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Celebrating Black History Month in February, Implementing a New Organics Collection Program, ‘WeHo Reads’ Launches on February 8 plus more

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West Hollywood City Hall (Photo credit: City of West Hollywood/Jon Viscott)

City Celebrates Black History Month in February

WEST HOLLYWOOD – The City of West Hollywood celebrates Black History Month with events held throughout the month. Black History Month recognizes, celebrates, and honors the rich and diverse history and important contributions and achievements of African Americans, and is observed annually during the month of February.

On Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 9 a.m., the community is encouraged to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event (previously postponed due to weather) at West Hollywood Elementary School, located at 970 N. Hammond Street. Residents, visitors, and community members are invited to take part in this day of service where volunteers will be helping to perform various landscaping, clean-up, painting, and other beautifying tasks at the school. Volunteers must be 13 years of age or older to participate.

To sign-up as a volunteer, please register on the City’s volunteer portal at https://volunteer.weho.org/.  For more information or questions about the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event, please contact the City’s Community Programs Coordinator, Larissa Fooks at (323) 848-6413 or [email protected].  

On Saturday, February 25, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., visit the Black Women Lead Pop-Up Market. This free, open-air event will feature Black vendors, panelists, and performers, providing the community with the opportunity to celebrate Black History Month in West Hollywood. This event will take place at the West Hollywood Park Great Lawn, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard. Event updates will be provided on the City’s website calendar at www.weho.org/calendar.  For information, please contact City of West Hollywood Community Programs Coordinator Jasmine Duckworth at (323) 848-6559 or [email protected].

Additional programming during the month of February includes:

The City of West Hollywood presents WeHo Reads: Writing Paths Toward Justice: an exploration and panel discussion with authors who examine what happens when the social contract fractures along the journey towards justice will take place online at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

Walter Mosley is one of America’s most celebrated writers with over 50 published books. His recently published novel, Every Man a King, is the second installment in his Joe “King” Oliver series.

Steph Cha is the author of Your House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the California Book Award, and the Juniper Song crime trilogy.

Kellye Garrett is an Anthony, Agatha, and Lefty award-winning author whose most recent suspense novel, Like a Sister, is about the death of a disgraced reality TV star. 

Joe Ide is the author of the award-winning IQ series, including the most recent installment, Smoke

Jordan Harper has been a music journalist, film critic, and TV writer. His most recent novel, Everybody Knows, is a crime thriller about a publicist who works for the corrupt and depraved elite in Southern California.

More information and an RSVP link is available at www.weho.org/wehoreads. For more information about WeHo Reads, contact City of West Hollywood Arts Coordinator Mike Che at (323) 848-6377 or [email protected]. For information, please contact City of West Hollywood Community Programs Coordinator Jasmine Duckworth at (323) 848-6559 or [email protected]. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

City Encourages Community Members to Participate in American Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED Training

When an emergency happens, would you know what to do? Get certified in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), First Aid, and Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to give you the confidence you need to respond in an emergency.

The City of West Hollywood is offering a free American Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED Certification Training on Saturday, February 4, 2023. The training will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Hollywood Park Aquatic and Recreation Center, located at 8750 El Tovar Place in the San Vicente/La Cienega Meeting Room. The training schedule will include a meal break. Parking will be available at the West Hollywood Park 5-Story parking structure, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard.

This American Red Cross Certification Training will cover adult and pediatric CPR/First Aid/AED topics and participants will learn how to respond to medical emergencies. Prior to meeting in-person, participants will be enrolled in an online learning session that takes approximately 2.5 hours to complete. There will be in-person section reviews and tests that will take approximately 1.5 to 2 hours per section for participants to receive certification. The online learning session link will be sent out seven days prior to the in-person training session. All online coursework must be completed before the in-person training session.

Space is limited and is anticipated to reach capacity quickly. Enroll using the City of West Hollywood’s “ActiveNet” online reservations portal. RSVPs require ActiveNet registration, which takes just a minute to complete.

Once capacity reaches limits, community members who are interested are encouraged to join a waitlist. The City will host additional American Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED Certification Trainings during the 2023 calendar year. To join this waitlist, please contact Cortez Jordan, in the City of West Hollywood’s Recreation Services Division, at (323) 848-6585 and the City will reach out as future trainings are scheduled.

Knowledge in first aid has multiple benefits. Accidents are inevitable, and there is no guarantee that people are safe from any physical injury, illness, or trauma. The best thing that people can do is to be prepared when and if any accidents, mishaps, and occurrences happen. Every year, millions of people are hurt or killed from injuries due to inadequate response or lack of timely assistance.

