Identity & Civic Engagement, Assets & Risks, Insider Perspective

Identity and Civic Engagement:

· The community in West Hollywood identifies primarily as LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender), which is evident with the placement of rainbow flags that line the streets; the flags are along the borders of the city: down Santa Monica Blvd. between Fairfax St. and San Vicente Blvd. In a census collected in 2006, it was recorded that approximately 44% of the population identifies themselves as apart of the LGBT community.

· Another group that the city of West Hollywood identifies with is the Russian population. It is known from the 2006 census that approximately 8% of West Hollywood’s residents are from what was formerly the Soviet Union. The Eastside of the city offers a more eclectic cultural aspect to the intimate city, (e.g. Russian Nights Festival, an event held every summer).

· Residents of West Hollywood largely identify with the Democratic Party affiliation.

· To ensure the safety and protection of the city’s residents, concerned citizens and officials hold neighborhood watch meetings in their local area. On record, the City has 20 Neighborhood Watch Group meetings within the two square mile radius that encompasses the city.*

· The city has a Domestic Partners Registration program which enables any two individuals to have their relationship officially recognized by The City of West Hollywood.*

· Accommodating many of the residents, domestic partners of city employees may be eligible for medical benefits.

· The City of West Hollywood hosts a series of forums to address issues or concerns, such as “Gay Men Forum”, “Human Rights Speaker Series”, and “Public Hearings” regarding proposed construction and development. *

· According to the sheriff’s department, the community held several rallies to oppose Prop 8 (a proposition on the ballot in the state of California to legalize gay marriage) in front of City Hall.

· While religious institutions were not prevalent in the main business district of West Hollywood, there are a significant number of religious organizations within the city limits. The city offers places of worship to a variety of creeds, including Scientology, Catholicism, Judaism, Christian Science, among many others. St. Victor’s Catholic Church, located at 8634 Holloway Dr. West Hollywood, CA 90069, is notable for its AIDS Memorial Chapel. Once a year they hold a prayer ceremony in remembrance of those who have lost their lives to AIDS. Also from the 2006 census, it is known that about 10% of the community is affected by AIDS/HIV.

*If you are interested in attending or participating the events or forums please visit the cities website at www.weho.org for more information.

Assests/Risks

When one mentions assets in terms of a community, this describes all the positive and enriching places, people and services that benefit the community. The risks are what may make a community unattractive or potentially dangerous. Listed below are some key resources we observed depicting the assets, as well as some of the risks in West Hollywood.

Eating Establishments: The Food Lab is located at the heart of West Hollywood on Santa Monica. The catering company café, caters to organic consumers, eco-friendly, and healthy eaters. As we walked by, a handful of people from their late twenties to mid thirties waited to be seated. Just on the other side in the courtyard the tables were occupied by people already having lunch on a Saturday morning. As the business owners state they use only organic, nitrate & hormone free ingredients wherever possible. They purchase their produce on a daily basis, source their meats and poultry carefully, and prepare all of our food with love and care. In addition they mention that their eat-ware, ranging from plates, cutlery, cups, and packaging is 80% environmentally friendly and biodegradable. “It is extremely important to us to be a leader in keeping this planet clean and beautiful, and therefore have made every effort in finding items that are not only attractive but also harmless.”

Places of Worship: There are 9 religious institutions in West Hollywood where one can participate in Catholic, Jewish, Methodist, Buddhist, Episcopalian, Prebysterian, and Episcopalian worship. The West Hollywood Presbyterian Church is inviting to diversity, welcoming, “lesbian couples and their kids, gay couples and their kids, and straight families, single straight people and single gay people and transgendered people, not to mention people of every color and age” as their website states (http://www.wehopres.org/)


Businesses: Trader Joe’s was the most notable marketplace in West Hollywood. We noticed that it is not too crowded and when we spoke to a director, he did mention that the clientele is comprised of a much older population. They host community events such as Beach Bingo, attracting the second highest population, seniors at 21 %. At the same time, it continues to serve the healthy-conscious food connoisseurs by providing a variety of organic products.

Education: There are 6 elementary schools of which 4 are private, 1 charter, and 1 public. To continue secondary education, parents can choose from 4 middle schools, 3 being private, and 1 being public. For the past 25 year, since the city first became its own entity, there has been no High School serving West Hollywood. Students are expected to attend the local LAUSD schools; Fairfax High School, and Hollywood High. This suggests that there are not many families who continue living in West Hollywood for an extended period of time, since the need for a high school has not been developed over the past twenty years. Majority of the residents in West Hollywood do not have school age children. Majority of the schools located in West Hollywood are private implying the residents of this community are fairly economically stable.

