West Hollywood
Icon Ivy Bottini bids farewell to WeHo
Ivy Bottini. (Portrait by Jon Viscott for Los Angeles Blade)
Short, white-haired, walking with a cane—Ivy Bottini commands attention when she walks into a room because she’s earned it. But after almost five decades of making a difference in Los Angeles County—roughly two of which were as a pot-stirrer on the West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board—Bottini, 93, is moving to Florida on Feb. 1 to live with her daughter. She plans to continue painting, go fishing and find a Democratic club so she can keep giving ‘em hell—whoever the deserving “they” might be.
Bottini leaves WeHo with her not only her wit and wisdom but the history of how she became an activist: her struggle to embrace an authenticity that dare not speak its name; then standing up to hypocritical freedom fighters who tried to determine who gets to be free.
But Bottini did not spring full-born, ready to fight, from Athena’s brow. Like other female mortals before the Women’s Liberation movement, she went along with society’s flow, assuming her expected role as suburban wife and mother—until she just couldn’t anymore. That part of Bottini’s story—told in her book The Liberation of Ivy Bottini, A Memoir of Love and Activism —is as important as all the protests she’s organized. Her story may not be a blueprint for every LGBT activist, but it illustrates how grappling with personal truth in life-changing moments may yield an ineffable inner light of freedom that no one can extinguish.
Born to Long Island cab driver and former boxer Archie Gaffney and his unhappy housewife on August 15,1926, Bottini’s tomboy life was good until her father died in a car crash. Suddenly their expenses were severely limited. Luckily, she got a full scholarship to the Pratt Institute of Art and Design to study advertising, graphic design and illustration. After graduation, she worked in New York City art and advertising agencies—before the freer era depicted in “Mad Men.” In 1952, she married the young man across the street, Eddie Bottini, had two daughters, Laura and Lisa, and quietly struggled with her silent attraction to women.
“I became an activist as I think a lot of lesbians or women who aren’t sure of their sexuality and are struggling might have become an activist. After falling in love with all my gym teachers—that was a clue—and with all other teachers in grammar school and then junior high and high, I really was struggling growing up with how I felt about girls and women,” Bottini told the Los Angeles Blade in an extensive interview. “I was still falling in love with women quietly, silently.”
Bottini, an art director and illustrator at Newsday (from 1955-1971), finally called an old friend from school and asked to come over. Embarrassed, she asked Doris, “this wonderful dyke,” to take her to a gay bar. To which Doris replied, “God we (their basketball team) thought you’d never get it.” They went to Jan’s on the north shore of Long Island where Bottini was mesmerized by a woman dancing on the small dance floor.
The next night Bottini went back alone, sat at the bar and finally worked up the courage to ask that same woman, Nancy, to dance. “That changed my life that evening. I just felt when I walked in there by myself, I felt like I had walked into my home, where I was supposed to be. So over the next handful of years, I struggled,” she says.
Then in 1966, Newsday reporter Dolores Alexander told Bottini about an amazing interview with Betty Friedan, whose book “The Feminine Mystique” “was all the rage.” Dolores took Bottini to a women’s meeting in New York City “and soon I was helping to found the first chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW)” with Dolores. She also joined national NOW where she served on the board for three years.
Meanwhile, Bottini was also having a great clandestine time hitting the ton of gay bars on Long Island with Nancy and her partner. But by September 1968, “I just had had it,” living a secret double life, Bottini says. “I was on the Long Island Railroad in a snowstorm coming back from a New York NOW meeting and when we got to Garden City, I just got off the train.”
It wasn’t her stop and it was cold. She found a payphone and called her psychiatrist. “I was really struggling,” she says. When he answered the phone, Bottini was quietly crying explaining her circumstances. “I can’t go home anymore. And he said, ‘sorry,’ and hung up. And so I yelled out—it was late at night—I yelled out ‘fuck you!’ I was so angry at him. I never went back.”
Bottini called a friend in Levittown who invited her over and offered her a room for as long as she needed one. She joined a social club and called her husband to say she couldn’t come home as long as he was there. Eventually he left and she went home, though the couple didn’t divorce until 1972.
Delores Alexander called Bottini about a three-bedroom condo with a great kitchen, balcony and view on West 93rd Street for $350 a month. She snapped it up and moved in with her daughter Laura while her youngest daughter moved in with her dad. “My life became totally different in one fell swoop,” she says.
Bottini came out unexpectedly when answering a question at a 1968 New York City NOW press conference. Without realizing it, she referred to herself as a lesbian. But once out, she doubled down.
“I accepted that I was a lesbian and as I accepted this, my life changed considerably,” Bottini says. She was elected president of New York NOW and served two terms. Her consciousness raising workshops were picked up by NOW chapters throughout the country, as was the national NOW logo she designed at the request of national NOW President Aileen Hernandez.
In 1969, Bottini introduced the struggle for lesbian rights into the women’s movement through a panel entitled, “Is Lesbianism A Feminist Issue?” But she was shocked by the response of the “mother” of the feminist movement, Betty Friedan.
Bottini organized the August 26, 1970 Strike for Peace and Equality to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. The women’s march drew an estimated 50,000 people marching down Fifth Avenue. But one moment threw shade on the glorious celebration. Bottini handed out lavender armbands to show solidarity with the oppression of lesbian sisters. Though prominent feminists such as Gloria Steinem accepted them readily, Friedan, Bottini later told the Los Angeles Times, threw the armband on the ground and twisted it with her heel.
