An empty lot across the street from UCLA on Gayley Avenue officially opened to the public Monday as Westwood’s only food truck parking lot.
The lot was met with an outpouring of support from hungry customers and backlash from Westwood business leaders who question its legality.
The Westwood Village Food Truck Lot, on the corner of Gayley Avenue and Le Conte Avenue, will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, said Barry Fogel, promoter for Book That Truck, the company which manages the lot. He said it will include a rotating selection of food trucks, including Cousins Maine Lobster, Kogi BBQ, Say Fish Taco and Roadhouse Rotisserie.
“I like to really find interesting trucks,” he said. “You won’t find five taco trucks here one day; there’ll be one of each kind of food.”
The lot will open around 11 a.m. most days, and will close sometime in the late evening, Fogel said. He added that all the trucks take credit cards and have “A” ratings from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Mallvinder Kahal, a fourth-year environmental science student who stopped by the Say Fish Taco truck on Thursday, before the official opening, said he was happy to see that the lot was no longer empty.
“I’m sure people are grateful to have this here,” Kahal said. “I know I am.”
Kahal added that he thinks the lot’s location near fraternity row will make the new business popular.
Westwood community leaders and business owners, however, expressed concerns about the lot.
Steve Sann, chair of the Westwood Community Council, said he thinks the food trucks will present unfair competition to more traditional restaurants.
“For those of us looking to build a sustainable village economy … (we think) they’re just here in a very predatory way to peel off customers from brick-and-mortar restaurants,” Sann said.
Sann added that he thinks food trucks in Westwood hinder efforts by local leaders to revitalize the area.
The 8,750-square-foot lot, a former Shell gas station, was sold in April 2013 for nearly $2 million to landowner Barry Beitler.
As recently as December, the Westwood Community Design Review Board considered a four-story building Beitler planned to build on the site, which would have ground-floor retail, three floors of medical offices and underground parking.
But a few weeks ago, Fogel said he and Beitler arranged to turn the lot into a food truck space. Fogel said his company removed weeds to make the space more inviting.
Beitler was unavailable for immediate comment about his plans for the site.
Katherine Hennigan, economic development director and Westwood deputy at the Council District 5 office, said she called the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety and the public health department on Monday to check if the land is safe and the business is operating properly.
She added that the two departments are reviewing the concerns, and that Councilman Paul Koretz’s office is working with the departments to resolve the matter.
Sann said the lot may violate the loosely enforced Westwood Village Specific Plan, a document written by the city of Los Angeles in 1989 that only allows six fast-food establishments on Gayley Avenue. The plan defines fast-food establishments as, among other criteria, dispensing meals over a counter with a limited posted menu, limited or no table service and payment before eating.
Sann also questioned whether the company had a certificate of occupancy or business permit specifying that it can conduct business on the Gayley Avenue property. Fogel said Book That Truck has a business license and the individual trucks are permitted, but that he was unsure whether the business has or needs additional documents.
Several nearby restaurants declined to comment on the Westwood Lot’s opening.
In a statement, Pamela Hodes, owner of Book That Truck, said she initially expects some controversy from neighboring restaurants, but thinks retail stores will be happy with increased foot traffic from the lot.
Fogel said the lot will add competition to the Westwood restaurant environment.
“There’s a huge demand for food trucks. The food is good; it’s chef-driven, (and) it’s very fresh,” Fogel said. “I don’t think they can push the genie back in the bottle anymore.”
Lisa Chapman, the outreach and communications chair for the Westwood Neighborhood Council, said in an email statement that the council will most likely discuss the new development at its meeting Wednesday.
The council had already planned to speak about food trucks in regard to a City Council motion pushing for regulations for food trucks on L.A. sidewalks and parkways.
Fogel said he plans to keep the lot open as long as possible, though it is too early to tell how successful it will be.
The lot will announce its trucks each day on its website and Twitter page, Fogel said.
To the businesses: Do better. Stop complaining. Compete.
i wish steve sann of westwood community council would let us know which restaurants he represents so i could personally boycott them and they’d get even less of my money.
Steve Sann and the Westwood Community Council want to build a “sustainable village economy”? Could have fooled me.
I personally believe the Daily Bruin should not allow comments here from people who can’t use their real names, or hide under the guise of “guest” when making personal attacks on individuals. I won’t go to a lot that consists of contaminated dirt that has never been treated from a recent gas station. Most communities would not allow that to even happen. I also find it interesting that Mr. Beitler has no comment on this, when he is setting up direct competition right next door to the very businesses that he is landlord to….brick and mortar businesses that pay into the bid and pay city and business taxes. Let’s all look at the big picture here. They are putting these food trucks here to make as much money as they can while their building plans go into effect, not to help the Village.
and you seem to be trying to keep them out so that the brick and mortar business can make as much money as possible without having to compete with businesses that offer something customers want.
so don’t go to the lot if it doesn’t meet your hygiene standards. (apparently it meets the city’s). i won’t dine at the brick and mortars.
