
such as a tailor or shoe repair
shop.
Residents would also like
to see speed bumps added
to some of the residential
streets to slow down traffic.
They also want the city
to install more street lights
on residential streets, or at
least put in brighter bulbs
and trim the trees near the
street lights since some
parts of the sidewalk can get
very dark.
CYTHIA BLATT
As Cynthia Blatt, who has
lived on Kings Road since
1993, explains, when she
leaves from visiting a friend
who lives two blocks away,
the friend always advises,
“Walk in the middle of
the street so no one
can jump out and
grab you.”
While the low-income housing
is no longer a consideration,
exactly what the city
will do with Laurel House
has yet to be decided. At preliminary
public meetings
held in 2013 and 2014, residents
seemed to favor making
it into an arts center for
art showings, author readings,
music recitals, lectures,
meetings, etc.
In the meantime, the city
opened Laurel Park in the
property’s front yard and it
quickly became a favorite
gathering spot in the neighborhood.
Carvalheiro reports
that he and other dogowners
in the area gather
there nightly to catch up.
West Hollywood City Hall
is located in Center City at
That forces a lot of people
to walk in the area. But for
some, that walkability is
what drew them to the area.
And if they live near Sunset,
they get a good workout
walking up the hill back to
their apartment.
“I really wanted to have
that walking experience,”
says Carvalheiro.
“I didn’t want to have to
get in my car to do everything
and living on Laurel
[Avenue] provided that.”
30 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
31

The Sunset Strip! Nightlife! Clubs! Restaurants!
Shops! The glitz and glamour
of the world- famous Sunset Strip draw
millions each year. It’s also drawn
thousands who make the West Hol-
THE SUNSET STRIP! NIGHTLIFE! CLUBS!
RESTAURANTS! SHOPS!
THE GLITZ AND GLAMOUR OF THE WORLD- FAMOUS
SUNSET STRIP DRAW MILLIONS EACH YEAR.
THE PLEASURE CHEST
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PLEASURE CHEST
lywood Heights neighborhood their
home.
“The Sunset Strip is the most exciting
part of West Hollywood,” says Elyse
Eisenberg, who moved to Horn Avenue
in 1987. “I moved here to be closer to
the Strip since I was spending all my
time here anyway.”
The smallest of the seven West Hollywood
neighborhoods, West Hollywood
Heights is the area of the city north of
Sunset Boulevard. Made up of just five
streets, this area has about 1,000 residential
units, almost all apartments
or condominiums, according to Eisenberg,
who serves as chair of the Weho
Heights Neighborhood Association.
Only a handful of single-family homes
remain in the area. A house on Horn
Avenue, which at one time belonged
to actress Bette Davis, was torn down
a few years ago to make way for a fourstory,
seven-unit condo building. Several
more houses are slated for demolition
to make way for more apartment
or condo buildings.
These lush, tree-lined streets above
the Strip offer fantastic views of the
Los Angeles basin. Eisenberg can
see Catalina from her condo. Despite
being so close to the Strip, the
area also offers a tranquil existence.
Susan De Boismilon, who has
lived on Clark Avenue since 1972,
says the area is relatively quiet, especially
the further up the hill you go.
Condos in this neighborhood can sell
for $1 million or more. Apartments are
hard to find since people tend to stay
after falling in love with the neighborhood.
“It’s a very stable neighborhood,”
says Eisenberg. “Very low turnover.
I know most of my neighbors.”
32 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
33

JEROME CLEARY
Above the Strip
THE GLITZ AND GLAMOUR
“THIS IS ONE OF THE FRIENDLIEST NEIGHBORHOODS IN
TOWN,” SAYS LONGTIME RESIDENT JEROME CLEARY.
“IF YOU HAVE A DOG, YOU REALLY GET TO KNOW ALL
YOUR NEIGHBORS.”
“This is one of the friendliest neighborhoods
in town,” says longtime resident
Jerome Cleary. “If you have a dog,
you really get to know all your neighbors.
The Coffee Bean has become the
unofficial place where everyone in the
neighborhood meets.”
THE SUNSET STRIP IS KNOWN
FOR ITS NIGHTLIFE AND
WEHO HEIGHTS RESIDENTS
ARE ADULT AS WELL.
Eisenberg is not aware of any children
under 18 living in the neighborhood.
“This isn’t a neighborhood for
raising kids,” says Cleary.
The area boasts some of the finest
restaurants in town, as well
as some exclusive shops at Sunset
Plaza such as Badgley Mischka,
Philip Press and Zadig & Voltaire.
It also is home to Book Soup,
the last remaining English-language
bookstore in West Hollywood
(there is a Russian-language
bookstore on Santa Monica Boulevard).
Walking down the hill to the
shops and back up keeps residents
in good shape.
What it lacks, residents say, is a
park. “Green space is sorely missing,”
says Eisenberg. It also lacks
neighborhood-serving businesses
like a tailor or dry cleaner. Or even a
grocery store.
The neighborhood coalesced in 2008 to
successfully fight against the proposed
Centrum Sunset office-retail building
set to go into the old Tower Records
building. While it took five years for
the neighbors to defeat Centrum Sunset,
the residents easily fought off a
proposal to put a pre-school in the old
Spago restaurant building earlier in
2017.
In both cases, the residents successfully
argued that the steep, narrow Horn
Avenue could not handle all the traffic
that such businesses would generate.
“We wanted some control over our destiny,”
said Eisenberg. “We’re trapped
up here. The only way out is Sunset. So
we had to fight it.”
While the ever increasing traffic is a
concern throughout West Hollywood,
nowhere is it a greater cause for concern
than this neighborhood. The
streets of WeHo Heights only exit onto
the perpetually jammed Sunset Boulevard.
“Traffic on Sunset is horrendous now,
even in the middle of the day,” says
PHOTO COURTESY OF ROKU WEST HOLLYWOOD
De Boismilon. “It sometimes takes 30
minutes to drive down the mile of the
Strip. Is that really quality of life?”
De Boismilon, who books entertainment
for private events, reports clients
are often loath to come to her offices on
Sunset near Doheny Drive because of
the traffic. “Our business has fallen because
clients are reluctant to come to the
office,” she says. “Luckily, we can do a lot
of our business online now, but there is
a huge difference between interacting
with a client online versus in person.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF SKYBAR AT MONDRIAN PHOTO COURTESY OF BOA STEAKHOUSE
34 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
35