“My point was, ‘How can you have a women’s movement and leave a huge amount of women out?’ ” Bottini told The Times. “But Friedan just never got that. She doesn’t understand that lesbianism is the bottom line of the women’s movement. If you can’t get past the fear of being thought of as a lesbian, whether you are or not, then you never are really free….Sexual politics is civil rights.”
Friedan called Bottini a “lavender menace” and, Bottini believes, plotted a “purge” of lesbians, starting with voting her out of NOW leadership. The LA Times notes that a 1973 Friedan essay in the New York Times Magazine “smacked of downright paranoia; Friedan even claimed a woman was sent to seduce her and then blackmail her into silence while unnamed lesbians took over NOW.”
Before she was expelled, Bottini helped produce the “NOW YORK TIMES” with “All the news that would give The Times fits.” And her Strike Committee helped organize radical feminists and NOW protests around New York City, including the brazen takeover of the Statue of Liberty on August 10, 1970, hanging a 40-foot banner declaring “WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE.”
In fact, the Statue of Liberty was an accidental event in lieu of vandalizing another New York statue. When she took over as president, Bottini instituted weekly NOW meetings for different programs, after which the group would grab beers at Remo’s, a bar in Greenwich Village. One night a lesbian couple from Queens who skipped the meeting showed up at the bar. Concerned, Bottini asked what happened.
“And Pat said, ‘We’re gonna blow up a statue.’ And I said, ‘Did I hear that correctly? What are you talking about?’”
Pat recounted how every night driving home from work, Bottini recalls, they passed an “eight-feet tall statue of this Greek god with hair blowing in the wind and he’s got a spear, a pitchfork, and he’s got rippling muscles and a bare chest and a loin cloth and legs of steel. And his pitchfork is over the head of a woman and is bleeding and the name of the statue is Civic Virtue, and we’re gonna blow it up.”
“I thought, ‘Oh my god, she’s serious.’ And my brain is going two hundred miles an hour and I’m thinking no, no, no, no you can’t. You’re gonna go to jail,” Bottini says. “And I’m thinking she’s such a good worker, I can’t afford to lose her— never mind that she’s gonna be in jail. So I said, ‘Oh ya know, that’s small potatoes, a local statue. I’ll tell you what, if we’re gonna do something like that, we have to make a big statement. So let’s go take over the Statue of Liberty.”
Bottini chuckles, remembering. “And then I could hear myself and the other part of my brain is going, ‘are you out of my your mind?’” Over the next few weeks different committees get to work. “And when women divide into committees, you might as well give up because that’s gonna happen.”
This is happening at the same time that Bottini is organizing the Women’s March for Equality so she gives the committees free reign.
“So comes the 10th of August and now we are at the day we will take over the Statue of Liberty. We go over on two different ferryboats and we get off and some of the women start sauntering hither and yon up to the statue. Their clothes were a little bulgy. They had a forty-foot piece of oil cloth, cut in pieces, put around different women’s bodies so they looked pregnant.
“I’ve got a picket line going and we’re walking around the very narrow oval that picket lines used to walk,” Bottini recalls. “And they have guitars and they’ve written different lyrics for popular songs and suddenly there’s something going on. And I turn and look at the statue and here the banner is just being dropped over the side of the railing at the top of the pedestal. It’s huge. And it says ‘WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE.’
“So, okay, that was great,” Bottini continues. “Now we gotta get the hell off the island because we’re on a federal island and you’re not supposed to be where we are and doing what we’re doing. And there are no ferryboats. They stopped all traffic coming to the island. So I looked back toward Manhattan and I see three police boats heading our way. Then I see two fireboats. So I think we are definitely going to the federal pen. We’re gonna get arrested.
“They land and the captain gets off the middle boat and he’s got a bullhorn and he’s standing down on the little wharf. He yells up to me: ‘What are you women doin’ up there?’ And I go, ‘We’re playing guitars and singing.’ And he says, ‘Uh huh. Okay. How long are you gonna be?’ Which is not what I expected, ya know? And I go, ‘Oh, uh, probably no more than a half hour.’ And he goes, ‘Okay, I’ll be right here.’ And I said, ‘Thank you and I’ll be right here,” Bottini says, laughing.
As Bottini returned to singing and marching, the captain ordered the three police boats to put on their sirens. “It’s going wup, wup, wup,” Bottini adds. “And the two fireboats were shooting off their water canons, which went way the hell up in the air. And so we got the wup, wup, wup and the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh goin’ and we had a party.” After which the ferryboats docked, the women boarded and went home.
Photos of the takeover appeared in newspapers around the world, including the front page of a paper in Paris.
Bottini left NOW in 1971 after being voted out, moving to Los Angeles to focus on her other loves—acting, comedy and the growing gay rights movement. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute and later toured the country for several years performing her lesbian feminist one-woman show, “The Many Faces of Woman.” At one point she had to go home suffering from Graves Disease but moved to Silver Lake full time in 1975.
Bottini was hired by Susan Kuhner, Director of Programs at the LA Gay Community Services Center, as director of their women’s program. (Kuhner was later interim co-executive director with Steve Schulte.) She left when she was hired by David Mixner and Peter Scott as Southern California Deputy Director of the campaign to fight the anti-gay Briggs Initiative.
It was during that successful campaign that she met lesbian real estate broker Gail Wilson. “She was a wonderful human being,” Bottini recalls. “But when I first met her, I was at odds with her. Gail raised a lot of money and she had a lot of people that knew her from AA so she was a very successful realtor.”