Community: Another key asset to this community is the West Hollywood Community Center. They offer a wide range of services ranging from adult school, to ESL for seniors, to exercise classes such as: Tai Chi and Yoga. They also offer dance classes such as: Tango, Belly Dancing, Folk Dancing and Hip Hop. They offer computer classes, and host tenant rights clinics. The great thing about this center is that services may be accessed by non-residents.

Homelessness: West Hollywood does have risks and amongst them is homelessness. In fact, according to the Sheriff’s Station, their main complaint from residents is related to homelessness. Local business owners or residents call to complain about transients loitering around their businesses or homes. The Sheriff’s Station however, does work alongside PATH-People Assisting the Homeless, an outreach group for the transient community. Instead of immediately arresting the homeless, the Sherriff’s Department gives them an opportunity to get connected with resources.

Outsiders and Crime: Another risk of residing in West Hollywood is the massive influx of outsiders coming to the city. West Hollywood’s actual population is estimated at 39,000 people, but on weekends can range anywhere from 100,000 to 120,000. As a result, the streets become congested since a lot of cars must park on the street. The Sheriff’s Station did mention that a large volume of the crimes occurring in West Hollywood, are related to auto burglaries. There is also very strict parking enforcement, and are fined for not reading the signs carefully. On an 8 hour shift, a West Hollywood Parking Enforcement officer issues about 40 tickets in one day. The number of reported crimes in West Hollywood as noted by the West Hollywood Sheriff’s was 11 for the week of August 12-19, 2009. On 2 of those days, there were no reported crimes.

Neighborhood: The sense of community is a strong element accented by community groups established outside of law enforcement agencies. The Neighborhood Watch program in West Hollywood is a means for keeping dealing with crime. In addition, residents in West Hollywood are involved and invested in their communities as they present their views and ideas to the City Council meetings. Overall, a sense of community helps to bring people of West Hollywood together and establish common interests.

From our observations, it is evident that the assets of the West Hollywood community by far outweigh the risks. People are very friendly, as well as pet friendly. In addition, this community is very socially progressive. Same-sex couples or other domestic partnerships are given the same rights as heterosexual partnerships in which the couples are legally married. Overall, West Hollywood is a great community to live in and to enjoy on the weekends.

Insider Perspective

After conversing with many of the residents, they stated that their neighborhood is very safe and friendly. On both Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning, there were families out in the parks and walking down the streets with their children. Because West Hollywood is stereotypically known for its night-life, we asked one father his opinion on the neighborhood. He described it as peaceful and safe and that the transition to the night-light is very natural—almost like the tides—and that around 5 all of the families go home and the club going crowd comes out. He said that at least from his perspective, nobody resents the change and that both groups are very respectful of the other’s space.

In the West Hollywood area, there were not any fast food restaurants which mean that citizens are able to sit down in a facility and communicate with the workers there. That is a different mentality compared to busier cities that have an over abundance of fast food locations.

The most common crime in West Hollywood is property theft—mostly coming from thieves breaking into cars. Because street parking in West Hollywood is more common than parking lots, garages, or gated lots, cars line the streets leaving them as prime targets for break-ins. The homeless population of West Hollywood does not seem to be a risk, with the majority calls into the sheriff’s station coming from business owners needing occasional help with a homeless person sleeping, urinating or drinking outside their establishment.

During our conversations with the sheriff’s department, Officer Kevin Connors stated that more of the homeless population decides to stay in the West Hollywood community compared to other locations around the city. He reasoned that this was because they are often left alone and not bothered whereas in other communities around Los Angeles they are often disrespected and seen as a nuisance. Many residents want to stay because the area is safe and the crime rate is low. They reap the benefits of having a hospital in such a close proximity to them, as well as other resources such as a brand new Pavillions and the Beverly Center. Because West Hollywood is well known for being GLBTQ friendly, many members of this population choose to live here, allowing them to be generally free of judgment and persecution as well as placing them in the vicinity of the bars and clubs that are friendly to their demographic.

One of the only complaints that Officer Connors had about West Hollywood was the traffic. Because it is not in the direct vicinity of any major Los Angeles freeways, getting to West Hollywood can be an issue of navigating busy and crowded surface streets. This issue intensifies on the nights and weekends, when club goers and bar hoppers flood the city, doubling and sometimes tripling the population, which leads to even more traffic and crowded streets.

Many of the residents of West Hollywood seemed to share similar opinions about their area. Most viewed it as a safe and accepting environment in which to live, being generally free of crime with good neighborhood resources and reasonable cost of living prices.


The views and ideas of the community have an impact on some of the policy that keeps the city governed. They’re ideas start with things such as private parking all the way up to how the neighborhood watches are set up. Much of the revenue the city makes comes from their parking system. With street parking, meters and paid public parking, the city capitalizes on the influx of visitors.