Westwood LIVE plans to cater more to students in the fall

The second Westwood LIVE will be catered toward an older clientele, and a push to draw out more students to the event will not be made until the fall, organizers said.

Westwood LIVE, happening today, is the second installment in a series of events hosted voluntarily by business owners of Westwood Village. The event is intended to emphasize the culture, cuisine and community of Westwood Village, said Steve Sann, who holds a seat on the Westwood LIVE committee and is chair of the Westwood Community Council.

The planning process did not focus on drawing students to the event, said Shane Aaron, co-chair of the Westwood LIVE committee. This decision was made by the Westwood Community Council, the designers of Westwood LIVE, because the upcoming graduation makes it difficult to secure a steady participant base, Aaron said.

The committee plans to add more UCLA students to the committee in the fall to increase student participation, Aaron said.

The committee has not specified student-specific changes for the fall, but many students are dubious of the committee’s ability to make Westwood more accessible to students.

Fourth-year economics student Ernesto Tafalla said the first Westwood LIVE, held April 21, did not elicit much interest from many UCLA students. The high price of eating out in the village was a factor, he said.

“(Westwood) is really nice, but creates a vibe with the restaurants that is too upper end for college students who are still living off of (their) high school, fast food lifestyles,” Tafalla said.

A number of businesses popular among students, such as Chipotle, said they had never heard of Westwood LIVE, even though a large banner hangs at the entrance of Broxton Avenue from the north side.

“We might participate if (Chipotle’s corporate offices) were notified,” said Francisco Rivas, general manager of the Westwood Chipotle.

After the first Westwood LIVE event last month, the council decided to increase local business participation and emphasize the street presence for the future installment of the event, Aaron said.

He added that the committee plans to do so by moving the farmers market to Thursday nights, closing down Broxton Avenue and spreading street performances throughout the street.

The first event, which involved 17 businesses, did not reach the ears of many business owners in Westwood. But even with broader outreach the second time around ““ Sann said he spoke with 60 businesses after the first Westwood LIVE ““ only three more elected to join the second event. The new businesses are Dan Deutsch Optical Outlook, Bel Air Camera and Henri Salon and Spa de Beaute.

Current Westwood LIVE participant and owner of Oakley’s Barber Shop Clinton Schudy said the timing of the first event watered down enthusiasm.

“The unfortunate thing was that (President Barack) Obama was scheduled to attend a fundraiser at the same time in Los Angeles, which emptied out the village and people didn’t want to come,” Schudy said.

He added, though, that the future events will grow as more people know about it.

“It’s an ongoing process … and as more people know about it, it will improve,” Schudy said.

Sann emphasized that Westwood LIVE is in its preliminary stages. He said the council hopes that expansion will come with regular installments.