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  Photos by KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Current Sepi's owner and UCLA alumna Jinny Hwang (right) has been serving hungry customers for 15 years in Westwood.

By Dexter Gauntlett

Daily Bruin Contributor

The oldest existing restaurant in Westwood Village, Sepi’s, a longtime Bruin hangout, celebrates its 30th year of staying the same.

In recent years, Westwood Village businesses of all types have experienced monetary hardships. Macy’s, California Sunburger and Juice Star all recently closed down because of slow business.

In fact, more than 200 businesses have closed in Westwood in the last 48 months, according to UCLA alumnus and Westwood business consultant Steve Sann. Sepi’s, however, has maintained a loyal following from the entire UCLA campus, neighborhood families and local offices.

The restaurant has outlasted fast-food chains McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr., who could not produce enough revenue to compete with other food providers in the area. B. Dalton Bookstore was forced to close after 25 years in the Village, while Hamburger Hamlet suffered the same fate after 40 years.

Despite the coming and going of dozens of restaurants in the village’s history, many locals kept Sepi’s as their first choice since its opening.

“It’s kept its original character, which is why I come here,” said Bob Dean, director of marketing for a daily celebrity newsletter. “Everything’s fresh. ... I crave it. The roast beef sandwich is the only thing I’ve ever had and I’ve been coming here since I was a kid.”

Named for Irv Sepkowitz, a legendary prankster in UCLA history, Sepi’s was founded in 1970 by his friend Lorence Singer. Both were exclusive members of The Kelps in the late ’50s and early ’60s – a student spirit organization dedicated to having “a good time, to party and to support UCLA sports,” according to fellow member and friend Robert Hirsch.

In one prank, Hirsch recounted how Sepkowitz was responsible for almost causing a riot during a UCLA football game against USC.

“He snuck into the game as the Trojan with a sword on a horse and went crazy by the USC fans,” he said.

  Sepi's has served loyal customers, as well as new ones, for more than 30 years. The restaurant provides a nostalgic setting for Bruins. Current Sepi’s owner and UCLA alumna Jinny Hwang has pictures with hometown celebrities that cover the restaurant’s walls. Along with UCLA legends Troy Aikman, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James West, pictures of UCLA sports teams – from basketball to ultimate Frisbee – date to 1970.

UCLA All-American and NBA Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton, also pictured with Hwang, named Sepi’s as his favorite place to eat in Westwood during an interview with Larry King in 1997.

Hwang, who took over the restaurant in 1985, credits the business’s steady success to the relationship maintained with longtime customers.

“We’re a gathering place for locals. We’ve kept relationships with people who have been coming for 20-plus years,” she said.

Despite rising rent prices in the area, Sepi’s nostalgic setting initiates a new wave of customers with every freshman class. Hwang said traditions associated with Sepi’s make the eatery unique.

“Among all cookie-cutter, corporate-managed eateries, Sepi’s stands alone as a community connection where people come and feel like they still belong as a Bruin,” Hwang said.

Along with many local merchants, Sepi’s experienced hard times from 1989 to 1991 because streets in the village were closed down on the weekends over fears of excessive violence.

Last month’s closure of Westwood Video, after 20 years in the village, is not surprising to local merchants who have experienced Westwood’s ballooning rental rates.

“The landlords think we’re thriving so they charge ridiculous rates. These new places that would be coming in are walking away because the rates are too high,” said Robby Schwartz, owner of Baskin-Robbins in Westwood.

Sann said he noticed a pattern responsible for the Village’s business woes.

“The economy of Westwood village shifted from having these neighborhood and university-serving businesses to more of a regional entertainment zone,” he said.

Westwood went from having two movie theaters in the early ’60s to 18 by 1975, according to Sann, who said such trends are responsible for the village’s highly competitive market.

“The ‘movie theater’ economy of t-shirt, cookie shops and other fast-food establishments has been a proliferation for almost 25 years,” Sann said.

Due to the addition of on-campus stores some students said they have fewer reasons to go into Westwood.

“I can pretty much get everything I need on campus,” said John Barry, a first-year political science student. “I just go into Westwood for late-night food.”

For those who have never heard the name of Irv Sepkowitz, Sepi’s serves as a reminder of what it means to be a Bruin, according to State Senator-elect Sheila Kuehl.

“I think it’s great that his name lives on in Westwood, and now it’s frequented by people who don’t even know how wonderful this man was and what a great legacy this is for his appreciation of everything Bruin,” she said.

Kuehl attended UCLA with Sepkowitz, and attests to the nostalgia surrounding the campus and its ties to the eatery.

“When past UCLA grads come now and stand behind the counter they still conjure up the same emotions as when they were students,” Hwang said. “Nothing has changed and they appreciate that. There’s something romantic about it.”

“It’s a college hangout where students, alumni, faculty and employees of UCLA all intermingle at one table,” she said.

UCLA student bands Pseudopod and the Septones, whose name was inspired by Sepi’s, both have close relationships with Hwang.

“Jinny opened up her place to us ... Sepi’s just has more personality than other places in Westwood, it’s its own independent place with its own attitude,” said Septones member Sean Castle, a fifth-year music and business student.

The Septones used to play every Monday night, attracting large crowds to the restaurant.

“We even have UCLA football and basketball players from the ’60s and ’70s come in – it’s like a tradition, a place to call their own,” Hwang said.