The biggest difference between victims who survive and those who do not is a bystander’s willingness to help. Performing any sort of basic life support on victims while an ambulance is on the way doubles a person’s chance of survival.

For additional information about the City of West Hollywood’s free American Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED Certification Training, please email [email protected] or call (323) 848-6538. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

West Hollywood’s 2023 ‘WeHo Reads’ Series ‘Mindful Journeys’ Launches on February 8, 2023

The City of West Hollywood is launching its 2023 WeHo Reads literary series with a reception, readings, and the launch of a new photographic exhibition. Community members are invited to celebrate art, literature, poets, and authors. 

The kick-off event will take place on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. 

At 6 p.m., there will be a reception for an exhibition of photographs from a contest that was held around the theme of the 2022 WeHo Reads series about creating joy in times of sorrow. The contest was held in the fall of 2022 and was juried by writers/photographers Lynell George and Marisela Norte. Photographers featured in this exhibition include: Natalia Affonso, Nadia Alamah, Rick Castro, Arpan Basu Chowdhury (who had the first-place winning submission), Gabriella Maria dos Santos Silva, Victoria Goring, Haro Istamboulian, Louis Jacinto, Alessia Piscopo, Mateo Salas, and Don Tinling.

At 7 p.m., there will be readings by authors featured in WeHo Reads including: bridgette bianca, Shonda Buchanan, Jen Cheng, Lisbeth Coiman, Flint, Charles Flowers, Peter J. Harris, Reuben “Tihi” Hayslett, Lester Graves Lennon, Malia Márquez, Thea Pueschel, Luivette Resto, Carla Sameth, Sehba Sarwar, Lynne Thompson, and Hazel Kight Witham.

RSVPs are required to attend this event at www.weho.org/wehoreads.    

This year’s theme for WeHo Reads is Mindful Journeys, and the events will feature writers who are seeking to navigate joy in the midst of sorrow and craft mindful journeys toward better futures, whether through fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry.

WeHo Reads is presented by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division and produced by BookSwell, LLC. Additional support for WeHo Reads is provided by UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and Poets & Writers as well as media partnerships with Bookshop.org, Book Soup, and Los Angeles Review of Books.

Additional WeHo Reads 2023 series events will follow:

  • WeHo Reads: Writing Paths Toward Justice on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at 6 p.m. (online).

This discussion will explore what can we learn about human nature from imagining the paths taken by criminals and outcasts. Walter Mosley is one of America’s most celebrated writers with over 50 published books. His recently published novel, Every Man a King, is the second installment in his Joe “King” Oliver series. Steph Cha is the author of Your House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the California Book Award, and the Juniper Song crime trilogy. Kellye Garrett is an Anthony, Agatha, and Lefty award-winning author whose most recent suspense novel, Like a Sister, is about the death of a disgraced reality TV star.  Joe Ide is the author of the award-winning IQ series, including the most recent installment, Smoke. Jordan Harper has been a music journalist, film critic, and TV writer. His most recent novel, Everybody Knows, is a crime thriller about a publicist who works for the corrupt and depraved elite in Southern California. This online event will take place on the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/wehoarts. Members of the public can RSVP and be sent a direct link to view the event by visiting the WeHo Reads webpage on the City’s website at www.weho.org/wehoreads.