But at one event, Wilson was advising her gay and lesbian audience about how to act professionally in the straight world. “When I heard ‘you should not come out,] I thought, ‘Oh, this is not gonna be good.’ The place was packed and Gail is saying, ‘Don’t come out, just do your job, keep your private life to yourself.’ And I was going to go through the roof because that’s exactly why we were being attacked because they never thought we’d fight back. Like, we weren’t gonna come out of the closet and stand up for ourselves because horrible things could happen to you.
“So I got up and spoke and I didn’t mince any words. And I thought, ‘Well, she’s gonna hate me for the rest of her life. But she was a wonderful, magnanimous human being. And she said to me a month or so later, ‘What are you gonna do?’ And I didn’t know. Maybe go back to the center. She said, ‘No, no, don’t do that. Go get your real estate license and come work with me in my real estate office.’ So I said Okay. I mean, you show me a door that’s open and I’m gonna walk through it, ya know?”
Ivy Bottini, Jean O’Leary, Jeanne Cordova, Robin Tyler (Photo courtesy Robin Tyler)
Bottini went on to become a successful real estate agent while continuing to paint and speak out against the closet and any type of assimilation.
All those seemingly little life-changing moments helped create the powerhouse who took on politicians and the gay male establishment, including her Stonewall Democratic Club friend Morris Kight, when AIDS hit and no one knew what to do. Bottini and her longtime gal-pal Dottie Wine organized a town hall meeting at Fiesta Hall in West Hollywood where Dr. Joel Weisman gave out information about how the new HIV virus was spread through bodily fluids, information that literally saved people’s lives.
“I saw the danger,” says Bottini. “I saw the danger that we were about to get hit with while it was happening and we didn’t even know it. People’s lives were just being torn apart with deaths—and children being taken away from lesbian mothers—it was too much. I saw a tapestry of hurt and that’s what I was fighting.
Rep. Adam Schiff, Ivy Bottini, LA County Assessor Jeff Prang, Dottie Wine. Photo by Karen Ocamb
“What I will miss most is the camaraderie in the city,” Bottini says. “It’s hard for me to say which issue was more important because they were all leading to the same place. It was leading to our liberation and our internal heart.”
Oh, and Bottini’s most prized award? The apology she finally got from NOW.
AIDS and HIV
New monument in West Hollywood will honor lives lost to AIDS
In 1985, WeHo sponsored one of the first awareness campaigns in the country, nationally and globally becoming a model city for the response to the epidemic
December is AIDS/HIV awareness month and this year West Hollywood is honoring the lives lost, by breaking ground on a project in West Hollywood Park that has been in the works since 2012.
Members of Hollywood’s City Council joined representatives from the Foundation of AIDS Monument to announce the commencement of the construction of STORIES: The AIDS Monument, which will memorialize 32 million lives lost. This monument, created by artist Daniel Tobin, will represent the rich history of Los Angeles where many of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS lived out their final days in support of their community.
Tobin is a co-founder and creative director of Urban Art Projects, which creates public art programs that humanize cities by embedding creativity into local communities.
The motto for the monument is posted on the website announcing the project.
“The AIDS Monument:
REMEMBERS those we lost, those who survived, the protests and vigils, the caregivers.
CELEBRATES those who step up when others step away.
EDUCATES future generations through lessons learned.”
The monument will feature a plaza with a donor wall, vertical bronze ‘traces’ with narrative text, integrated lighting resembling a candlelight vigil, and a podium facing North San Vicente Blvd.
World AIDS Day, which just passed, is on December 1st since the World Health Organization declared it an international day for global health in 1988 to honor the lives lost to HIV/AIDS.
The Foundation for the AIDS monument aims to chronicle the epidemic to be preserved for younger generations to learn the history and memorialize the voices that arose during this time.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic particularly affected people in Hollywood during the onset of the epidemic in the 1980s. The epidemic caused a devastatingly high number of deaths in the city. The city then became one of the first government entities to provide social service grants to local AIDS and HIV organizations.
In 1985, the city sponsored one of the first awareness campaigns in the country, nationally and globally becoming a model city for the response to the epidemic.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the theme for World AIDS Day, ‘Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress.’
The city of West Hollywood continues to strive to become a HIV Zero city with its current implementation of HIV Zero Initiative. The initiative embraces a vision to “Get to Zero” on many fronts: zero new infections, zero progression of HIV to AIDS, zero discrimination and zero stigma.
Along with the initiative and the new AIDS monument, the city also provides ongoing support and programming through events for World AIDS Day and the annual AIDS Memorial Walk in partnership with the Alliance for Housing and Healing.
For more information, please visit www.weho.org/services/human-services/hiv-aids-resources.
LGBTQ Non-Profit Organizations
Quinceañera fashion show raises record-breaking funds
The Trans Latin@ Coalition raised approximately $300,000 to continue funding vital programs
The Trans Latin@ Coalition raised a record-breaking amount of money at their quinceañera, celebrating fifteen years of helping the Trans, Latin American communities of West Hollywood and Los Angeles. The event took place at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, starting with a VIP reception and red carpet, followed by a fashion show featuring 14 designers. The 15th anniversary successfully highlighted the intersection of cultura, fashion and activism with a mariachi and fashion lines full of vibrant Latin American colors, patterns and embroidery.