Parking is another major issue since
the overwhelming majority of apartment/condo
buildings don’t have any
guest parking spaces, and street parking
is usually taken up by residents because
many buildings don’t even have
enough parking for its residents.
“I haven’t been able to have guests over
to my apartment in 15 years,” says De
Boismilon. “There’s no place for them
to park.”
Even businesses on Sunset are feeling
the parking pinch. While there are a
few municipal lots, they don’t offer a
lot of spaces. Eisenberg notes in 2012-
2013, there was a Thursday night farmers’
market with vendors, food trucks
and live entertainment held in the cityowned
parking lot near Horn Avenue.
That farmers’ market was popular with
the neighborhood residents who could
walk down the hill to it, but ultimately
failed in large part because of the parking
issue.
“The farmers’ market was being held
in the largest [municipal] parking lot in
the area, and people from outside the
neighborhood were reluctant to pay $15
or $20 for some of the private lots,” says
Eisenberg.
“ M O R E
RESTAURANTS,
CLUBS AND
SHOPS COULD
OPEN TOO.”
While the city currently has no plans
to build more municipal parking lots,
come March 2018, it will begin a sixmonth
test run of a free nighttime
weekend shuttle along the Strip to encourage
visitors.
WeHo Heights residents are poised to
fight a 72-foot-high billboard/art installation
proposed to be erected in
the municipal parking lot just east of
the Sunset-Horn-Holloway intersection
(the same parking lot where the
farmers’ market was held). That installation
will incorporate giant video
screens that will show digital art displays
as well as digital advertisements.
Some are calling it an innovative, future-thinking
idea, while others feel
it will be an eyesore that will attract
homeless people to the plaza the city
intends to build around it.
The future direction of Sunset is also
in question. For several decades, the
music
business
is what made
Sunset sing – many
record companies had
offices on Sunset, new record releases
were featured on billboards along
the Strip and up-and-coming bands
as well as established acts played the
clubs, while the Tower Records’ flagship
store anchored it all.
Famous clubs like the Whisky a Go Go,
the Viper Room and the Roxy are still
around and doing relatively well, but
the rest are long gone. Consequently,
the music business is no longer a vital
part of the Strip.
Instead, Sunset Boulevard seems to be
evolving into an area made up primarily
of hotels. In addition to the existing
hotels on the Strip, at least six other
large, high-end hotels are proposed or
under construction. While the hotels
will add to the city’s coffers thanks to
the hotel room taxes, Eisenberg and De
Boismilon both wonder exactly what
the attraction of staying on Sunset is
going to be in a decade if it’s nothing
but hotels.
“What exactly are tourists going to
do on the Strip?” asks De Boismilon.
“Stay at one hotel and go visit the one
next door?”
Eisenberg hopes the city will build a large
municipal parking lot(s) along Sunset to
support the businesses and residents.
“If parking were easier, the existing
businesses could thrive,” she says.
36 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
37