Food trucks are not legal in the city of LA on a dirt lot with no bathrooms or a place to wash your hands (required by law), so please get your facts straight. They will only be there for a short amount of time, so enjoy eating under methane fumes while you can! Whoever you are, since you are too cowardly to
show anyone.
if that’s the case then the city should be shutting them down any minute now and you have nothing to worry about.
interesting ad hominem you’ve chosen to go with there, especially since it comes right after you just finished (wrongfully) condemning others for making personal attacks.
but i am a hungry person with dollars to spend in westwood, and that’s as much as about me that needs to be known.
i’m sorry that competition seems to be an issue for you. but best of luck.
Yes, I am sure the city will be getting to this in short order. Especially as they were caught off-guard that it was even opening, which was the intent of the broker. This has nothing to do with competition in Westwood among businesses. These food trucks are not businesses in Westwood, they do not pay city taxes, or pay into the BID, or anything of that nature, that any brick and mortar business has to do. I’m all for competition when the playing field is fair. Yes, I will continue to call you out for hiding behind a silly name that masks your identity. It’s cowardly.
so now you’re adding straw men arguments on top of your ad hominem attacks. competition is competition and you seem to be afraid of it, even if it will soon be gone.
call me out as much as you’d like, if it makes you feel better, or just address the issue at hand a little more cogently, if you’re capable.
You’ve got to be kidding me. You began the abusive ad hominem argument when you called out an individual, Steve Sann. So don’t go there. You are missing the point completely, but I commend you on your vocabulary. I have addressed the issue at hand, you just choose not to accept the logic of the argument. It’s so easy to come back with what you percieve as witty rhetoric when no one knows who you are.
did i make a personal attack on mr. sann or did i ask a fair question of him? a little ironic on my part that i was asking steve to put names to the businesses he represents in light of my own alias, but far from a personal attack. (though i do believe different standards apply to internet commenters and someone in steve’s position).
what you’ve done is attacked me personally and made sanctimonious or altruistic claims about the cleanliness of the lot that completely overshadow your real concerns.
supporting local businesses is important. it’s a reasonable concern. should i stop shopping at trader joe’s and go back to ralph’s so they can charge me more money for similar products?
should target not get a liquor license so the few remaining bars in westwood can sell more beer?
that’s up to the individual to decide where they want to put their money.
Sanctimonious or altruistic claims about the cleanliness of the lot? LOL!! It is a dirt lot, that used to be a gas station!!The dirt has not been mitigated as it should have been, and there are no bathrooms or running water on site. Seems pretty clear cut to me. I don’t think anyone would think your first comment about Steve was fair, esp as you hide behind an alias. You have no idea what my real concerns are…but they are pretty straightforward on this vast comment thread. I have not personally attacked you except to ridicule you on hiding behind an alias. I disagree with you, as do many others in this community. If you truly supported local businesses, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You seem to be a “I have to have the last word” kind of person, so I’m out. Have at it, whoever you are!
“if you truly supported local businesses…”
this is your best ad hominem yet. almost as good as the one about me needing to have the last word. calling me a coward was somewhere in the middle.
but of course you’re out- we’ve drilled down to address your real concerns and there aren’t a lot of ways you can justify them without attacking me.
i support local business when they offer the products i’m looking for at the prices i want to pay. competition is a good thing and i guess i’ll have to wait forever for you tell me why it might be a good idea for me to pay more. best of luck to you.
Ms. Chapman, if the dirt lot is of concern regarding the methane and
other “contamination” then why hasn’t the Westwood Neighborhood Council
raised their concerns before? For several years it’s been open and
exposed to the elements, allowing wind to pick up said “health hazard”.
Why isn’t the council concerned or acting on this?
On that note, I think this
has more to do with control. The Westwood councils, associations, club,
groups, homeowners, landlords and all the other myriads of individuals
who claim to have interest in the Village can’t grasp the idea of not
being able to absolutely control every aspect of Westwood Village. Last I
checked, Westwood was REALLY thriving under their thumb!
The
fact is, these entities don’t care about the input, needs, or opinions
of area renters, students, workers, or small business owners. Time and
time again they have shown this by the lack of activity and advocacy for
real improvements. They do, however, love their membership of
homeowners, landlords, and business owners in their pockets, er
“friends,” um, cronies. See: Sann, Steve.
Steve sanns represents diddy riese.
Steve Sanns is a piece of garbage. Good Job “protecting” us from a god damn food truck. If a food truck puts one of our restaurants out of business, it deserves to go.
This is just Steve up to his normal bag of tricks. This man Gets off, CREAMS HIS PANTS, by pushing them around.