The quinceanera’s fashion show is called GARRAS, which stands for Groundbreaking Activism Redirecting and Reforming All Systems. GARRAS is more than just a fashion show, it is also a movement to transform the Trans, Gender nonconforming and Intersex community–as well as their allies–into high-fashion icons.
GARRAS raises funds for the Trans Latin@ Coalition and uses these events to give TGI people a platform to showcase their talents, leadership and activism. The quinceañera-themed fashion show
Bamby Salcedo, CEO of Trans Latin@ Coalition spoke during the event to address not only the need for continued funding, but also to point out how much more unity the TGI and Latin American communities must demonstrate in light of the incoming Trump administration.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting our work, for believing in our work and for participating in the change we are all working to create,” said Salcedo to the audience. “We’re here to raise funds to continue to do the work that needs to happen, especially because of what just happened [with the election]. And you know what? [The government] is trying to scare us and diminish who we are, and I say to all those mother f*ckers ‘F*ck you!”
The fashion show and reception brought in celebrity guests, models, influencers and many other queer Los Angeles socialites. Zaya Wade, Gia Gunn from Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Season 6, Mayhem Miller from Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Season 10, Heidi N Closet from Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Season 12 and many influencers and personalities.
The TGI designers who showcased their latest creations were: Leandrag, Enrique Montes, Semi Creations, Natalia Acosta, Royal Rubbish, ArmaniDae, Nuwa1997, Bad Burro, Life on Mars, HIM NYC, 10 eleven, Rag to Fab, Christiana Gallardo and Jesse Alvarado.
Arts & Entertainment
Meet the whimsical, fairy-core Uber driver who drives a car named Mollie
Nonbinary Uber driver, Caspian Larkins is rolling on Mollie– no, not that one
Forest green faux fur, rhinestones, a fabric-lined ceiling, planted faux flowers and green plastic grass adorn the inside of an anthropomorphized car named Mollie who spends her days riding off into the sunset on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood and beyond.
The driver of this 2008 Ford Escape, Caspian Larkins, 24 and a Cancer sign, moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and through a series of humbling restaurant jobs and other side hustles, ended up driving for Uber. Though working for Uber was not on Larkins’ bingo card for 2021, they wanted to find a way to make the experience not only fun for themself, but also for the people who roll on Mollie.
Larkins, who identifies as nonbinary and queer, grew up being one with nature in the wilderness of Oregon and when you step inside Mollie, it feels like a little magical, mystical slice of Oregonian forest–of course if it were reimagined on four wheels and zooming through traffic in Los Angeles.
Forest green faux fur and a pink ruffle with a layer of tiny fabric roses, line the doors. Stickers on the sunroof and windows reflect rainbow hues across the white leather seats and passengers. (Photo credit Gisselle Palomera)
Going viral overnight doesn’t happen to just anyone, but this iconic duo now have thousands of followers on social media and have big plans for the future.
ShaVonne Boggs, a content creator who hailed an Uber ride from Larkins, posted an Instagram reel of the ride and featured Larkins in all their fairy-core glory, driving through L.A traffic, with the viral Gwen Stefani ‘Just a Girl,’ audio clip playing over.
“I went to bed that night with a couple hundred followers on my account and I woke up the next day and I had gained like 3,000 followers,” said Larkins.
Larkins has a unique sense of style that incorporates nature, fashion and sustainability, often foraging for materials from the side of the road to add to the car and accepting donated fabrics from people who reach out to them through social media.
“I’m a forager. What can I say?,” said Larkins and then jokingly added that Jeff Bezos also personally delivers some of the items they use to decorate Mollie.
“I come across stuff on the street sometimes that I’ll pick up, put in my car and repurpose.”
Larkins says that Mollie is a little bit dinged up and bruised up from the outside, but that it’s the inside that truly matters.
There is a third character in this story that resides on the inside of the car at all times.
Jack Aranda is the name of the guardian angel of this fairytale ride. It is a miniature rubber ducky that was given to Larkins by a spiritual witch that opted for an Uber drive, over a broom one night.
“It was midnight, by Venice Beach and you know it was good vibes, but yea she gets in and we’re talking and she’s like ‘I’m going to give you this duck,’ and gives me this little tiny purple good luck duck,” said Larkins. “So I kept the good luck duck and I put him on my dashboard.”
Larkins says that ever since this encounter, the luck in their car changed.
“Red lights will always turn green for me, and sometimes someone will run a red light and miss [hitting] me and I just think it’s divine intervention because of Jack.”
Larkins poses in front of their car Mollie on a road in West Hollywood, CA. (Photo Credit Gisselle Palomera)
Larkins says that the decorated interior and its elements serves not only as a conversation starter, but also as a filter from unwanted conversations and painfully boring small talk.
“I think that since I’ve decorated my car, it’s like my filter,” said Larkins. “The people who get in and are like, ‘Oh my god,’ those are my people and those are the ones that I’m there for. And the ones that get in and are silent, I just let them sit there and soak in the rainbows.”
They say that there have been more good interactions, than bad ones and more people who ‘get it,’ than those who don’t.
Anthropomorphizing cars is nothing new to pop culture. In fact, cars have almost always had names and it is almost a part of engrained American culture to assign personalities to them based on their cosmetic characteristics.
The earliest examples on TV go as far back as the 1940s and some of the most memorable examples are Christine, the possessed, killer Camaro from Stephen King’s imaginative mind.