WeHo
ECLECTIC, DYNAMIC AND PASSIONATE.
North
SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE GRITTY GLITZ OF THE SUNSET STRIP AND THE
FLASHY FLAMBOYANCE OF BOYSTOWN LIES THE WEST HOLLYWOOD NORTH
NEIGHBORHOOD. AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT WITH THOSE TWO FAMOUS STREETS
AS YOUR EDGES, THE NEIGHBORHOOD IS ECLECTIC AND DYNAMIC .
THE NEIGHBORHOOD’S
OFFICIAL BOUNDARIES ARE
SUNSET AND SANTA MONICA
BOULEVARDS TO THE NORTH
AND SOUTH, SAN VICENTE
BOULEVARD TO THE WEST AND
LA CIENEGA BOULEVARD TO
T H E E A S T.
“What’s so great about West Hollywood North is its
proximity to everything,” says Sam Borelli, who has
lived in the neighborhood for 15 years. “You’re just
steps away from the cosmopolitan areas of Sunset
and Santa Monica Boulevards. But Melrose is also
within walking distance. So is City Hall and things
further east. I’m someone who doesn’t like to drive,
so this is the perfect place for me.”
For Tai Sunnanon, who moved to Alta Loma Drive
three years ago, the excitement of the Sunset Strip
was always a lure.
“As a kid passing through the Sunset Strip and seeing
the lights, I used to say to myself, ‘Wow, wouldn’t
it be great to live here one day,’ and now I do,” says
Sunnanon. “I love the fact that there are all these
restaurants and burger joints and coffee joints on
Sunset, just minutes from me, but I still live on a
quiet residential street.”
Meanwhile, for Joe Brighton, who moved to Palm Avenue
a year ago, living in the gay ghetto is a dream
come true.
“Coming from a small Texas town, the idea of someday
living in a gayborhood and being able to be completely
out kept me going,” says Brighton. “When I
finished college, this is where I came.”
West Hollywood North has two distinct parts – western
(closer to San Vicente) and eastern (closer to
La Cienega). Residents on the western side tend to
be younger and more transient, while those on the
eastern side tend to be older and more stable.
If West Hollywood has a party neighborhood, it
would be the western half of WeHo North. With a
high concentration of large apartment buildings,
this is where younger people often live when they
move to WeHo.
“This is definitely a party street,” says
John Allendorfer, who manages a building
on Larrabee Street. “I tell people if
they want quiet to get a unit at the back
of the building or go to another street.”
At the same time, Allendorfer tells prospective
tenants that if they want easy
access to the nightlife and to feel a part
of the various celebrations happening
in town, this is the right neighborhood.
“I tell them it’s going to be especially
noisy at gay pride and Halloween,” says
Allendorfer. “You really can’t help but
feel like part of the celebration going on
living so close. The energy and excitement
makes its way up the hill and it’s
infectious.”
Bob Pranga, who has lived on Palm Avenue
for 30 years, loves the hopeful,
daring, ambitious energy that having
young neighbors provides.
“As I age, I like to be around the younger
energy,” says Pranga. “I’m not quite
ready to settle into the sands of Palm
Springs. I like all the creative energy
that comes from the kids. It keeps me
young.”
Conversely, the eastern side of WeHo
North seems to be steady and peaceful.
There’s a good mix of apartment buildings
and condo buildings and far less
turnover.
“It’s a fairly quiet area. Yes, I can hear
noise coming from Santa Monica Boulevard,
but there’s not noise coming
from the residential area,” says Sam
Borelli. “It’s safe. I’m always aware
of my surroundings, but I don’t feel
the need to be on guard or looking
around.”
38 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018

Living in a
Gayborhood
“WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT WEST HOLLYWOOD NORTH IS ITS PROXIMITY TO EVERYTHING”
WeHo North is also home to the original
West Hollywood Library at 903 Westbourne
Drive (now the V Wine Room)
and the original West Hollywood Fire
Station at 958 Hancock Avenue (now a
three-unit affordable housing building).
Residents say speed bumps on residential
streets are needed to slow traffic
coming down the hill from Sunset. The
traffic islands the city has installed have
little effect.
TAI SUNNANON CALLS THE
EASTERN HALF OF WEHO
NORTH “RELIABLE.”
“I know what to expect
when I come home,” says
Sunnanon. “I know it’s
going to be quiet. I know
it’s going to be safe.
I know I’ll see many of
my neighbors as they’re
walking their dogs.”
“It can be a freeway out there the way
cars speed down Palm Avenue,” says
longtime resident Tom Demille.
Likewise increased street lighting is
desperately needed. The large trees
hanging over the streets add to the
feeling of being in a nice neighborhood,
but the trees near the street
lights need to be trimmed.
“It’s dark at night,” says Demille. “Some
people are afraid to go out at night, it’s
so dark.”
Despite the number of apartment buildings,
both sides of WeHo North have a
decent number of single-family homes.
For a taste of what the area looked like
a century ago when it was a part of the
town of Sherman (the original name for
West Hollywood), look to the single-family
homes on Betty Way (a tiny dead-end
street off Larrabee) or the two historically
designated houses at 927 and 931
Palm Avenue (near Cynthia).
40 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 41

Allendorfer would like to see sheriff’s
deputies, and/or security ambassadors
routinely patrol in the neighborhood
at 2 a.m. when the bars close since so
many clubgoers live on Larrabee and
Palm.
JOHN HEILMAN
“I LOVE THE RAINBOW
Borelli hopes the city will find ways
to improve parking on the residential
streets, noting there are “missed parking
opportunities” when cars take up
two spaces. If they would pull up a few
more feet, another car would be able to
park.
“There are simple changes that could
be made, like place the parking signs
in the greenway so they line up with
the white parking lines painted on the
street. That would make it more obvi-
SAM BORELLI
CROSSWALKS; THEY MAKE ME
FEEL WELCOME AND AT HOME”
—JOE BRIGHTON
BOB PRANGA
ous exactly how far you can pull up,”
says Borelli. “Mayor [John] Heilman
said he wanted residential parking issues
to be a priority. I hope they follow
through with it.”
Borelli would also like the city to experiment
with removing the cul-desacs
on Alta Loma near Sunset and
Westmount Drive at the Trader Joes, at
least temporarily, to see what impact
opening those streets up has on traffic.
Joe Brighton questions why the city
hasn’t refreshed the five-year-old rainbow
crosswalks at the San Vicente-
Santa Monica intersection.
“I love the rainbow crosswalks; they
make me feel welcome and at home,”
says Brighton. “But damn, they need to
be repainted. Or at least scrubbed and
cleaned really hard.”
“More creativity comes from smaller
stores,” says Pranga. “The big stores
are a bland representation of the entire
country, but true creativity comes
from the small shop owners.”
He also hopes the city will put more
artwork in the medians of Santa Monica
Boulevard. “What about a giant
ruby slipper in the median near
Micky’s?” says Pranga. “We’re the Creative
City. Let’s show some creativity
in street art.”
Along similar lines, Pranga wishes
the city would invest in better holiday
decorations, noting the 30-year-old
decorations on street poles have long
passed their expiration date.
Bob Pranga would like the city to adopt
policies that encourage small, independent
businesses and discourage
chains from opening here.
“I would love it if the Creative City
were truly creative in its Christmas
décor,” says Pranga. “For all the money
this city makes, Burbank has better
decorations than we do.”
42
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 43

