Few current UCLA students remember the golden age of Westwood Village, when the streets were broad and uncongested, the architecture clean and uniform, and the sidewalks flooded with people on weekend evenings ““ and not just in front of Diddy Riese.
“Westwood is something that I’ve been looking at for a long time. I live nearby, I grew up here; I’m fourth generation from Los Angeles. I’ve seen it go through various stages, and where it is today is almost as bad as it’s ever been,” said Jim Rosenfield, a real estate developer who prefers to play a hand in the revival of historic places that have passed their prime.
But Westwood’s prime has not necessarily passed.
New and unique retail shops, restaurants and boutiques around Westwood seem to be slowly turning things around.
Independent stores such as Fly or Die, Kiqzoo and Monica’s, as well as chain retailers like Active that have come to occupy spaces in the Village in recent years ““ many just in the past few months ““ are bringing back some of the unique identity of Westwood’s past.
“As far as the stores that are here that go way back ““ Stan’s Donuts and a lot of the pizza joints ““ I think a lot of the older stores and restaurants still have a good base of what Westwood used to be. I think it brings back a lot of nostalgia,” said Lord Ceniza, a partnered owner of the recently-opened Fly or Die gallery on Weyburn Avenue.
“Living in Los Angeles all of our lives, we remember the heydays of Westwood, when it used to be crazy here.”
Relying largely on business from the student population, many of these new businesses have been well-received.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, “˜Wow, finally there are different boutiques opening up around here.’ It’s been kind of the same old, same old around here for awhile, but I think that hopefully soon, a lot more shops like this will open up,” said Roxsand Davis, store manager at Kiqzoo.
“We have a lack of advertisement, but just having the word spread throughout the students, so far we’ve been getting in a lot of people and so far sales have been looking up.”
Financially, the positive response from Westwood patrons has proven true for the new businesses, many of which reported sales figures that met or exceeded their target thresholds.
“I feel like we all do pretty well and hold our own,” said Courtney Morse, an assistant manager at Monica’s. “I think that the economy is down, so business isn’t as good as it was five or 10 years ago, but we’re still doing well.”
True to the distinctive nature of the Village’s atmosphere, many of these stores have been able to attract patrons by providing specialized service and, in the case of Fly or Die, monthly art shows that complement the products they sell.
The business climate in the Village, influenced heavily by trends in the neighboring student body and by the inconsistent tide of wealthy residents from adjacent areas, has been racked in the past by gang violence, intolerable traffic and parking problems.
These difficulties have been compounded by the development of shopping mall locations nearby that have drawn away customers who once flocked to Westwood and made it one of the premier shopping spots in Los Angeles.
“A lot of people will tell you that Westwood has been at a disadvantage because it no longer has an anchor department store,” said Steve Sann, a partnered owner of several restaurants in Westwood and a long-time resident of the area.
“In traditional retailing, if you look at most successful shopping malls or centers, in every one of those cases you have an anchor department store.”
Sann said that, without a large retailer, people from outside the Village have little reason to come shop in Westwood.
Other factors seem to indicate that perhaps the Village’s wonder years may not be over.
New construction projects east of Westwood Boulevard promise the Village new residents with disposable income, observers have predicted.
“The roadmap for the future is the past. We have to look back at how charming it was, how welcoming it was to the consumer. Fortunately, a lot of the old buildings are still there,” said Rosenfield, who said that many nearby shopping centers, such as The Grove and Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, have synthesized the very qualities of Westwood that once made it great.
“They’re trying to create what Westwood has. They’re trying to simulate a Village atmosphere. Westwood is now an authentic, historic village.”
Though independent businesses might help retain the individuality of Westwood, Sann said the importance of chain retailers cannot be forgotten. Big-name stores bring in patrons from all over Los Angeles, but convincing them to set up shop in the Village can be difficult because of the uncertainty of the market.
“Especially in retail, pioneers get slaughtered and settlers get rewarded,” Sann said. “Chain retailers want to see someone else test the market, see that the market is there, and then they’ll come in. The first one in often doesn’t survive because they try to create the market, but they spend so much energy drawing their customer, so they rack up a lot of debt and it’s a lot harder for them.”
Here, the new independent businesses and their corporate counterparts that have taken on the risk of establishing in Westwood may play the most important role. Many said the demographics of the Village seem to be changing, and perhaps, once more, the shoppers are returning.
“I think Westwood is evolving and appealing to everybody,” said Greg Bolyard, a manager at Active. “Parents are comfortable dropping their kids off to hang out in Westwood for a few hours ““ to see a movie, go to the arcade, to shop. I even see couples in their late 20s and early 30s down here on the weekends.”
While the long-term success of these individual businesses and the trends they could set will only be shown in the coming months and years, some business owners stressed that Westwood continues to diversify its clientele and retain its authenticity.
“People looked to UCLA as the thing that would save Westwood, which of course is a mistake,” Rosenfield said. “It’s not significant enough to keep a million-square-foot village like Westwood alive and well. It has to appeal to the student population and the wealthy people. If Westwood were to do that, it would be a better place for everyone.”