Or Herbie, the 1963 Volkswagen Racing Beetle from the early cartoon TV show Herbie, the Love Bug.
In everyday routine, people spend so much time and energy on and around inanimate objects, that they sort of become meaningful elements who accompany us on our journeys from here to there–and back.
“What I’m doing now with her is switching out different designs with the seasons,” said Larkins.
Larkins drives around Los Angeles and West Hollywood, picking up and dropping off people from all walks of life. (Photo Credit Gisselle Palomera)
“So right now we have our spring/summer look and a lot of the things in there are removable, velcroed and stapled.”
They say that right now they are exploring a very niche area of automotive interior design that they feel has not been explored within vehicles recently.
“It’s just hard for other people to conceptualize it and what I often describe to people, comes off as very tacky and just kind of nasty– not demure, not cute.”
Larkins feel they are really just now setting the stage for what’s possible, as far as interior customizations.
“I want to start creating this world in which design plays a bigger role in what a car could be and the experience of just being transported,” said Larkins candidly. “I want to invite people into my little delusional fantasies.”
Larkins believes that even in the present and near future of self-driving vehicles, they would like to collaborate with these major self-driving car companies and take part in designing and customizing the vehicles so that it can be a pleasurable and fun experience for riders who might feel anxiety about self-driving technology.
The inside of Mollie is adorned from top to bottom and from left to right. (Photo Credit Gisselle Palomera)
Modifying and customizing cars has been a part of the North American experience since the early 1930s. Now, attention is shifting toward the addition of technologies like Augmented Reality, to enhance the experience of driving and getting from point A to point B, and also using that technology to navigate the vehicle without a driver.
There are now endless possibilities when it comes to custom car culture and Larkins feels this is their place to explore and forage for the looks that people want and can’t even imagine.
“I want to step away from driving for the platforms and I would love to design with them,” said Larkins. “There is a group of people that are in support of this future technology and there is this other group of people that are kind of scared of it because it feels very cold and very uninviting and very new, so I would like to be the one to sort of bridge that gap for those people and make it less scary.”
The vision that Larkins has, is that they would like to reimagine the possibilities of custom interiors with interchangeable parts and additions that one could only think of as synonymous to Barbie and her endlessly fun assortment of interchangeable outfit components.
Larkins sees a long future ahead, where they have the opportunity to collaborate with airlines, rideshare companies and any other sponsors who are willing to make their visions come to reality. Until then, they will continue to weave up and down the asphalt arteries of WeHo and beyond, rolling on Mollie and working on their fairytale ending.
California
LGBTQ+ leaders from across Los Angeles gather to endorse Measure G
The ballot initiative would push toward more accountability and transparency from Los Angeles County officials
On Wednesday, leaders from the Los Angeles LGBTQ+ community gathered at West Hollywood Park in support of Measure G, a ballot initiative that would hold county officials and all departments accountable for corruption, fraud and closed-door deals.
“As Mayor of West Hollywood, I’m proud to support Measure G because it’s a vital step toward making LA County’s government more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs of all its residents,” said West Hollywood mayor John Erickson. “This reform is crucial for strengthening the voice of West Hollywood and every part of LA County. I urge everyone to vote yes on Measure G and help build a county government that truly works for all of our people.”
Community leaders say this ballot initiative is crucial reform on the November ballot. This initiative aims to increase representation and accountability in the LA County government.
Other than adding more seats to the Board of Supervisors, Measure G would also create an independent ethics commission, create an elected County Executive brand and open the County budget hearings to the public for more financial transparency.
This measure is not only supported by local LGBTQ+ leaders, but also from leaders across many other communities and industries like nurses and small businesses.
The ethics commission would work to prevent former politicians from lobbying within their first two years after leaving office, authorize the suspension of County politicians who are criminally charged with a felony.
The measure would create an elected County Executive position, where they would be directly responsible for the accountability of the public by putting an end to the current system where an elected bureaucrat controls LA County’s full $45 billion dollar budget.
Among other things, the measure would also require County departments to hold public budget hearings and require a minimum of five days’ notice to the public of County’s new legislation. This would prevent politicians from making secret closed-door deals.
The press conference was led by Drag Laureate, Pickle the Drag Queen and included other prominent LGBTQ+ voices like Trans Latin@ Coalition President and CEO Bamby Salcedo, Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang and Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Commission Vice-Chair Sydney Rogers.
“For too long, our community has struggled to access essential services like housing, healthcare, and support programs due to inequities in the allocation of county resources. Measure G ensures that public funds are distributed fairly and that the needs of marginalized communities, including trans and gender nonconforming people, are prioritized, said Bamby Salcedo, President and CEO of the Trans Latin@ Coalition.
AIDS and HIV
40th anniversary AIDS Walk happening this weekend in West Hollywood
AIDS Project Los Angeles Health will gather in West Hollywood Park to kick off 40th anniversary celebration
APLA Health will celebrate its 40th anniversary this Sunday at West Hollywood Park, by kicking off the world’s first and oldest AIDS walk with a special appearance by Salina Estitties, live entertainment, and speeches.
APLA Health, which was formerly known as AIDS Project Los Angeles, serves the underserved LGBTQ+ communities of Los Angeles by providing them with resources.
“We are steadfast in our efforts to end the HIV epidemic in our lifetime. Through the use of tools like PrEP and PEP, the science of ‘undetectable equals intransmissible,’ and our working to ensure broad access to LGTBQ+ empowering healthcare, we can make a real step forward in the fight to end this disease,” said APLA Health’s chief executive officer, Craig E. Thompson.