i West
PHOTO COURTESY OF ZINQUÉ PHOTO COURTESY OF PACIFIC DESIGN CENTER
PHOTO COURTESY OF LILY-LVNATIKK
PHOTO COURTESY OF PACIFIC DESIGN CENTER
THE SECOND SMALLEST OF WEST HOLLYWOOD’S SEVEN NEIGHBORHOODS
PHOTO COURTESY OF PACIFIC DESIGN CENTER
COMPACT AND DENSELY POP-
ULATED, TRI-WEST IS THE
SECOND SMALLEST OF WEST
HOLLYWOOD’S SEVEN NEIGH-
BORHOODS, BUT THE FOURTH
MOST POPULATED.
Composed of the area north of Melrose
Avenue and south of Santa Monica Boulevard
between the Pacific Design Center
and La Cienega, Tri-West is made up
primarily of apartment buildings with
a few single-family homes or duplexes
thrown in. Because of the many apartment
buildings, the neighborhood tends
to be young and transient. But Tri-West
has a good number of long-term residents
who are there to stay.
“Tri-West is a great neighborhood,”
says Amanda Goodwin, who has lived
in Tri-West for 20 years. “It’s relatively
quiet considering how close it is to
major streets. You can still hear the
birds singing. It’s very community oriented,
I know a lot of my neighbors. It’s
incredibly walkable and convenient to
everything.”
With West Hollywood Park and the West
Hollywood Library nearby, plus the
many restaurants, stores and clubs on
Santa Monica Boulevard within walking
distance, it’s a good neighborhood
for people who don’t have a car or don’t
like driving in Los Angeles traffic.
Alan James first discovered Tri-West
three years ago when he answered a
roommate ad. His initial impressions
were lukewarm; he liked being part
of a gayborhood, but there didn’t seem
to be much to distinguish it from any
other neighborhood in greater Los Angeles.
Since then, he has come to appreciate
what Tri-West has to offer.
“Initially, the best thing about
this area was that it was so close
to the gay clubs and there were
lots of gay people in the area,”
says James. “The longer I’m
here, the more I love it. What
it lacks in looks, it more than
makes up for in friendliness
and accessibility to everything
I want. It’s a really comfortable
neighborhood, and I
feel safe here. I love being able to
look out my window and see the Pacific
Design Center. Those are beautiful
buildings.”
Although situated between two major
thoroughfares, the neighborhood is
oriented more toward Santa
Monica Boulevard since
it has more shops and
restaurants that residents
use on a regular
basis.
44 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 45

SHOPPING ON MELROSE IS GEARED TO
“THE DEMOGRAPHIC YOU SEE ON MELROSE TODAY, IS NOT THE
DEMOGRAPHIC OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THOSE BUSINESSES ARE
NOT RELYING ON THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.”
“Tri West revolves around 24 Hour Fitness and
Starbucks,” says Steve Martin, who’s lived in the
neighborhood for 22 years. “That’s where you run
into all your neighbors.”
Residents especially like having Trader Joes grocery
store readily adjacent and are excited that Sprouts
grocery store will be opening in the building currently
under construction on the southwest corner
of Santa Monica Boulevard and West Knoll Drive.
As for Melrose Avenue, it has evolved drastically in
the past 10 to 15 years as the City of West Hollywood
designated it part of the Design District (along with
Robertson and Beverly Boulevards). Consequently,
many designer clothing boutiques and high-end
home furnishing stores have moved in.
“Shopping on Melrose is geared toward hipsters
and designers,” says Martin. “The demographic you
see on Melrose today, is not the demographic of the
neighborhood. Those businesses are not relying on
the people living in the neighborhood.”
Today, Melrose may be attracting upscale customers,
but for decades before that, it attracted an eclectic
mix of people looking for bargains in the unique,
hole-in-the-wall shops and for spiritual enlightenment.
For 41 years, the Bodhi Tree, a renowned New Age/
spiritual bookstore, was a primary draw on Melrose.
Its closure in 2011 seemed to mark the end of
Melrose as a haven for funky shops.
“Melrose was taken away from us to
make the Design District,” says Goodwin.
“It’s a shame they didn’t make
Melrose into something like Abbott
Kinney [the trendy, ultra-cool shopping
street in Venice]. The Melrose of 20
years ago felt a lot like the Abbott Kinney
of 20 years ago.”
No one is sure how the neighborhood
got the name Tri-West. While it is on
the western side of the city, it is rectangular
shaped, not triangle shaped.
In fact, many residents are unaware
that Tri-West is the official name for the
neighborhood.
“They could surely come up with a better
name,” says Alan James. “If this is
the Creative City, they should get creative
with the neighborhood’s name.”
Cut-through traffic is an increasing
problem in Tri-West. Speed bumps are
needed to slow down the traffic, residents
say.
“When Santa Monica Boulevard is at
a standstill, cars will cut through Tri-
West to get to Melrose,” says Goodwin.
Residents say they are anxious to see
what will happen with the MTA (Metropolitan
Transportation Authority)
bus depot on the southeastern corner
of San Vicente and Santa Monica boulevards.
That lot, along with the adjacent
Pacific Design Center, was originally
owned by the Los Angeles Pacific
Railway, which ran the streetcar lines
in greater Los Angeles.
The city hopes to transform at least
a portion of that area into shops and
apartments, possibly even office
space. At one point, there was even
talk of moving City Hall to that location.
While serious discussions about
developing that 11-acre lot, which the
MTA owns, began in 2013, so far nothing
definite has materialized. It could
be years, or even decades, before anything
happens there.
46 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 47

