Two employees of Mickys, the West Hollywood gay bar and lounge, were assaulted early this morning on Palm Avenue as they walked home from work.
According to Sgt. Richard Bowman of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, four Hispanic men approached one of the young men in an apparent attempt to rob him. The other young man was assaulted when he intervened to try to help his friend. One of the young men was stabbed. Neither of the men suffered life-threatening injuries, Bowman said.
The incident happened around 1 a.m. on Palm just north of Santa Monica Boulevard. To date the Sheriff’s Station has been unable to identify the assailants.
Acquaintances of the men who were assaulted identified them as boyfriends, with one working as a bartender and another as a barback at Micky’s.
No, because it was at 1 am, and it was considerably northwest of the car wash.
Has anyone else noticed there’s a sheriff car parked at the southwest corner of Palm and Cynthia for the last 3 days? I wonder if it’s there to deter any potential robberies.
Palm Ave. Hmmm… HUGE Valet/CarWash zone there behind LA Buns. Did any of them see the incident?
People aren’t targeting gays; they’re targeting easy prey. Lots of drunks and distracted residents walking around at all hours in a relatively affluent part of town. We need more patrols, more officers in the city. Unfortunately I think the uber-progressive Michael Brown lovers in WeHo would probably scream about militarization and police brutality if we were to increase the Sheriff’s presence. In many ways we get the policing we deserve since this community gives police no respect.
It’s certainly a gay issue if people target the neighborhood thinking gays are an easy target. Seems to happen way too much in the neighborhood around the bars. Drunk gays walking home make it an even easier target and all of those streets are very dimly lit which helps the assailants.
I’m really kind of astonished how many of you just discard this as “urban crime” with a nonchalant attitude. One of them was stabbed! Many of you are probably too new to Weho to know, or care…but something similar happened back in 2002 when two men were walking home and assaulted. One of them, Treve Broudy, was nearly killed. Weho was terrorized by multiple attacks late that summer. What happened? The assailants were caught, but to the outrage of the community, no one was held accountable for “hate crimes” in that attack. People don’t have to scream vulgarities for it… Read more »
It’s not a gay issue, it’s a keeping our community safe issue. I live on Larrabee St. and I’m appalled these type of activities are taking place in my neighborhood. Thank you to all who helped the police!
People are overreacting in their comments in this thread. Violence is everywhere. I’ve walked the streets of most major cities and never had a problem until moving to Palm Springs when I was held at gunpoint in Cathedral City. So everybody should calm down and take a deep breath and stop listening to the talking heads on TV, in articles or in the threads posted here! The fact is that this is not a Gay issue. Everyone is at risk at night in any major city! It’s just that simple. It’s ridiculous to speak of Palm Avenue as though it… Read more »
Steve – yeah, a lot of these attacks are under the radar. I know of at least half a dozen acquaintances who have been mugged while walking home drunk from the gay bars in the past year. They have occurred from Palm to east of Fairfax. Mostly it is a mugging and just that, but it’s still a huge concern.
I agree that Alison’s comments were a bit shrill, but even I rolled my eyes at the first two comments re: gay people being targeted.
Now Alison, you said the woman “was” straight. She’s not any longer? Although you have a point about crime, it’s hard to see it with that big chip on your shoulder. You ALWAYS feel the need to say that WeHo isn’t all gay. Yes, we get it, but when you have gay (mostly men) speaking about their lives on this site, it will most likely be through their gay eyes. You can have your straight (or whatever) identity and thoughts without always bashing the LGBT community.
If West Hollywood is going to continue encouraging residents to walk and not drive, then it needs to think about how it is going to protect the pedestrians. Frankly, I’m shocked there aren’t more attacks (though I know most are hush-hushed) with the new party bus depositing drunk patrons blocks away from their side-street homes nightly. It has to be like shooting fish in a barrel for thieves/criminals and it’s only going to get worse. I’m really tired of how short-sided this city is when it comes to progress. Green light construction, but don’t create a new traffic plan; install… Read more »
Palm and Larrabee are both pretty dangerous streets. Palm especially so. It’s a street filled with meth users, transients, and other unsavory types. For some reason all the trouble from Sunset and Santa Monica congregates on Palm and Larrabee. It is not surprising this happened at all. I would hope Block by Block can patrol Larrabee and Palm between Santa Monica and Sunset after midnight nightly – EVERY night.