For 40 years, APLA Health has spearheaded programs, facilitated healthcare check-ups and provided other essential services to nearly 20,000 members of the LGBTQ+ community annually in Los Angeles, regardless of their ability to pay.
APLA Health provides LGBTQ+ primary care, dental care, behavioral healthcare, HIV specialty care, and other support services for housing and nutritional needs.
The AIDS Walk will begin at 10AM and registrations are open for teams and solo walkers. More information can be found on the APLA Health’s website.
West Hollywood
Following Emmy win for 2024 coverage, West Hollywood announces dates for WeHo Pride Weekend 2025
Celebration to take place from May 30-June 1, 2025
The City of West Hollywood has officially announced the dates for WeHo Pride Weekend 2025, following a prestigious Emmy Award win for the 2024 event coverage. The upcoming celebration is scheduled to take place from Friday, May 30 to Sunday, June 1, 2025, centered around West Hollywood Park at 647 N. San Vicente Blvd.
KTLA5 recently won an Emmy Award in the category of Live Special Events — News Coverage for their broadcast of the WeHo Pride Parade. The award was presented by actress Marlee Matlin at the 76th LA Area Emmy Awards ceremony. This recognition highlights the growing significance and visibility of WeHo Pride on a regional scale.
Executive Producers Marcus Smith, Wendy Burch, and Jacob Burch accepted the award with the KTLA5 team. In his acceptance speech, Jacob Burch emphasized the importance of LGBTQ representation and authenticity, stating, “To win this for something that celebrates being your true authentic self unapologetically with pride is just the sweetest serendipity and proves that it does get better.”
Jeff Consoletti, founder and CEO of JJLA, the production company that designs and executes WeHo Pride is pictured here hold the Emmy with KTLA Executive Producer Marcus Smith. (Photo courtesy of Consoletti’s Instagram account)
Key events planned for WeHo Pride Weekend 2025 include:
- Free Friday Night at OUTLOUD
- Street Fair
- Women’s Freedom Festival
- Annual Dyke March
- WeHo Pride Parade
- OUTLOUD at WeHo Pride music festival
Detailed information about WeHo Pride Weekend 2025 and the accompanying WeHo Pride Arts Festival will be released in the coming months. Updates will be posted on www.wehopride.com. Interested parties can also follow @wehopride on Instagram and Facebook for the latest information.
WeHo is a city of outsized influence. It enjoys worldwide recognition and is home to the “Rainbow District” along Santa Monica Boulevard, known for a robust LGBTQ community, its LGBTQ clubs, restaurants, and shops.
- Over 40% of West Hollywood residents identify as LGBTQ.
- Four out of five West Hollywood City Council members are openly LGBTQ.
- Pride events have been held in the area since 1979, predating the city’s incorporation.
- The city is diverse, with the largest ethnic groups being white (non-Hispanic) (70.3 percent), Two+ (Non-Hispanic) (6.35 percent), and white (Hispanic) (5.31 percent.)
- 91.9 percent of residents are U.S. citizens.
- The average age of WeHo residents is 55.
West Hollywood consistently tops lists of “most LGBTQ friendly cities” in the nation. The city’s embrace of Pride is part of its advocacy for nearly four decades for measures that support LGBTQ people.
In 2022, the city launched WeHo Pride after organizers of LA Pride, Christopher Street West (a 501 C3) moved that event to Hollywood Boulevard and other locations around Los Angeles.
Many people, however, feel a consolidation of the two events is necessary, particularly given the changes in sponsorship interest and stress of funding participation in two back to back major Pride events. LA Pride and WeHo Pride are held within days of one another.
West Hollywood
A subway to WeHo? It might be time to get on board
Metro is holding consultations on extending the K Line
Imagine getting from West Hollywood to Hollywood or LAX in minutes without having to fight through the notorious Los Angeles traffic. That’s the future the City of West Hollywood wants as it fights for an extension of the Metro K Line through the heart of the region’s gay nightlife neighborhood.
Metro is holding consultations on a proposed northern extension of the K Line from its current terminus at Expo/Crenshaw station to meet the A Line at Hollywood/Highland station and wants feedback on three proposed route options, but two of them bypass West Hollywood altogether.
The route that the City of West Hollywood prefers, called the San Vicente alignment, veers west to meet the D Line at the future Wilshire and Fairfax station before veering further west with stops at Beverly/Fairfax, Beverly/San Vicente, Santa Monica/San Vicente, and Santa Monica/La Brea before reaching the A Line.
The cheapest and most direct route would go straight up La Brea Avenue to meet the A Line. A third route would run up Fairfax Avenue before turning back to Hollywood/Highland on the A Line but would also miss most of West Hollywood. All three options also consider a possible further extension to the Hollywood Bowl.
For West Hollywood City Planner David Fenn, the route through West Hollywood makes the most sense.
“The San Vicente route would put three times as many jobs and six times as many residents in walking distance of transit,” he says. “The areas that this is going through aren’t the average part of the county. They’re some of the biggest destinations for locals and tourists.”
Some of the destinations the San Vicente route would service directly include the Grove, the Farmer’s Market, Cedars-Sinai, the Pacific Design Center, the Beverly Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and West Hollywood’s Rainbow District. Those destinations would help add more than 59,000 daily riders to the K Line, according to Metro’s draft environmental review, compared to just 47,000 new riders on the La Brea alignment.