West
WEST HOLLYWOOD
WEST HOLLYWOOD’S OWN MAYBERRY
Hidden away on the side streets north of Beverly Boulevard, south of
Melrose Avenue between Doheny Drive and La Cienega Boulevard.
HIDDEN AWAY ON THE SIDE STREETS
NORTH OF BEVERLY BOULEVARD, SOUTH
OF MELROSE AVENUE BETWEEN DOHENY
DRIVE AND LA CIENEGA BOULEVARD, AL-
MOST 1,100 HOMES MAKE UP WEST HOLLY-
W O O D W E S T.
This is the only neighborhood in the
city zoned exclusively for single-family
homes and duplexes (the handful
of small apartment buildings in the
area predate the city’s incorporation
in 1984).
With a mix of bungalows and Spanishstyle
houses, this area dates back to
the 1910s and 1920s, with homes originally
built for employees of the streetcar
company Los Angeles Pacific Railway,
which had a large depot where
the Pacific Design Center now stands.
“THIS IS LIKE A LITTLE
SUBURBIA IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE MOST
EXCITING PART OF
WEST HOLLYWOOD,”
says Manny Rodriguez, who moved to
the neighborhood in 2004. “We’ve got
everything nearby, West Hollywood
Park, the library, Boystown, the Bev-
erly Center, the Design District on Melrose
and Robertson. It’s a good place to
raise a family, yet there are plenty of
gay couples, retired couples and single
people too.”
As Richard Giesbret, the president of
the area’s residents association, explains,
“West Hollywood West is just
this special place. It’s quiet and charming.
It has a park like quality that offers
a respite from all the urban areas
around it.”
This is a tight-knit neighborhood with
a small-town feel where people easily
get to know their neighbors and socialize
together frequently. Rodriguez
reports he knows almost half the people
on his block, but also knows at least
three people living on each of the 25
blocks that comprise West Hollywood
West.
“If you’re inclined to want to be in a
community, around people and neighbors
and really live together, that’s
West Hollywood West,” says Rodriguez.
“If you’re inclined to go behind
a hedge and never be seen or talk to
anybody, that’s West Hollywood West
too. It’s the community for both those
types of people.”
PHOTO COURTESY CLEM ONOJEGHUO
48 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 49

“I SAID, ‘THERE’S A NEIGHBORHOOD
this
SOUTH
is where
OF MELROSE?
I want to live
“IT LOOKED LIKE WHAT I ALWAYS IMAGED A
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD TO LOOK
LIKE – CHARMING MODEST COTTAGES WITH SPANISH
STYLE HOMES MIXED IN, PALM TREES, LOTS OF
TREES IN GENERAL, HEDGES, LAWNS, BEAUTIFUL
VEGETATION.”—MANNY RODRIGUEZ
MANNY RODRIGUEZ
want to live,” recalls Rodriguez. “It
looked like what I always imaged a
Southern California neighborhood to
look like – charming modest cottages
with Spanish style homes mixed
in, palm trees, lots of trees in general,
hedges, lawns, beautiful vegetation.”
West Hollywood West has the strongest
residents/neighborhood association
in the city. If something affects
Although many homes in West Hollywood
West can now fetch over $1 mil-
Melrose commercial corridor, resi-
their neighborhood or the Beverly or
lion, it wasn’t always the fashionable dents turn out in large numbers at City
neighborhood that it now is. For a long Council meetings to speak up.
time, it was a forgotten area, easily
overlooked.
“Whether you’re a renter or a homeowner,
we had a tremendous investment
in where we live,” says Rodri-
That was the situation in the mid 1990s
when Giesbret was looking to purchase
his first home. He looked all over protect that investment, and by proguez.
“We want to make sure we
Los Angeles and eventually found a tecting that investment, it just makes
fixer-upper on Norwich Drive which the neighborhood better.”
he purchased for $145,000, a fantastic
price even in those days. He had to invest
a lot in renovating the house, but
he felt the area was special because of
its convenience to restaurants, shops
and bars, and its proximity to Beverly
Hills, which is just on the other side of
Doheny Drive.
“I thought, ‘this neighborhood has got
to be pulled up by Beverly Hills eventually’,”
recalls Giesbret. “And sure
enough, it became East Beverly Hills.”
Rodriguez loves that the neighborhood
is so vibrant, but still somewhat hidden
away. When he first moved to West
Hollywood from New York in 2002,
he lived in an apartment on Larrabee
Street while he explored the Los Angeles
region looking for a house. At a
gay pride event, someone suggested he
look south of Melrose.
“I said, ‘There’s a neighborhood south
of Melrose?’ Next day, I took a walk
down south of Melrose, and that’s
when I first discovered West Hollywood
West and said this is where I
50 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 51

