West Hollywood, California (December 3, 2009) – It’s back! My most read commentary; the best read WeHo News article at City Hall. The infamous History of West Hollywood, Part I.
With the 25th anniversary of West Hollywood’s incorporation as a City here, I have put together this time line to help you sort out the fact from the fiction.
The City’s public relations machine is in high gear and you’ll need to be armed with the facts and some high boots to wade through the celebratory propaganda.
The facts are a lot more fun than the myths.
For the thousands of my neighbors who were here back in those heady days, it is hard to recapture the incredible euphoria and heady rush of the international attention that was focused on our little city that had the first gay majority municipal government in the world.
We were a lot younger and anything was possible. We were going to create a model urban utopia. Our little town was going to be a living example of community empowerment, democracy and open political processes.
The first years of our history were exciting times when the City was on the cutting edge of national politics.
Twenty five years later some of our dreams seem a bit naïve and the current political reality seems very detached from the progressive hopes that we dared to dream in 1984.
While our political experience has been marked by great successes and disappointments, we still have reason to be both proud and hopeful of West Hollywood.
However, to quote a modern philosopher, what a long strange trips it’s been…
November, 1984 City of West Hollywood incorporated. The Cityhood drive is inspired by the skyrocketing rents that were driving many residents from their apartments and led by Ron Stone.
The first City Council consisted of Valerie Terrigno, Allan Viterbi, John Heilman, Helen Albert and Steve Schulte.
The first City Council consisted of Valerie Terrigno, Allan Viterbi, John Heilman, Helen Albert and Steve Schulte. Photo courtesy “Images of America: West Hollywood” by Ryan Gierach, Arcadia Publishing. WeHo News.
Terrigno a lesbian activist and former President of Stonewall Democratic Club was the Council’s most charismatic leader followed by Steve Schulte, a gay icon, who was former-Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Center and a Colt model.
John Heilman, 26, had recently graduated from law school. Allan Viterbi was only 22 but as a founder of the Bruin Democrats at UCLA, he was a rising star in Democratic Party circles, rumored to be the “next Zev Yaroslovasky.”
Helen Albert was a retired school teacher.
Because of the election of the world’s first gay majority government, the City was born in a blaze of publicity. The new Council was subject to international medial coverage. The City’s high media profile with prove to be less of a blessing in the future.
The Coalition for Economic Survival, CES, the local renter’s rights organization ran a three person slate that included Heilman and Albert. It then endorsed Terrigno and Viterbi, who were generally viewed as potential front runners.
Steve Schulte edged out the fifth CES candidate to win election. After the election front runners Terrigno and Viterbi joined with Schulte to function as a three person majority.
Steve Schulte edged out the fifth CES candidate to win election to the first WeHo Council. WeHo News.
Council’s early achievements included enactment of a strict rent stabilization ordinance, pioneering gay and lesbian rights legislation and many progressive social services.
TIMELINE:
1985 Abbe Land appointed to Planning Commission; moves into City.
Valerie Terrigno resigns amid Federal charges that she embezzled small amounts of funds from a social service agency she ran prior to her election to City Council; the Mayor’s high profile attracts attention from the Regan Administration and she is convicted after a federal trial.
Abbe Land, endorsed by CES, is elected to fill the vacancy. John Heilman-led CES majority is quick to establish hold on the city bureaucracy, quash dissenting views and fosters a cult of personality.
1988 West Hollywood Card Club initiative, which would bring large scale gambling to the City, is defeated.
Despite opposition from residents lead by Jeanne Dobrin, the City legalized conversion of five condo buildings into hotels by developer Severin Askenazy; John and Abbe are key supporters; massive loss of housing including the eviction of many tenants who had been leasing in the buildings.
John Heilman, elected in 1984, still serves as City Council member. Photo by WeHo News.
City Council legalized an illegal floor at Bel Age that Askenazy had built without permits and that the County had refused to allow him to occupy. City reaps windfall from hotel tax despite loss of hundreds of housing units.
The former residential buildings are currently operating as the Montrose, the Summerfield Suites, Le Rive and Le Park hotels.
1989 Lead by Councilmember John Heilman, the City proposes building a massive, $25 million, Civic Center in the Park.
Councilmember Steve Schulte opposes, claiming that the huge structure will destroy the Park and eliminate the City’s only swimming pool. Schulte leads effort to collect signatures to put an initiative on the ballot to stop the Civic Center.
November, 1989 The proposed Civic Center in the Park is defeated by grass roots coalition lead by Councilmember Steve Schulte against a well funded effort by John Heilman, Abbe Land and the City business establishment.
January, 1990 Steve Schulte, a gay icon and inspiration for Tom of Finland, announces he will not run for re-election after being politically marginalized by the Heilman-lead Council majority. The City now only has one gay Council member, John Heilman.
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