By Julia Ingalls
Daily Bruin Contributor
Finally, a cure for boredom ““ or at least a way to get out
of Westwood.
Founded and operated by a group of UCLA college students, a new
shuttle service offers free rides from Westwood to clubs in the
West Los Angeles area, all in support of local UCLA bands.
The as yet un-named service has so far held three events this
quarter, the fourth of which takes place tonight at the West End
bar in Santa Monica, featuring Pseudopod, the band recently voted
“Best College Band in the Nation” in the Musicomania
Contest. The shuttle service, which picks up passengers from the
corner of Gayley and Strathmore, begins its route at 9:30 p.m. and
operates in 30-minute cycles, running until the clubs are
empty.
Dissatisfied with Westwood’s limited entertainment scene,
Zach Prager came up with the idea to provide a free busing service
to students at the beginning of this quarter. A fifth-year
cognitive science student, Prager was initially inspired by his
musician friends to increase student attendance at their shows.
“We wanted to come up with a way that we could get
students to go out and see their gigs conveniently,” he said,
adding that “the only reason (students) go to Westwood bars
is because they can walk and they don’t have to drive, and
they can drink and it’s safe.”
Prager’s idea appealed to other students, for slightly
different reasons. May Huang, a fourth-year comparative literature
and political science student, started helping Prager because of
her frustration with the local scene. According to Huang, Westwood
has a law against dancing, which effectively strangles the
development of live music clubs.
“People love to dance, not just sit around and get drunk
and hit on people,” Huang said.
Since she doesn’t drink, her idea of a fun club experience
was not within walking distance.
Prager organized his production company, appropriately called
Prager Productions, and lined up a booking with Pseudopod at the
Santa Monica club Lush on April 11th. More than 250 people attended
the show.
Encouraged by the successful turnout, Prager booked a Monday
night engagement at the West End bar in Santa Monica. Once again,
about 300 people attended the West End show. Mick Taylor, the
manager/owner of the West End, was enthusiastic about
Prager’s ability to bring students out to his club on what
would otherwise be a less well-attended Monday evening. During a
telephone conversation, Taylor indicated that he would be happy to
host future events that Prager could arrange.
Monetary funding for the shuttle service is provided by the club
cover charge. But getting support from UCLA is no easy feat.
“We have problems with sponsorship on campus if you do
outside events,” Prager explained. “There’s a lot
of liability involved, and it’s hard to get UCLA to sponsor
anything like that officially.”
According to Huang, Prager Productions was turned down by
Mothers Against Drunk Driving after MADD explained that they did
not target people under the age of 21. Huang was taken aback by
MADD’s lack of interest in the younger age group, saying,
“I think that’s terrible.”
Despite the lack of overwhelming official support, Prager hopes
to expand the shuttle service to include clubs such as the Roxy,
beginning in the fall quarter. In the long term, he also envisions
broadening the scope of the service to include a network of
universities such as UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego.
MUSIC: Bus service for the Pseudopod show at the West End begins
at 9:30 p.m. at the corner of Gayley and Strathmore. Tickets are
$5, and can be purchased at Sepi’s in Westwood. For more
information, please call (310) 927-4323.