cMansions
The residents first came together
in the mid 1980s to
get parking restrictions for
the neighborhood when
workers at the nearby Beverly
Center, which opened in
1982, would park there for
their entire work day. Soon
after, the neighbors further
coalesced to fight a 25-story,
hotel-and-convention center
proposed for the Sherbourne
Triangle (Sherbourne Drive
The residents are also fiercely
protective of their special
enclave and all the things
that make it unique. In the
early 2010s, they started seeing
modest houses demolished
and replaced by “Mc-
Giesbret believes the resident’s
quick response to the
McMansions is “indicative
of how much people really
care about the neighborhood.”
While Karliss, who served
at San Vicente; currently a Mansions.” Richard and on the design guidelines
parking lot for Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center).
Leslie Karliss, who moved
to West Hollywood West in
committee, is happy they
were adopted, he is not sure
2012 from Malibu after their they are being followed
In the ensuing years, they’ve
fought many projects they
felt might have an impact
on their quality of life, winning
some battles and losing
some. Consequently, the
residents are often viewed
as NIMBYs (Not in My Back
sons left for college, were
particularly upset.
“I loved the architecture
of West Hollywood West; it
was a unified collection of
charming and eclectic cottages
and bungalows,” recalls
carefully.
“A lot of houses are under
construction that still feel
like big boxes to me,” Karliss
says. “I wish the city would
enforce these things closely.
We didn’t get these guide-
Yard). However, Giesbret
Richard Karliss. “That lines enacted just to have
disagrees with the NIMBY
label.
“No one here is against commercial
development,” Giesbret
says. “We’re just expecting,
all quickly changed. Developers
and flippers discovered
the profit potential for
building up and maximizing
square footage, and that
was that.”
them ignored.”
Cut through traffic on the
residential streets is a growing
concern. Cars parked
on the street are getting
and demanding,
sideswiped and cars back-
sensitive commercial development.
Commercial buildings
should respect other
commercial buildings and
Karliss and other residents
persuaded the City Council
to enact design guidelines to
preserve the intrinsic character
ing out of driveways are
being hit by speeding traffic.
Although the city has installed
some “traffic islands”
also respect residential
of the neighborhood to slow traffic, residents say
needs so that we are not
overwhelmed by noise, traffic,
and special events.”
and prevent an onslaught of
oversized, nearly identical
looking big-box style houses.
their impact is minimal.
They want the city to install
speed bumps.
RICHARD GIESBRET
Cul-de-sacs are another way
to combat cut-through traffic.
In the 1990s, the residents
pushed to get those
created on several streets,
thereby creating several
dead end roads (and consequently
adding to the neighborhood
feel). Giesbret
wonders if it’s time to create
partial cul-de-sacs that
would prevent turns into the
neighborhood from Doheny,
but still allow residents to
turn onto Doheny. “It would
be half blocked; you could
get out, but couldn’t get in,”
he explains. “That would
limit access to the neighborhood
streets.”
Despite the charming area,
many people wish the neighborhood
had an equally
charming name. “West Hollywood
West is a mouthful,”
says Rodriguez. “People
think the second ‘West’ is a
typo. We really need to work
on finding a better name.”
52 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 53

Norma
Triangle
WEST HOLLYWOOD’S OLDEST AND MOST HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD
THIS IS WHERE TRANQUILITY SEEMS TO TRANSPORT
YOU FAR AWAY FROM THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF
GREATER LOS ANGELES.
ONE WOULD NEVER
GUESS WHILE DRIVING
THROUGH WEST HOLLYWOOD
THAT THERE IS A QUAINT,
PICTURESQUE NEIGHBORHOOD
tucked behind the Pavilions supermarket on Santa
Monica Boulevard, the tall buildings on Sunset
Boulevard or the mostly non-descript apartment
buildings on San Vicente Boulevard. It is only from
Doheny Drive that you get a brief glimpse of the enchanting
neighborhood that is Norma Triangle.
But when you do turn off those busy boulevards into
this area, you quickly discover West Hollywood’s
oldest and most historic of neighborhoods. The hidden-away
quality combined with tree-lined streets,
charming-if-small houses and friendly, close-knit
residents is what makes Norma Triangle feel like a
storybook hamlet.
“Norma Triangle seems to be the perfect example
of the West Hollywood urban village concept,” says
Joe Guadarama, who moved to the neighborhood
17 years ago. “It’s a beautiful residential area, but
there are plenty of great shops, restaurants and bars
within easy walking distance.”
Norma Triangle has two distinct parts. The upper
portion, between Sunset and Cynthia Street, is
made up almost entirely of apartment/condo buildings.
The lower portion, between Cynthia and Santa
Monica Boulevard, is primarily made up of singlefamily
homes and duplexes that date back to the
1910s and 1920s.
It’s that lower portion of Norma Triangle that seems
magical. This is where you can get lost in the maze
of streets so narrow that street parking is only allowed
on one side. This is where the lots are so small
and the houses are so close together, it feels European.
This is where the foliage and trees are so lush,
you wonder if you’re in Key West. This is
where tranquility seems to transport you
far away from the hustle and bustle of
greater Los Angeles.
Legend has it that the silent movie
star Norma Talmadge had a film studio
in the area and the homes were originally
dressing rooms for the stars after whom
she named the streets (Cynthia Street,
Lloyd Place, Dicks Street, Phyllis Street,
Keith Avenue, etc).
However, historians say the homes
were built for employees of the streetcar
company, Los Angeles Pacific Railway,
which had a depot where the Pacific
Design Center now stands. Those
historians say the streets were named
after children and friends of Moses
Sherman, who founded the area (West
Hollywood’s original name was Sherman).
The small houses were originally fairly
bland, built mostly in Craftsmen or
Spanish Colonial revival. But in the 100
years since they were built, many got
face lifts. As Joe Guadarama explains,
in the 1940s and 1950s, a lot of designers
who decorated homes in nearby
Beverly Hills lived in Norma Triangle.
In the early 1990s when Todd Bianco
and his then boyfriend decided to move
from Los Feliz to West Hollywood to
be closer to the gay epicenter, they explored
several neighborhoods before
deciding Norma Triangle was where
they wanted to settle. Bianco had a special
fondness for Norma Triangle, dating
back to his time as gay teen coming
to West Hollywood.
They rented an apartment in the neighborhood
and kept an eye out for homes
for sale, while also digging into the history,
even going so far as to research
tract maps of Norma Triangle. Many of
the houses were in disrepair.
“These were little, crappy houses,” recalls
Bianco. “They were built for railroad
workers. They were flimsy and
they were way overpriced for the size.”
When the couple bought their house,
they originally intended to tear it down
and rebuild, but ultimately decided to
renovate instead, taking advantage of
Mills Act tax breaks.
54 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
55

