Ghost town?

Published: Monday, September 28, 1998

Monday, September 28, 1998

Ghost town?

VILLAGE: No one disputes that Westwood isn't the hot spot it once was. But local merchants and other village boosters hope that revitalization efforts - already underway - will restore the village to its former glory.

By Meghan Ward

Daily Bruin Contributor

With more than a dozen bookstores, two nightclubs, movie palaces and an open-air arcade where vendors sold jewelry and other paraphernalia on weekends, Westwood Village was once the shopping mecca of Los Angeles.

Today, Westwood residents and visitors find empty storefronts and a shortage of parking little incentive to spend an afternoon in the Village.

Ashely Anderson, a fourth-year English student and Westwood resident, avoids parking in Westwood at all costs.

"I'll drive to Century City to see a movie because the parking there is free," she said.

Due to a series of highly publicized crimes and an economic downswing in the late '80s, property owners struggled to make payments as merchants relocated to more affordable neighborhoods.

A feeling that the streets were no longer safe after dark, particularly after the accidental killing of a Long Beach woman caught in the crossfire of two gangs in 1988, discouraged after-hour visits to the Village.

The majority of people who venture into Westwood - comprised of UCLA students, faculty and medical center employees, Westwood residents, and the Wilshire Boulevard office corridor workers - are still deeply dissatisfied with Westwood Village.

"You mean Deadwood Village?" asked Harold Johnson, a fourth-year English student and Westwood resident.

Johnson said he is frustrated with the parking situation and the lack of restaurants and shops that cater to the student community.

He said he also feels the wealthy homeowners that live in the surrounding neighborhood want to keep students moving rather than see them loitering in the streets.

"They want to keep the neighborhood quiet. They don't want another Third Street Promenade or Universal City Walk," Johnson said.

Laura Lake, president of Friends of Westwood, an association comprised of Westwood homeowners, merchants and tenants, said she feels the residents of Westwood are no more content with Westwood Village than the students are.

"If you set up to please only one group, you lose the others. Basically, the Village isn't catering to anyone right now," Lake said.

With 70 percent of its properties having changed hands in the past 18 months and developers battling it out over the future of Westwood, everyone is anxiously awaiting the revival of the Village.

Ira Smedra's Village Center Westwood project is a $100 million, 469,000 square foot, Mediterranean style multiplex that will convert one block of Glendon Avenue into a pedestrian walkway.

The Center will have a Ralph's supermarket, a drugstore, 3,400 movie seats, a public library and a retirement home.

Larry Taylor's company, Christina Development, has purchased most of the 1000 block of Westwood Boulevard, in addition to the old Hamburger Hamlet building and the building which houses the Mann's Festival Theater.

A third project, the Westwood Marketplace, owned by Regent Properties, has 130,000 square feet of space located on Weyburn Avenue which plans to include one anchor restaurant and numerous upscale retail clothing shops.

Lake, who opposes Smedra's project, would like to see Westwood modeled after Larchmont Village or Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, retaining its authenticity as a village.

"We would like a supermarket, but not at the cost of losing a street. And going down four levels - what a hassle for a quart of milk," Lake said.

Sandy Brown, co-president of Holmby-Westwood Property Owners, agreed. She said the association supports all the projects, except Village Center Westwood.

"Thanks to developers like Larry Taylor, the Village is already starting to feel good."

Johnson said he welcomed the Ralph's included in Smedra's project but he would also like to see some independent bookstores, a second-hand music store and some non-franchised retail clothing stores in the Village.

So would Gary Avrech, editor of the Student Shopper, who said that he thinks the Associated Students of UCLA (ASUCLA) is responsible for the decline of Westwood Village.

"ASUCLA, with the support of UCLA and the state of California, has totally undermined and destabilized the local economy of Westwood Village," he said. "None of these small businesses can compete with the state of California."

Avrech has alleged that ASUCLA uses predatory pricing and deceptive business practices to make the UCLA Store a near-monopoly, removing any need students would have to shop in the Village.

Steve Sann, a UCLA alumnus who takes an active interest in Westwood Village, disagreed.

"Revitalization takes time. This is an awkward stage, kind of like the kid with braces on his teeth," Sann said.

Jeff Knight, co-owner of Maui Beach Cafe said that during the academic year, students comprise about 25 percent of their customers.

He said they have adjusted their menu to accommodate students, with dishes like the Two and Two,a combination $2 pint of beer and a $2 taco.

"There is a much higher fixed income or no income clientele in the neighborhood, and they need affordable food," Knight said.

Voted best Asian cuisine by Los Angeles Magazine, Knight said his employees are bending over backwards trying to accommodate everyone without sacrificing their high quality cuisine.

Besides the ever-present parking shortage, Anderson's main complaint is that there is no place to dance in Westwood.

"It would be so awesome if we had a swing dancing place or any kind of dance floor," she said.

The Westwood Specific Plan, an agreement made between UCLA, the residents, merchants and property owners of Westwood, mandates that all establishments apply for a conditional use permit before allowing dancing on their premises.

Duet, the most recent nightclub to apply, was refused on the grounds that they violated the law by admitting a minor and that they were cited for overcrowding on numerous occasions.

Many students feel that pressure from powerful property owners who do not want a nightclub in Westwood was the real reason Duet was not granted a permit.

"Once they start dancing, and if they look ethnic, then they really have to watch out. When white people were swing dancing at Duet, they were not harassed," Johnson said.

Johnson said he is convinced that it is because the nightclub attracts minority groups, particularly African Americans, that the permit was not granted.

Lake and Brown, however, insisted that Duet was operating illegally.

"There is a history of nightclubs creating tremendous public safety issues in the Village," Lake said.

"The fire department closed them down on several occasions for instances of overcrowding," Brown added.

Upscale yet affordable, quaint yet convenient, independent yet profitable - many of the developers in Westwood find a way to accommodate all the constituents of the Village with their vast range of desires, needs - and pocketbook sizes.

In the meantime, students and other members of the Westwood community will endure parking shortages and construction barriers while anxiously awaiting the revival of the Village.

"Construction is hard on people, but this Village is poised for a renaissance, and it's beautiful to be a part of it," Sann said.

BAHMAN FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin

A "for lease" sign outside the former Cigar Joint store on Weyburn Avenue is one of several short-lived Westwood Village businesses.

Related sites:

•Westwood Village Hostmasters

•Official Web Site of Westwood Village

•Westwood Village

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