Village community neglects common interests with students

  Illustration by HINGYI KHONG/Daily Bruin   Ettekal
is a third-year business-economics student.  

By Yashar Ettekal

To the many freshman who will call UCLA home for the next four
or, if you’re like me, five years, September marks the
beginning of a sometimes tumultuous, sometimes intellectually
exasperating, yet always fruitful saga. This journey takes many
freshmen through last minute cram sessions, unforgettable parties,
changes of majors, and ultimately, connection with the UCLA
community.

For those of you who have dared to venture into the
uncomfortably dull waste of land known as Westwood Village, you
will understand the facts I am about to lay out. For those who
haven’t, here is why Westwood cannot feel like a
“college town.”

Although you would not guess from the proximity of Westwood to
the campus, the village offers very little to its
“community.” This community, which is composed of the
nearly 60,000 students and staff who stream into UCLA everyday, is
separated by an iron curtain which lies somewhere on Le Conte
Avenue. It prevents the campus and Westwood from developing a
symbiotic relationship similar to those found at many other
schools. In this sort of relationship, the students offer the
community a large market and the students, in return, have the
convenience of being able to fulfill their needs simply by walking
across the street from UCLA.

The lack of unity is a problem easily traced to both sides of
the Le Conte dividing line. Yet, the scales seem to tip toward
Westwood as the culprit who has done more to stunt the growth of
this budding relationship, compared to the relatively inactive and
passive UCLA campus.

Only 10 years ago, Westwood was a thriving night spot,
frequented by many Angelinos, much like today’s Third Street
Promenade or Old Town Pasadena. This period saw Westwood businesses
flourish while catering to a diverse crowd composed of families,
affluent westsiders, teenagers, UCLA students and eventually,
gangsters.

The boom period came to a sudden halt with the 1988 killing of a
woman outside a trendy restaurant. The overnight end of
Westwood’s thriving economy ushered in a period of failed
attempts at wooing back the crowds, scared away to other popular
destinations. Each of these attempts to renew the village aimed to
establish Westwood as a must-see Los Angeles spot (L.A. Times,
“Westwood, the sequel,” Aug. 4, 1996). Yet unlike the
old village, the new plans included very few visible attempts at
integrating UCLA’s enormous student body into Westwood.

The Westwood of the past included five markets (as opposed to
the one we have now), a bowling alley, pizza joints and something
inconceivable for a college town: a bookstore. The student-friendly
atmosphere of the past was replaced by plans that included upscale
boutiques and family restaurants. Why not cater to the thousands
strong neighboring student crowd waiting to spend money? It makes
sense to target UCLA because not much innovation is needed to
handle crowds that need the basics such as coffee shops, markets,
eateries, and trendy clothing stores. This resolves the problem of
parking and perceived crime problems.

While efforts such as the Thursday afternoon Farmer’s
Market and the blue and gold motif on Broxton Avenue are very
welcome, the empty storefronts need to be filled. I admit that the
problem is not easily solved, but Westwood merchants and especially
councilman Mike Feuer need to step aside by revising the one piece
of legislation that keeps retailers and spenders out of
Westwood.

This legislation, known as the Westwood Village Specific Plan,
dictates how Westwood may develop, while preserving the character
of the village. Preservation is a fine idea, but it simply stands
in the way of progress in a constantly growing and developing city
such as Los Angeles. If these buildings were located in the middle
of the desert, keeping the architecture would not displease anybody
and would make a fine tourist attraction. But thousands of square
feet of prime real estate remain empty in Westwood. The
reactionaries holding back the modernization flood need to vacate
and let somebody fill the empty space instead of waiting for the
perfect tenants to come along.

Without the myriad of rules governing the placement of such
things as signs and outdoor tables, a merchant looking for space
might not be scared away. Even at a time of high vacancy rates, and
with everybody clamoring for a new and improved village, the same
people looking to replace “For Lease” signs with
“Help Needed” signs are busy freeing up more space.
This may be pure optimism on Feuer’s part and others who are
expecting more people than there is space to house them, but in
reality this selectivity is what keeps Westwood from leaving its
stagnation behind.

The ongoing Duet Restaurant and Nightclub fiasco, which led to
its closing, exemplifies the attitude held by the decision-makers
illustrating how they do not embrace success unless it neatly fits
into their concept of a successful village. This is one reason why
the village cannot become the sensation it once was.

Based on an asinine and anachronistic zoning law and with help
from the support Westwood Village Specific Plan, dancing in
Westwood is only allowed if approved by a special zoning
administrator. Since this administrator, who is basically the
dancing god of Westwood, is only influenced by the likes of Feuer
and local activists, nobody can enjoy Sisqo’s “Thong
Song” outside of frat parties or their apartments.

Duet was undoubtedly one of the most successful businesses in
the village for the past few years, but this success scared many
who essentially did not like the crowds that poured in for the
weekly salsa, swing, or hip-hop dancing. Week after week, the LAPD
was anonymously called in to separate the men and women who were
breaking a law mirrored by many orthodox or militant countries.

While fears of resurgent violence are somewhat valid (I say
somewhat because people only feared the generally upscale African
American hip-hop nights and not the weekly swing dancing), it
should be noted that the police were not even once called in for
any drug violations, violence, or other unruly behavior at Duet
(L.A. Weekly, “Westwood Can’t Dance,” April 10,
1998).

Besides taking up the LAPD’s precious time, crowds looking
to spend money in a ghost town were told to leave. This
apprehensive, take no risks approach to growth and development will
not elevate the village into night spot stardom. Instead, it will
only lead to further isolation.

Those who have visited other college towns will undoubtedly
recognize the lack of unity that has existed here for most of the
past 10 years. A visit to New York University’s Greenwich
Village or Columbia ‘s Morningside Heights reveals a quite
lacking factor here in Westwood: community appreciation of an
established institution.

A most obvious welcome symbol for any business near a college is
the word “university” in the store name. Renaming a few
stores “University Newsstand” or “University
Pizza” will show students that they are in a friendly
environment and bring their business back to Westwood. Instead, we
see the rise of restaurants like Eurochow which cater to most
groups except the stereotypical starving college student. The fact
that Baja Fresh and Roll-Inn Sandwiches (otherwise known as
“Buck-fifty subs”) are thriving, should shed some light
as to where the economic success of Westwood lies.

For the village to step into the limelight again, or for it to
even crawl out of the economic gutter, it needs to look for a
pragmatic approach instead of a supposedly well-planned expansion
aimed at certain societal niches guided by the useless Westwood
Village Specific Plan. The people responsible for development have
listened to every voice but those of the students.

Communication channels need to be built that bring the campus
into discussion with the community so that our needs are
represented in the Westwood model of the future. As soon as
Westwood stops blocking these channels, UCLA students need to stop
sitting by the wayside waiting for the village to miraculously
become a huge hangout full of bars, clubs, and places to eat.

Otherwise, the iron curtain between UCLA students and Westwood
will only become stronger.