West Hollywood, California (November 23, 2009) – The city no one thought could work yet became a model for every other community in the nation celebrated its Diamond anniversary in high style last night during a party at the Sunset Strip’s hottest new restaurant/club, BOA. 
The West Hollywood City Council with John Duran at the microphone, Jeff Prang to his left, John Heilman behind, Lindsey Horvath and Abbe Land at the right. Photo by WeHo News. |
West Hollywood’s Birthday Cake. Photo by WeHo News. |
The City of West Hollywood, which wrested itself from LA County control in the 1984 November election, the results of which were certified on November 29 of that year, threw itself a birthday party for its 25th Birthday a week early to avoid a clash with the long Thanksgiving holiday.
The event at BOA saw hundreds of invitees attend; invitations went out, according to the city, to over 3500 people with connection to the city, staff, commissioners and board members, members of the business community and anyone else who decided to join at the last minute.
They gathered to celebrate the important milestone in the young city’s life and the growth of the city from a no man’s land people thought ungovernable as a municipality into a world class cultural center, a city that works as well as any in the nation and has a luster and reputation spanning the globe.
A far cry from the early 1980s, which saw the country in a deep recession and landlords in West Hollywood planning wholesale conversions of apartment buildings to hotels and condos.
At the same time, the weak county rent control law was due to expire in 1985, giving housing advocates reason to fear the worse.
One man, Ric Rickles, has been actively involved in the city since day one, and now sits on the city’s Senior Advisory Board spoke about those times.
The crowd partying at WeHo’s 25th Birthday party at BOA. Photo by WeHo News. |
“I’m remembering that Ron Stone and his vision of the boulevard with the sidewalk cafes and the left bank environment, however,” he said, “I was more involved with the idea of rent control.”
Wehoan Ron Stone, then the openly gay chief deputy to CA Senator Alan Cranston, had a vision of a city that could take control of its political destiny and began agitating for that through rent control advocates such as Larry Gross’s Coalition for Economic Survival, which eventually endorsed a slate of five candidates, four of whom won seats in the first election.
“Images of America: West Hollywood.” the only published history of WeHo, quotes Gilda Hass, a CES member, recalling of the campaign, “It really happened. Older Jewish women were working in the campaign office and ringing doorbells alongside young gay men. The thing that united them was that they were convinced they were working for their rights.”
Mr. Rickles said at the time he backed another senior voice on rent control and met current council member John Heilman through her.
“I remember a young man named John Heilman who was running for council along with a friend of mine, Helen Albert, and I could not figure our what connected the two, who were from very different generations, but I knew he was heavily involved with the ACLU and figured I would hitch my wagon to his star.”
Another person intimately involved in the city’s beginnings, LA Council member (and former WeHo Council member and CA State Assembly member), Paul Koretz, worked for Alan Viterbi as his deputy in those first years.
Mayor Abbe Land expressed her excitement at the birthday party. Photo by WeHo News. |
“When we first became a city, people said ‘You’ll never survive; you’ll be bankrupt within a year.’ It’s turned out to be one of the most fiscally sound cities in the whole country with a huge surplus, a great system,” he said.
“The city has been a leader in the state and the nation in progressive legislation, leader in LGBT issues, HIV/AIDS, gun violence, domestic violence, women’s issues, animal cruelty – it’s really been a leader in all those areas.
He continued, “The city created so much good policy they lead the country and even the world. [For example] I’m thrilled that I was able in the past week to get a ban [in Los Angeles] on cat declawing, something West Hollywood did a number of years ago, and now I think the cities that passed it all over the state will move the idea across the country and it began here in West Hollywood.
Mr. Koretz makes no secret of his love for the city; he presented WeHo with a Los Angeles City proclamation commemorating its 25th Anniversary earlier this week.
“I’m so proud that we have become such a progressive leader. The city looks great; people who come back to visit after a number of years are astonished at the changes and how great Santa Monica boulevard looks, the neighbors are well protected.
West Hollywood City Manager Paul Arevalo. Photo by WeHo News. |
“I just think this is one of the best run cities in the state if not the country and I’m very proud to have played a small role in its development.”
The city’s manager, Paul Arevalo, echoed those sentiments. “This is the culmination of a vision of good government.
“The city has become a leader on progressive issues while showing how a small city can serve its residents and remain on solid financial footing,” he said.
To those in attendance the night had a special meaning, as it capped, to them a generation of earnest effort at creating a safe space to live out loud and to prosper.
Todd Elliott, a prominent land use attorney, told WeHo News on the meaning of the occasion, “It means twenty five years of diversity, of people of different backgrounds and different thinking who came together to create a wonderful and unique city.”
Photo by WeHo News. |
The Living Forward aspect of the Creative City stands out in Marketing and Visitor’s Bureau head Brad Burlingame’s mind, “It means only the beginning for West Hollywood. The city’s a place of growth and there are many more exciting things to come.
“I feel like it’s a teenager who’s left home and on their way to college now. It’s in advanced placement already.”
Perhaps most succinctly, though, stood Mayor Abbe Land’s declaration of principles on which WeHo was founded and still stands.
“When we came together twenty-five years ago as a city,” she said, “we said to the world we don’t discriminate, we don’t like war, we don’t like guns, we support women’s rights, we don’t abuse our pets - we still say these things and will continue to say them.”
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