Newly launched Go Westwood Web site links UCLA students to Village life
By Stephanie Hodge
Oct. 5, 2004 9:00 p.m.
The busy streets of Westwood can be an overwhelming experience
for any student new to the UCLA community.
In an effort to connect Westwood Village with UCLA students and
neighbors, the Local Government and Community Relations office
recently launched a Web site featuring all the businesses located
in the Village.
The Web site, gowestwood.ucla.edu, went live on Aug. 10, after a
long-awaited arrival.
Go Westwood features listings of over 300 Village businesses. It
offers 14 different categories through which to browse, including
such topics as travel, food, retail shopping and home and
automotive needs. “It’s more comprehensive than the
other Westwood advertisements and it’s more accurate than the
overdrawn cartoon maps that are usually given out,” said
Laura Johsz, a fourth-year business economics student.
Plans for the Web site originally began over a year ago when
UCLA student Taylor Hanan came to the Local Government and
Community Relations office with an idea for a Web site to bridge
students with the Westwood Village.
“It was Taylor’s brainchild. He came to us after he
finished his first year at UCLA and didn’t know much about
the Westwood area,” said Laura Romero, assistant director of
Local Government and Community Relations. “He saw a need for
this Web site and thought it would be a great tool for other
students.”
Web site visitors can find contact information, hours of
operation, even links to other Web sites for Village
businesses.
The site also includes movie times for all Westwood theaters,
shows a listing of all businesses who accept the BruinCard, and
features information about student discounts in the Village.
Taylor is still distantly involved with the Web site while
he’s studying abroad in Mexico.
“He is e-mailing and sharing the positive responses he is
receiving,” Romero said, adding that Taylor will help again
once he returns to the country.
Though the Go Westwood team never set a specific date for the
site’s official launch, Web site creators originally hoped to
launch last winter. But, the team wasn’t quite ready to put
out a perfect product and postponed its launch date. It’s an
ongoing project that took longer than expected to arrive at the
final stage, Romero said.
Now that the Web site is available, many students are finding
the Web site to be an important channel to find information about
the Westwood community.
“It’s a huge convenience being that everything in
Westwood is located on one Web site,” Johsz said. “It
will be useful for all students, because it provides such an
abundance of information.”
Other older students are also finding ways to use the site.
“Even though I’m a fourth-year, I still don’t
know everything that Westwood has to offer, and the Web site is a
great resource,” said Jill Banning, a fourth-year philosophy
student. “And it will save students money by not having to
call 411 to get a number.”
Romero has also been pleased with the site’s success thus
far.
“All the way around, with neighbors, businesses and
students there is an overwhelmingly positive response,”
Romero said.
Future plans for the site include keeping it updated as
businesses come and go in the Village.
“At the time the Web site went live, over 300 businesses
were listed, but the businesses are always changing and it is
constantly updated,” Romero said.
Romero, together with an intern, is working hard at keeping up
with the changing businesses and plans to update the site every
couple of months.
“We’re working with a live product,” said
Romero. “Maintenance is key.”
Even in the project’s infancy, people are asking when they
can include their businesses located outside the Village area.
“I received an e-mail asking when it would be expanded,
but we’re just focusing on the Westwood Village right
now,” Romero said.