  • WeHo Reads: Crafting Literary Legacies on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. (online).
    During Women’s History Month, we speak with authors creating new truths through storytelling and putting women at the center of literature. Natashia Deón is a two-time NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literature, Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award Nominee in Fiction, a practicing criminal attorney, and author of the critically acclaimed and widely reviewed novels, The Perishing and GRACE. Toni Ann Johnson is the winner of the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction with her linked collection Light Skin Gone to Waste. Malia Márquez is a teacher and author of work that has appeared in Poetry Magazine, Hobart, Coffin Bell Journal, and elsewhere and of her award-winning first novel, This Fierce Blood. Laura Warrell is a writer and teacher whose work has appeared in HuffPost, The Rumpus, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. Her first novel is Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm. This online event will take place on the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/wehoarts. Members of the public can RSVP and be sent a direct link to view the event by visiting the WeHo Reads webpage on the City’s website at www.weho.org/wehoreads.
  • WeHo Reads: Lounging with Poets on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ‘spa day’, 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. program (in-person).
    Self-care is a radical act. Come lounge with a poet at our inaugural Poetry Spa Day at the respite deck of the new West Hollywood Aquatic and Recreation Center. From 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., guests will receive a menu of services and tokens to have individual, one-on-one experiences with former West Hollywood Poet Laureates and special guests, ranging from cucumber poetry facials to poetry speed dating. At 7:30 p.m., we gather at the steps at sunset to hear all the poets share their words in a ritual closing and celebration of National Poetry Month. City of West Hollywood Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace emcees this event, and will be joined by Jen Cheng, Kim Dower, Charles Flowers, Linda Ravenswood, and Steven Reigns. This in-person event takes place at the Respite Deck of the West Hollywood Park Aquatic and Recreation Center (ARC), located at 8750 El Tovar Place, next to the West Hollywood Library. RSVPs are requested ay www.weho.org/wehoreads
  • WeHo Reads: Shaping Motherhood online on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at 7 p.m. (online).
    We consider motherhood–joys, hardships, challenges, graces–and the role they play in shaping ourselves and future generations. Amber Flame is an interdisciplinary creative, activist and educator whose work has garnered residencies with Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, and more. Gerda Govine Ituarte, Ed.D., poet, art curator, columnist, and CEO of G. Govine Consulting, was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and emigrated to New York City in the mid 50’s and California in the early ’80s. Luivette Resto is a mother, teacher, poet, and Wonder Woman fan who was born in Puerto Rico but proudly raised in the Bronx. Carla Sameth, 2022-2024 Altadena co-poet laureate, is the author of the memoir One Day on the Gold Line and the poetry chapbook, What Is Left, and teaches creative writing to a variety of ages. Colette Sartor’s linked short story collection, Once Removed, won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the NYC Big Book Award for Short Story Collections, and the Juror’s Choice Award, and the Short Stories Award from the National Indie Excellence Awards. This online event will take place on the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/wehoarts. Members of the public can RSVP and be sent a direct link to view the event by visiting the WeHo Reads webpage on the City’s website at www.weho.org/wehoreads.

All events are free to attend. For additional information about these events and to RSVP, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads

WeHo Reads is the City of West Hollywood’s literary series presenting authors of interest to the West Hollywood community since 2013. Past participants have included: André Aciman, Andrew Rannells, Arlene and Alan Alda, Armistead Maupin, Bianca Del Rio, Bryan Fuller, Carrie Brownstein, Charles Phoenix, Charles Yu, Chris Kraus, Danez Smith, Dasha Kelly Hamilton, David Ulin, Eileen Myles, Eloise Klein Healy, Emma Donoghue, Erwin Chemerinsky, Henry Rollins, Imani Tolliver, Jacob Tobia, James Sie, Lester Graves Lennon, Josephine Giles, LeVar Burton, Lillian Faderman, Lloyd Schwartz, Lorna Luft, Luis J. Rodriguez, Lynell George, Lynne Thompson, Michael York, Michelle Visage, Myriam Gurba, Natalie Goldberg, Natasha Deón, Nina Revoyr, Patrisse Cullors, Patt Morrison, Peter J. Harris, Randa Jarrar, Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, Ryan Gosling, Ryka Aoki, Sarah Silverman, Seymour Stein, Shonda Buchanan, Stephen Chbosky, Tananarive Due, and Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.

BookSwell, a literary events and media company dedicated to lifting up writers from historically excluded communities, is producing the WeHo Reads 2023 season. BookSwell was founded in 2017 by Cody Sisco.

For more information about WeHo Reads, please contact Mike Che, City of West Hollywood Arts Coordinator, at (323) 848-6377 or at [email protected]. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

As Part of the ‘Moving Image Media Art’ Exhibition Series, The City of West Hollywood Presents: Kassaram (Adapted) by Artist Thania Petersen and Reverse Women by Artist Sarah Rara On the Sunset Strip from February 1 through May 31

The City of West Hollywood announces the debuts of the next exhibitions in the Moving Image Media Art (MIMA) program. MIMA is an ongoing exhibition series of moving image media artworks on multiple digital billboards at various locations along Sunset Boulevard. The goals of the MIMA Program are to foster cultural equity, expand accessibility, inspire communication, create public space, and enhance the human experience of the Sunset Strip. 

