Outsider Perspective

The first thing a visitor to the city of West Hollywood would notice is how fabulous this city is, it's well maintained and the people all seem to be extremely friendly. The landscape is wonderful;the streets are filles with tall trees, the bus stopes are nice clean, and to enusre that the city stay in a cleanly manner trash cans and bagies for dog droppings are all arouond.

Thesecond distinqusable thing is the rainbow colored flags that stand high blowing in the wind right along with the American Flag. These flags indeed stand as a representation of one of the major groups who reside in this community.During the day time this city seems to be very diverse, the people working in the stores and restaurants seemed to be mixed between the races and their is an wide range of ages that are outside roaming the streets enjoying the spacious park areas. There is an abundance of specialty shops, clinics, and building but the institutions that most visitors know West Hollywood for is the clubs, and luxurious hotels. For some one looking from the outside you would think that this cities residents are snobby, and rich in order to live in this wonderful community. Until you talk with some one and realize that although rent is high a lot of owners must offer rent control and these hotel's and clubs bring in revenue to support social services that allow life to seem so care free.

General Demographics

The demographics and people of West Hollywood are as diverse as it is unique.  Here are a few statistics to help put this in perspective. 

Male/Female ratio:

55.2% / 44.8%

Elderly:

18% - Those over 65 expected to decline, those 75+ likely to increase

LGBT:

- 30%-35%

Race/Ethnic Characteristics:

American Indian                  .4%

Asian& Pacific Islander    4.1%

Black                                   3.1%

Hispanic                             8.8%

White                                86.4%

(Russian 12%)

Other                                  2.9%

Boundaries

Mutual Aid

-Mutual aid- Availability of neighbors; institutions that help; circle of friends
Jordan, a member of the LGBT community, stated the close relationship between the gay and lesbian community. Their revenues largely come from private donations, a budget of roughly 50 million. There are also residents of West Hollywood who attend city meetings and volunteer in neighborhood watch, etc. However, West Hollywood is also comprised of a former Soviet population. Within this sub-culture of West Hollywood we also observed mutual aid amongst neighbors. During our community immersion, we observed the senior population engaging in outdoor social activities such as playing board games, conversing with others, etc.

-Individuals who are in need of various resources can contact City Hall to direct them to the appropriate services:
-Being Alive offers: Counseling, recreational activities, and support groups for HIV/AIDS members.
-Gay and Lesbian Center-The Village offers: Counseling, education, anonymous testing, etc.
-Jewish Family Services offers: Services for all of L.A. County, provides transportation, assistance with rent control and food vouchers.
-Religion sources
o The church distributes daily McDonald’s vouchers to the homeless.

Local Facilities

There are a wide variety of social services available to the community of West Holloywood. Of the local facilites available in West Hollywood, Plummer Park is one of its most valued resources. It is a safe-haven so to speak for everyone to come. The park offers a variety of services to a variety of people in the population. The services they offer range from group sessions (such as Project Rainbow) for the senior gay population to support groups for Holocaust survivors. In addition there are also other services available to the Jewish population provides by Jewish Family Services. An example of a service extended out to the community is Besedick, which helps to provide free legal service to the Jewish population. Other services offered include various HIV/AIDS clinics, medical marijuana clinics, food services, and PATH shelter. Some local facilities that provide these services are Plummer Park (as mentioned), The Wellness Center, The Spot, Mazer (which is the largest comprehensive Lesbian archive) and the PAC design center. Outside of West Hollywood is the Gay and Lesbian Center which provides several services to the LGBT community. And of course one could not forget about the many, many clubs that contribute large revenues to the city.

Social Control

The city of West Hollywood contracts the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to maintain social control. The Sheriff's Department works closely with City Hall and the Community Center to serve the community and address crimes such as prostitution, drug use, and other crimes that occur during the nightlife. About ten years ago, male prostitution was an issue but is now practically non-existant due to undercover police work. Currently, the main crime committed in West Hollywood is auto burglary. Also, the most popular drug used is methanphedamines. The Sheriff's Department maintains social control bypassing laws, patrolling the community, creating checkpoints to identify drunk drivers and "cruisers", and assigning officers to look for specific crimes.

This is a mobile sheriff's unit found at the Plummer Park Community Center.

Under the West Hollywood's Business Improvement Program, police patrol hot spots like bars on Robertson Boulevard on foot and bike. They respond to fights and other disturbances.