“Day one would have the highest ridership of any light rail line in the country,” Fenn says. “When you talk to regular people about this project, they tend to just get it. They say, ‘Of course I would take the subway to Pride, to the Bowl.’”
Fenn says the best way for residents to ensure that the San Vicente alignment gets built is to let Metro know they want it.
Metro is holding public information sessions on Aug 10 at 10 a.m. at Susan Miller Dorsey Senior High on Aug 13 at 6 p.m., at Pan Pacific Park Community Center, and a virtual session on Aug.15 at noon over Zoom.
If you can’t attend one of those meetings, residents can also submit comments to Metro directly by Sept. 5 using comment forms provided by the City of West Hollywood.
Metro is planning to decide a preferred route by the end of the year, but it will still be years before you can take a train from LAX to the Abbey. Metro’s current planned construction schedule for the line, using funds from the Measure R and Measure M referendums, won’t see the line complete until 2047.
West Hollywood is trying to speed that process up by getting stakeholders to agree on a route and then lobbying for additional funding from other sources. The city has also proposed creating an “Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District,” which would see the city dedicate any additional property tax revenue created by new developments and property value uplift near the rail line to paying down debt incurred by its construction.
Dedicating its own revenue to the project could help bring other funding sources on board, like the federal government, which could get shovels in the ground sooner. But Metro’s draft EIR says construction of the entire 10-mile line could take 10-11 years, or longer if construction phases are done separately.
Fenn says that’s why it’s important that Metro doesn’t leave West Hollywood off the K Line.
“The way to look at this is we only get one shot at this,” Fenn says. “The scale of these projects, the amount of time it takes, we’re only going to get one rail line through this area in our lifetime.”
“If we don’t spend that premium to get to the places people actually want to go, we’re going to be kicking ourselves about that missed opportunity.”
The K Line opened in October 2022, and currently runs between Expo/Crenshaw on the E Line to Westchester/Veterans, with an extension to connect to LAX and the C Line expected to open in December 2025. The line will also take over the existing southwestern portion of the C Line to Redondo Beach, with a planned southern extension to Torrence expected to open in 2033.
West Hollywood
West Hollywood Council candidate Larry Block accused of election misconduct
Accusations include ‘deceptive practices by posting fraudulent comments on his website under assumed names’
By PAUL MURILLO | WeHo Times — West Hollywood council member candidate Larry Block, the owner of Block Party retail store and the blog wehoonline.com (formerly wehoville.com), has been accused of election misconduct in an email written anonymously to West Hollywood City Attorney Lauren Langer.
Mr. Block has been accused of using “deceptive practices by posting fraudulent comments on his website under assumed names, presumably to mislead the electorate and gain an undue advantage in the campaign.”
Mr. Block’s ownership and involvement with wehoonline.com is also being questioned in the email, stating: “In addition, the fact that Mr. Block is selling ad space on his website and controls its content raises significant concerns about the fairness and integrity of the electoral process. Such actions may create an unfair advantage for Mr. Block and potentially violate campaign finance laws and regulations. Given that the website appears to be used to promote Mr. Block’s candidacy, it may itself be considered a political advertisement…”
When reached for comment, Mr. Block stated that he has never used a different name other than his own to post comments on wehoville.com or wehoonline.com. He blamed a commenter who he says posed has him and used his IP address. He also alleges that he has zero involvement with wehoonline.com and says he is merely a “contributor.”
The open letter in its entirety is below:
###
Dear City Attorney,
I am writing to formally give notice concerning a serious pattern of potential election misconduct involving Mr. LarryBlock, a candidate in the upcoming local municipal election, and who is registered under FPPC ID 1471208. Mr. Block owns and manages a website WEHOonline.com dba WEHOonline Inc., a California corporation, wherein election-related content is disseminated. The contact on the advertising page (https://wehoonline.com/
It has come to my attention that Mr. Block has allegedly engaged in deceptive practices by posting fraudulent comments on his website under assumed names, presumably to mislead the electorate and gain an undue advantage in the campaign. One example of a pertinent comment, attributed to the pseudonym “hot2trot,” is as follows:
hot2trot
Reply to Kings road resident
same here. the same people who bitch about everything are trying to stop people from exercising their right to vote.
Upon closer scrutiny, it is evident that hovering over the username “hot2trot” reveals the following URL, indicating the true authorship by Mr. Block:
https://wehoonline.com/author/
This conduct appears to violate California Elections Code Section 18351, which prohibits candidate’s use of a false or fictitious name or engaging in any deceitful practice to influence voters in an election. Manufacturing comments to falsely create the appearance of support is a clear example of such deceitful practices. For your convenience and to ensure the preservation of this evidence in case Mr. Block decides to destroy it, the original page has been archived and can be reviewed at this link:
In addition, the fact that Mr. Block is selling ad space on his website and controls its content raises significant concerns about the fairness and integrity of the electoral process. Such actions may create an unfair advantage for Mr. Block and potentially violate campaign finance laws and regulations. Given that the website appears to be used to promote Mr. Block‘s candidacy, it may itself be considered a political advertisement. Under the Political Reform Act, specifically Government Code Section 84501 and Section 84502, all political advertisements must include disclosures identifying the entity responsible for the content. The absence of such disclosures on his website likely constitute a violation of these requirements, undermining transparency and fairness in the election process.