Kassaram (Adapted), a short film from artist Thania Petersen, will debut at the Streamlined Arbor billboard, located at 9157 Sunset Boulevard, and will air at the top of every hour for 10-and-a-half minutes. Reverse Women, a short film from artist Sarah Rara, will debut at the Invisible Frame billboard, located at 8743 Sunset Boulevard, and will air at the top of every hour and 30 minutes past each hour. Both works will be on exhibition from Wednesday, February 1, 2023 through Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

About Kassaram (Adapted)The historically significant building that sits at the base of the Streamlined Arbor inspires artwork as an authentic reexamination of cultural identity, by amplifying the voices of those silenced and marginalized. Thania Petersen’s vivid and layered work, Kassaram (Adapted) examines how embedded clichés devalue culture and provide the framework for the permission of subjugation. Across a timeline of slurs and stereotypes, nuanced imagery devolves into more familiar scenes of chaos. Petersen subverts the narrative by illustrating how structural racism serves to further isolate, diminish, and dehumanize. 

Thania Petersen is a South African multidisciplinary artist who addresses the intricacies and complexities of identity. Petersen’s work has been presented at such institutions as Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), Whitechapel, Istanbul Modern, Ballroom Marfa, Alte Kelter Fellbach, and Jeffrey Deitch. Her work is collected by the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.; Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town; IZIKO South African Museum, Cape Town; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; and many others.

About Reverse WomenImages of running women advance backwards in slow motion, as if the ground is being pulled out from under them, evoking unsettling allegories of agency, power, and progress. In Reverse Women the gesture of running is pivotal and intentionally ambiguous, seen both as a sign of practiced liberation, wellness, resilience; yet infused with suspense by the discomfort of watching someone struggle to escape. Reverse Women ultimately illustrates the disorientation of our unreliable and faltering constitutional protections. 

Sarah Rara’s multi-disciplinary practice explores the position of witness within fragile systemsRara is a contributing member of the ongoing project Lucky Dragons (with Luke Fischbeck). Their work, solo and in collaboration, has been presented at such institutions as the Hammer Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Walker Art Center, London’s Institute for Contemporary Art, PS1 in New York, REDCAT, LACMA and MOCA in Los Angeles, among others. Rara is a 2018 recipient of the LACMA Art + Technology fellowship and holds an Assistant Professor of Moving Image at Williams College.

The Moving Image Media Art Program (MIMA) is a City of West Hollywood exhibition series administered by the City’s Arts Division, as part of its Art on the Outside Program, and is presented with the Sunset Arts and Advertising Program. MIMA offers artists the opportunity, and the funding, to create immediate, remarkable, and ambitious works of art that engage with the unique visual landscape of the world-famous Sunset Strip, and experiment with the state-of-the-art technology of high-definition digital signage.  

MIMA enables artists to occupy, contest, and play with the boundaries and uses of public space and manifest moments of connection and awe. Artists exhibited in the program are selected from the MIMA Prequalified List, a rolling, open-call for moving image media artists, curators, and non-profit arts organizations, with applications reviewed bi-annually by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, in May and November. The MIMA Prequalified List includes a diverse list of artists of all career levels; from emerging to internationally recognized: www.weho.org/community/arts-and-culture/visual-arts/mima  

The City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division delivers a broad array of arts programs including Art on the Outside (temporary public art), Arts Grants, City Poet Laureate, Free Theatre in the Parks, Human Rights Speaker Series, Library Exhibits, WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, Summer Sounds + Winter Sounds, Urban Art (permanent public art), and WeHo Reads. For more information about City of West Hollywood arts programming, please visit www.weho.org/arts. 

For more information about MIMA, please contact Rebecca Ehemann, City of West Hollywood Arts Manager at [email protected] or at (323) 848-6846. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

City is Implementing a New Organics Collection Program in Compliance with SB 1383, a Statewide Effort to Reduce Emissions of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

The City of West Hollywood is implementing a new organics collection program in compliance with SB 1383, a statewide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) by reducing organic waste disposal.

Under SB 1383, community members throughout California will be required to place all food scraps, food-soiled paper (100% fiber-based), and landscaping waste into a green waste container. Athens Services, which provides waste collection and recycling services for the City of West Hollywood, is implementing food scrap collection, which applies to all customers including single-family-home residents, multifamily buildings, and commercial customers in West Hollywood.

To assist community members in collection of food scraps, the City of West Hollywood and Athens Services will be hosting two events on Saturday, January 28, 2023 to provide free kitchen pails. From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., there will be a Kitchen Pail Giveaway at West Hollywood Park, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard, and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., there will be a Kitchen Pail Giveaway at Plummer Park, located at 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard. West Hollywood community members are eligible for one free kitchen pail, limited to one per household or commercial customer.

“West Hollywood has long been a leader in green policies and practices. I’m excited to see our city develop this new program in adherence to SB 1383 to help collect organic waste and, ultimately, turn food scraps into soil compost,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne. “Community-based efforts to reduce waste and emissions are essential in our greater efforts in combating climate change.”

