Westwood should have a theme song. Right now I’m thinking
the most appropriate song would be a spoof of “This Land Is
Your Land.” Sing along with me ““ “This land is
our land, this land’s not your land, from Wilshire Boulevard,
to the UCLA campus.”
With the recent controversy over the salsa dance floor in the
middle of the proposed Cuban restaurant, Westwood doesn’t
seem to be considering our needs as much as those of outside
interests.
Now, I don’t mean to spawn the riots and mass raves that
we as college students are so prone to create when gathering in fun
crowd situations, as the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners
Association members so acutely fear. But with so many different
groups having a stake in Westwood, the UCLA students have been the
ones getting the least out of their own community.
Think about all the interest groups with whom we share Westwood.
First and foremost, we have the surrounding communities ““
Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Culver City to name a few.
Then we have the poor rich kids from our rival school, who have no
safe place of their own. Not to mention the local high school kids
and the homeless.
In fact, I least mind sharing Westwood with the homeless, who
really have nowhere else to go.
Partly because of this mix of interests, and partly because of
the students’ lack of an organized voice, while surrounding
neighbors have a strong organization voicing their
“20/20″-induced nightmares, we have been getting the
bum deal in Westwood. And Westwood has suffered for it.
It doesn’t take a lot of critical thinking to realize that
we should be the main patrons of the Village. The clientele from
the upscale areas may have steady income, and the high school kids
and USC kids may have mommy and daddy’s money, but in the end
we have 25,000 undergraduates and 10,000 graduate students who are
within walking distance from the Village every day.
And let’s be honest. Of course we’re smarter, but
we’ve also got a good amount of students with mommy and
daddy’s money.
But Westwood doesn’t cater much to us, and as a direct
consequence, it’s become boring.
That is why Joe Vardner, the undergraduate transportation and
parking representative, has created a committee for the student
voice ““ the committee for Westwood revitalization. This
committee is going to attempt to find a fair balance between a
“combination of things that the communities want …, and
also what the college students want,” he said.
He noted that with the new on-campus housing opening up, and
thus more students on meal plans, the now restaurant-heavy Westwood
will need to change and find a new (and hopefully more interesting)
niche.
If the restaurants suffer, Westwood is in a jam. It can’t
compete as “shopping center of the world” ““
there’s the Westside Pavilion, The Grove, the 3rd Street
Promenade and Beverly Hills.
Instead of trying to compete, it needs to find its own
personality. It needs to service its students, who like to hang out
late at night and enjoy themselves. A few places, including Brew
Co. and Maloney’s, serve this function, but there’s not
much diversity of things to do in Westwood.
That’s why I liked Vardner’s idea for another
billiards parlor and benches around Westwood. His best idea is a
new use for Lot 32. He wants to open it up at night to Westwood
patrons, which would bring more parking to Westwood and more
revenue to the campus.
Personally, I’d like to have a reason go into Westwood for
something more than groceries and the occasional restaurant. And
while it is important to have those convenience stores and clothes
vendors in case a student needs something, I’d like to see
Westwood become more culturally interesting.
Once with friends I went to a Peruvian restaurant. While our
Peruvian friends helped us try the most interesting and traditional
dishes, the restaurant owner came out and announced that his
children would be performing traditional Peruvian dances for us
with the help of a live band. Later, the owner pulled out
volunteers from the audience to join him and his kids. It was a lot
of fun.
I imagine the Cuban restaurant would be just as much good,
wholesome fun. After all, the last time I saw a salsa dance break
into a drunken brawl was the last time I saw flamenco dancers
incite a mosh pit.
I’d also like to see a park, or a nice fountain somewhere
with places to sit around it. I’d like to see Westwood cater
to the artistic side of its campus. It would be nice to have a
place with a laid-back atmosphere, giving the students a place to
talk, or create masterworks of art, or write award-winning
novels.
Most of all, I think Westwood and its student population need to
work on their relationship. Skew’s owner Mario Del Pero has
the right idea ““ he caters to students’ needs, as well
as those of his business. Not only is that morally refreshing, but
in Westwood it’s good business sense.
It’s up to the students to prove to other cynical
businesses that we are their No. 1 priority. As Vardner put it,
“I don’t really know what Westwood is, and that’s
the biggest problem. I don’t know if Westwood knows what
Westwood is.” I don’t think it does.
It’s forgotten about us, and so it suffers and we suffer.
We need to help remind it and ourselves, and in the process regain
our Village.
Hashem understands. E-mail her about your relationship with
Westwood at nhashem@media.ucla.edu.