he You energy can feel
PHOTO COURTESY OF BAR 10
“THIS IS A LITTLE POCKET OF HEAVEN IN A VERY, VERY DENSE PART OF THE CITY...”
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAINT FELIX
With houses now fetching $1 million or
more, residents are protective of what
makes their neighborhood special. Following
the lead of the West Hollywood
West neighborhood, in early 2017 Norma
“The nightlife of Santa Monica Boulevard
is so adjacent to it, you can’t not
Triangle residents got the City Council
to institute design guidelines for new
sense it,” says Carvalheiro. “You feel
homes that discourage real estate speculators
from buying properties, tearing
Monica Boulevard, even though you’re a
very connected to the pulse of Santa
the houses down and building oversized,
boxy McMansions.
couple of blocks up.”
Yvette Inclan, who moved to Norma Triangle
six years ago, reports a similar
Guadarama wishes the city would make
the area an historic preservation overlay
zone to protect the old homes. Short
Sunset Strip nightlife.
feeling living just a block south of the
of that, he hopes more houses will be
“You just can’t help but know Sunset is
historically designated, so “that part of
up there. You can feel the energy, but it’s
our history isn’t erased.” Only about a
still a fairly quiet area,” says Inclan.
dozen in the area are currently historically
designated, including the houses at
An advantage to living adjacent to Sunset
is that Lyft and Uber cars are always
the San Vicente Inn, an urban hotel on
San Vicente, just north of Santa Monica
nearby. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to
Boulevard.
wait more than two minutes for Uber,”
says Inclan.
Despite living in the enclave-like area,
residents are always just minutes away
from restaurants and bars. Rogerio Carvalheiro,
who rented a “postage-stamp
sized” house near the Pavilions for several
years, notes the area was peaceful,
but you could still feel the vitality of the
Boystown nightlife.
The area is also home to the worldfamous
Troubadour nightclub at 9081
Santa Monica Boulevard (near Doheny).
The 60-year-old club is where many
musicians and comics got their start,
including James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt,
The Eagles, The Pointer Sisters and Guns
N’ Roses.
Bianco hopes mass transit in the form
of the subway will one day come to the
area with a stop at San Vicente and Santa
Monica Boulevard. But realizing that is
decades away, his wish is that the city
will install more electric vehicle charging
stations, perhaps attaching them to
some of the power poles so you can recharge
on the street.
Carvalheiro hopes the city will repair
the neighborhood’s sidewalks, which
tend to be narrow. Guadarama laments
that cut-through traffic on Cynthia
Street is so heavy that it sometimes takes
ten minutes to get between Doheny and
San Vicente.
While the restaurants is the area are top
notch, residents say they would like a
wider selection, especially a good diner.
And slightly more affordable prices.
But those are just minor quibbles, as residents
say they couldn’t be happier.
“This is a little pocket of heaven in a very,
very dense part of the city because it is
little single family homes,” says Bianco.
“It always struck me as being home because
of the scale and the gay community.
I didn’t want some big house
in the valley. I wanted to live in
an urban environment, and this
was as close to having your
own little slice of that here.”
56 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 57