West Hollywood residents in single-family homes and multifamily buildings must, under SB 1383, separate food scraps, food-soiled paper (100% fiber-based), and landscaping waste into green waste containers. SB 1383 establishes statewide targets to achieve a 75% reduction of organic waste disposal from 2014 levels by the year 2025.

With its new organics collection program, Athens Services will accept all types of food scraps. Its American Organics compost facility converts organics waste into nutrient-rich soil amendment. The resulting compost is used by commercial farmers, projects, garden shops, landscapers, and residents.

The Athens Services outreach team is currently in West Hollywood visiting customers, including those in multifamily and commercial buildings, to ensure they are set-up for the new organics recycling program. Many buildings in West Hollywood already have a green Athens organics bin and in such cases the Athens Services outreach team is educating and informing building management that food scraps must now be put in those bins.

For Athens Services customers who do not yet have a green bin, the Athens Services outreach team is working to get them set-up. Additionally, Athens Services will provide a kitchen pail to any customer in West Hollywood who requests one. The outreach team has found that for residents of multifamily buildings, kitchen pails make it much easier to collect food scraps and then empty them into green Athens bins situated at their property.

To contact Athens Services to make a request, or for community members who may have questions about the new organics collection program, please contact the Athens Customer Care Center at (888) 336-6100 or visit www.athensservices.com/sb-1383

To learn more about acceptable items for organics collection, including types of green waste, food scraps, and food-soiled paper that Athens Services collects, visit www.athensservices.com/in-the-news/food-waste-recycling. For a complete recycling guide, visit www.athensservices.com/recycling-guide. For more information about SB 1383, visit www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/slcp.

In the spirit of “think globally, act locally,” the City of West Hollywood aims to inspire sustainability and eco-conscious programs, projects, and policies. In December 2021, the City adopted its people-centered Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) to guide the implementation of the climate measures and actions and will help to ensure that West Hollywood is a sustainable, vibrant, livable, and equitable city for current and future generations. To find out more, visit www.weho.org/climateaction. For additional information about the City’s ongoing sustainability efforts, visit www.weho.org/gogreen.

For more information, please contact Matt Magener, City of West Hollywood Environmental Programs Coordinator, at (323) 848-6894 or at [email protected]. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

For more information, please call the City of West Hollywood’s City Council Offices at (323) 848-6460. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

For up-to-date information about City of West Hollywood news and events, follow @wehocity on social media, sign-up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar.

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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

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Courtesy of the City of West Hollywood- STORIES: The AIDS Monument, more info at go.weho.org/aidsmonument.

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.

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LGBTQ Non-Profit Organizations

Quinceañera fashion show raises record-breaking funds

The Trans Latin@ Coalition raised approximately $300,000 to continue funding vital programs

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Maria Roman-Taylorson, Zaya Wade, TS Madison, Bamby Salcedo pose on the red carpet at GARRAS 2024. (Photo credit Niko Storment)

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.

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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

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Caspian and their car Mollie they use to pick up and drop off strangers of all walks of life across Los Angeles.

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.

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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

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(Photo Courtesy of Measure G press release)

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.

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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

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35th Annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles. Grand Park Downtown Los Angeles (Photo Courtesy Brian Lowe)

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.  

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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

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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:

  1. Free Friday Night at OUTLOUD
  2. Street Fair
  3. Women’s Freedom Festival
  4. Annual Dyke March
  5. WeHo Pride Parade
  6. 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.

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West Hollywood

A subway to WeHo? It might be time to get on board

Metro is holding consultations on extending the K Line

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(Photo courtesy of Metro)

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.

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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’

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Larry Block (Image courtesy of WeHo Times)

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/advertising-on-wehoonline/) states: For any inquiries, please contact us at [email protected] or [email protected].

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/larryblockwehoonline-com/ the “Author” badge is also next to the username indicating that the author of the article is also the author of the comment.

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:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240725040626/https://wehoonline.com/2024/07/23/oped-bullet-voting-probably-bad-idea/

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.

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West Hollywood

Fred Segal West Hollywood closed permanently after 6 years

Lifestyle brand defined LA look

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(Image courtesy of WeHo Times)

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.

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West Hollywood

Stache closes after three years of serving WeHo

The popular bar and eatery will close its doors on July 13

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Patrons at Stache enjoying a screening of "Romeo + Juliet" on July 8, 2024, hours after owners announced the bar would be closing at the end of the week. (Social media photo)

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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