The combination of these issues—the fraudulent comments and the lack of proper disclosures—suggests that Mr. Block has engaged in a pattern of deceptive practices and potential violations of California election laws. Such conduct seriously undermines the integrity and fairness of the electoral process.
Given the gravity of this issue and its potential ramifications on the integrity of our local electoral process, I hereby respectfully request that your office conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this alleged misconduct. It is imperative that all candidates adhere to the highest standards of legal and ethical conduct to preserve the sanctity of our democratic process.
Should you require any additional information or documentation to facilitate your investigation, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your prompt and serious attention to this matter.
This article was originally published in the WeHo Times and has been reposted here with permission.
West Hollywood
Fred Segal West Hollywood closed permanently after 6 years
Lifestyle brand defined LA look
By PAUL MURILLO | WeHo Times — Fred Segal West Hollywood at 8500 Sunset Boulevard is one of two remaining Los Angeles County stores that closed on Tuesday. The WeHo location has been in the heart of the Sunset Strip for the past 6 years. It opened near the La Cienega intersection in 2018.
The Fred Segal in West Hollywood celebrated 60 years in June 2021 with the unveiling of a giant peace sign sculpture in front of its store, by Los Angeles artist Nathan Mabry. Jeff Lotman, Owner and CEO of Fred Segal was at the unveiling and seemed optimistic about the future of the Fred Segal brand.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the brand once had nine stores in California and locations in Switzerland and Taipei, succumbed to a challenging retail landscape, never recovering from the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on sales despite being a fixture of Los Angeles fashion since the 1960s, according to Lotman, who bought the company in 2019.
The Times states that Lotman doesn’t blame the company’s downfall on not having enough self-branded products with Fred Segal stores carrying close to 200 outside brands but only few of their own offerings.
FRED SEGAL was known as an iconic lifestyle brand that defined the LA Look and sparked a revolutionary shift in style, changing retail and pop culture forever.
In 1961, Fred Segal, dubbed the original “Curator of Cool” opened his first store, inventing the denim bar and pulling American Style Westward: foretelling that people wanted to be comfortable, casual and sexy. In addition to designing his own collection, Fred pioneered the shop-in-shop concept and experiential retail, resulting in a brand built on heritage, inclusivity and love.
For over 60 years, FRED SEGAL embodied LA cool—to the entire world. Despite the brand’s long-running success, its legacy is sustained by always staying ahead. FRED SEGAL opened its Sunset Boulevard Flagship in 2018, and expanded to Malibu, Asia and Europe.
The Fred Segal website has been shut down as well. There was a 75% off “summer” sale online this month without really announcing its impending closure. It has already been marked as permanently closed on Yelp, however, the Fred Segal Home furnishings store will remain open in Culver City.
This article was originally published in the WeHo Times and has been reposted here with permission.
West Hollywood
Stache closes after three years of serving WeHo
The popular bar and eatery will close its doors on July 13
The popular WeHo bar Stache will be closing its doors for good July 13, its owners announced via social media Monday afternoon.
“Thank you so much for all of your support since day one. Over the last three years, we’ve been a WeHo destination where everyone was welcomed and memories were made. We’ve truly cherished serving you, our community, and appreciate everyone who has been with us for this unforgettable ride,” the owners said in a post on Instagram.
“We have given Stache our best effort, however our operations no longer make sense. It is with great sadness that we must announce that Stache’s last day of operations will be this coming Saturday, July 13th, 2024.”
“We are forever grateful to our amazing team for their dedication and hard work. We hope you’ll join us in supporting them and celebrating Stache’s last week – we’ll forever hold dear the community, friendships, and memories we’ve made.”
Stache’s owners and PR team declined to comment further when contacted by the Los Angeles Blade. A search of Stache’s liquor license shows a clean record that would be good through July 2025.
Stache’s owners signed onto their lease in December 2019, taking over and merging the locations previously occupied by Café d’Étoile and Bumsan Organic Milk Bar. But the COVID pandemic that began three months later put all of their preparation for the bar on hold. It eventually opened in September 2021.
The restaurant originally served only vegan food, but quickly expanded its menu options.
Over the past three years, Stache has evolved into a neighborhood hub that hosted events every night of the week, including classic gay movie screenings, a weekly drink and draw, drag shows, and dance parties.
DJ Jon Klaft, a regular fixture at Stache since he played at its friends and family preview night back in September 2021, says the bar was an important part of the Weho scene.
“Stache has held a very special place in my heart since it opened,” Klaft says. “I’ll continue to DJ at the other bars in Weho, but really hope that whoever takes over the space keeps it a queer venue. I feel like we are losing too many spaces in the neighborhood. I’m so bummed to see stache go.”
Tributes to the bar poured in on social media.
“This wasn’t just a bar to me, this was the space within which I reclaimed a passion and a talent that I hadn’t accessed in over 20 years,” said James Farrell, an artist who was a regular attendee at Stache’s drink and draw events.
“Thank you @stacheweho for giving me my first weekly on the Boulevard! I’ll cherish the moments I had with you and the people I met in your loving walls forever!” wrote drag artist Xoana.
“Always a vibe. Always sexy. Always the most amazing staff!” wrote DJ Ivan Mariscal.
Queer Here Cinema, a monthly networking and screening event for queer filmmakers, has had to cancel its July event, and announced on Instagram that it was looking for a new venue.
Several WeHo venues have changed hands recently, with Roosterfish announcing it would open in the former Pump location, the Abbey relaunching with a new owner, and Heart closing to reopen as Beaches Tropicana.
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