58 THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
THE GETAWAY: YOUR 36-HOUR WEEKEND

THE GETAWAY: YOUR 36-HOUR
Palm Springs
SATURDAY
#SATURDAYSHENANIGANS
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHEEKY’S
W H O A .
W H AT ’ S
T H AT
FEELING?
I S I T
“AAAHH…?”
You make a right onto Granvia
Valmonte and park in
front of the ALCAZAR,
a sweet, inviting modern
Spanish Colonial hotel offering
34 rooms, a surprisingly
secluded pool deck
and access to two of this
desert town’s most in demand
restaurants: Cheeky’s
and Birba.
Your room is white, as in allwhite
– even the floor. It is
affordable desert minimalism
warmed up by brightly
colored throw pillows. Suddenly,
you’re famished,
anticipation of your
weekend sojourn whetting
your appetite.
#FEELGOODFRIDAY
You are shocked at how
early you’ve arisen. The desert
has that effect on many,
and breakfast never sounded
better. CHEEKY’S
– the hottest breakfast joint
in town -- is attached to your
hotel, but you’d better hurry.
A long line has formed and
it’s only 7:45 a.m. Ron, the
silver fox of a host, seats you
at a table outdoors, underneath
a canopy of vines.
You’ve just veered off the
I-10 onto California Highway
111. The San Jacinto
Mountains stand majestically
to your right as you see
the Coachella Valley unrolling
itself out like a carpet
before you. Your body relaxes
as your mind releases its
grip on your workaday obsessions.
The smile on your
face is real. You’re only minutes
from spending a weekend
in the oasis known as
Palm Springs.
You drive south on
North Palm Canyon
Drive through Uptown,
the ridiculously
seductive collection
of Mid Century Modern
shops and toocute
restaurants.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALCAZAR
JOHANNES
is where you end up, one of
the first upscale restaurants
of the modern Palm Springs
renaissance. Your eyes scan
the Continental-inspired
California menu and your
head cocks to one side. Wait.
Schnitzel? Ja. Austrian chef
Johannes Bacher has two
options for you: traditional
veal (Wienerschnitzel) and
chicken. Both are served
with fingerling potatoes,
dill-cucumber sour cream
dressing, fresh cranberries
and a half lemon wrapped
in a micro-weaved yellow
net straining the sour citrus
juice dripping onto
the fried, breaded deliciousness
that is schnitzel.
Quench your palate with
any number of European or
Californian wines. Or, better
yet, imbibe their signature
sangria made with
more ingredients than you
can count.
Your evening isn’t over yet.
Bootlegger Tiki is just a mile
north. Upon entering you notice
the Polynesian-infused
décor: kitschy paintings of
topless, well-endowed hula
dancers and puffer fish lanterns.
The bartender recommends
the (literally) flaming
King Louie’s Downfall or
the Pog Tiki – served in a tiki
tumbler. One sip from each
and, well… life is good.
The Bloody Marys are to
die for. You giggle because
they are served in little
glass cowboy boots. That’s
because they kick ass. The
glass tchotchke theme continues
as real maple syrup
– pouring out of a log-cabin-shaped
bottle – drenches
your corn and blueberry
pancakes. Gobsmacked
is what you are next as you
drool over the bacon flight
featuring five moutwatering
flavors including jalapeno
and Indio date glaze.
Yu-uum!
60
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
61

Work off all the calories you
just ate by hiking the gorgeous
Indian Canyons. Drive
south on Palm Canyon, onto
the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians Reservation.
Pay your $9 entrance fee and
choose from Palm, Murray
and Andreas Canyons to hike
in. PALM CANYON
displays a lush oasis and an
outdoor museum showing
how these Indians lived. If
you say to yourself,
you’ve gotta scoot!
Your night not quite completed,
you crave something
more before turning in. The
Club at the HARD ROCK
in downtown Palm Springs
is a “mashup” of the days
of disco and modern desert
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HARD ROCK CAFE
“WOW, I HAD
NO IDEA PALM
SPRINGS HAD
THIS TO OFFER,”
YOU WOULDN’T
BE THE FIRST.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IL CORSO ON EL PASEO
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HARD ROCK CAFE
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HARD ROCK CAFE
NAPS. YOU LIKE ‘EM?
OKAY, YOU’VE EARNED
ONE. SIT BY THE ALCA-
ZAR POOL AND SHUT
YOUR EYES.
Returning to full consciousness,
you’ve gotta scoot!
Your dinner reservation at
IL CORSO ON EL
PASEO in Palm Desert
– 14 miles away – awaits.
Upon arrival, you are greeted
by a friendly Sicilian.
This is Federico, and his
accent pulls you to your
table as you admire the
industrial-inspired
interior, open kitchen
and glass-walled
wine cellar.
you prefer gnocchi alla vodka
or tagliatelle all’emiliana.
Il Corso is one of those rare
finds in the desert: great
food, impeccable service and
inviting ambiance.
style. Just consult its website.
The DJ knows her stuff.
Your bootie shakes as your
foot taps. You find a partner
and move onto the dance
floor before ordering craft
cocktails and people-watching.
What happens from
here is, frankly, none of our
business.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HARD ROCK CAFE
Your head still spinning
from The Club, you push
open the Alcazar’s gate as
the frothy waters of an inviting
Jacuzzi compel you.
Soon, jets of hot bubbles
tickle your shoulders, and
you couldn’t possibly get
more chill.
Federico will probably
steeryou to the
perennial special:
Dover sole, sliced tableside
and accompanied
by julienne vegetables.
Il Corso’s pasta
is homemade so maybe
62
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018 63

SUNDAY
#SUNDAYFUNDAY
bottomless mimosas?
Within this unique vestibule,
which rotates, giving
every passenger a 360-degree
view of the valley floor,
you might as well be in the
Swiss Alps noticing the craggy
rock formations getting
more dramatic as you approach
your destination.
UPON
EXITING IT
APPEARS YOU
ARE IN THE
MIDDLE OF
A CHEAP SKI
LODGE FROM
A 1960S SPY
MOVIE.
There’s a gift shop and a restaurant
but the real magic
is outside. After traipsing
along concrete walkways
you soon see pine trees.
Yeah, that’s a forest. Moments
ago you were driving
through desert; now
you are in the mountains.
Amazing.
Peaks now stand on your
left as you speed toward
the I-10 west, toward L.A.
There’s a heavy feeling in
your chest. You feel…sad.
You’re leaving a magical
place, misnamed after the
Spanish word (conchilla)
meaning “little shell.”
You put on your favorite
tunes and hit the gas pedal,
knowing Palm Springs and
its environs will always be
only about two short hours
away.
your arrives chariot
#AMAZING
By Michael Jortner
Michael Jortner writes about
entrepreneurs, leaders and
influencers running small businesses
in and around West
Hollywood for WEHOville.com.
More information can be found
at michaeljortner.com and
Jortner can be reached at
writer@michaeljortner.com.
64
THE URBAN VILLAGE: WINTER 2017/2018
65

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