West Hollywood is frequented by celebrities along with the paparazzi that follows them. The Sheriff's Department have problems with the traffic the paparazzi cause. Parking tickets are issued in attempts to aleviate the problem.

Signs are posted throughout community to enforce laws.

Social Networks

Small town feel immersed in the bigger City of Los Angeles. Clean streets and trimmed trees flowed through the Westside of the city, a destination for the LGBT population, families, and children. Streets lined with chic and glitzy coffee shops, boutiques, hair saloons, bars, fitness facilities, and other venues. Couples getting coffee, people walking their dogs, and athletic typesrunning, made up the social networks on Santa Monica Boulevard.


We wandered into "A Different Light Bookstore," which sells books initially catered towards the LGBT community and has ventured towards the broader population. We had the opportunity to speak with Jake, the buyer for the bookstore who is all too familiar with the tastes and interests of the city.

The east side of the city beginning at Fairfax, is home to people from the Former Soviet Union and their families. Groups of elderly people were sitting throughout Plummer Park. Additionally, we were told by representatives from "The Jewish Family Services," that the majority of this population spends their days at 5 available elderly daycare centers.

Although there are two distinct areas of West Hollywood, the east and the west, they are unified by the protection services of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department. A deputy discussed the close social community of the city and gave the example that people were friendly and knew his name. This is novel for a city in Los Angeles, demonstrating its small town social network.

Identity, Civic Engagement, and Common Fate

Identity 

Although the community is extremely diverse, each social group is strong in identity and are fortunate enough to have their needs met.  The community appears to accept diverse populations (LGBT, Russian, elderly, homeless etc) within, and though their needs maybe different, there are all met in some way.  Although the percentage of families with young children is relatively small, they still receive access to resources.  

Civic Engagement

Councilmembers are voted in by the public and serve four years.  They must meet  in public with proper notice so the citizens can be aware of the issues that are being discussed.  Each term lasts four years and the citizens consistently vote against implementing a limit on the number of terms that can be served.  As a result, Council Member John Heilman has been active since the city's establishment in 1984.

The community's involvement in the toleration and or support of each groups' causes, includes supporting vote no on prop 8 campaign and the community celebration of Russian Veteran's Day in May.

As the city of West Hollywood progresses, the citizens continue to tolerate and respect each other's differences with minimal conflict.  Abundant tax revenues have allowed these various cultures to coexist and have social services to provide sufficient support for all.  

Assets and Risks

Insider Perspective

Insider perspective
-Interviewed Jordan, a member of the gay community of West Hollywood at a Yogurt shop.
-Originally from Michigan, Jordan has been a resident of West Hollywood for five years now.
-One hypothesis to why the city of West Hollywood is predominately gay and lesbian is largely due to the social night life of the entertainment industry.
-Jordan is also pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.
-Since the city is fairly young, most residents are not native just as Jordan.
-He also mentioned:
· There is a large college population
· Active police force
· Everything is in walking distance
· Big night life
· Most customers are Caucasian
· People are very dog friendly

Sheriff
o Emphasized the night life
o Population during the day 36,000
o Weekend nights population can rise to 200,000
o Halloween night population can rise to 400,000
o Many famous entertainers are in the area, therefore there is a huge paparazzi problem. They will do whatever it takes to get that shot, whether it may be to jump in front of a car during traffic or bombarding the police.
o With the Sheriffs’ active role in the city, hate crimes have significantly decreased.
o Most common crime in West Hollywood is auto burglary.

Outsider Perpsective

Evidence of Diversity

The diversity that exists in West Hollywood is evident throughout the community. Rainbow flags, a veteran monument, and Russian Holicaust memorial can be found in the community which is reflective of the 3 major groups of people that live there-LGBT, Russians, and elderly.

Although the 3 major groups get along in the community, it is evident that the LGBT community is mostly concentrated on east side of West Hollywood while the Russians and elderly reside on the west side of the region. Tensions between the groups was more prominent 10 years ago but has improved significantly since then.



Signs can be found in English, Spanish, and Russian such as these found in the park which reflect the languages spoken in the community.

Although West Hollywood is overall an affluent community, poverty does exist among the elderly and Russian immigrant population. Therefore, the city has designated rent controlled apartments. New developments must have a certain percent of apartments that are affordable in order to secure economic diversity.