Architectural renderings of the future Holloway homeless facility were released Jan. 23 at a press event for TV news media held by the City of West Hollywood. A close inspection of the artwork depicting the future interim housing complex — which was touted on site by Mayor John M. Erickson, County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, WeHo Human Services Manager Christof Schroeder and retired WeHo homeless czar Corri Planck for rolling news cameras — offers some interesting revelations about the project, likely not all intended.
THE RENDERINGS
The renderings show four entrance gates, two facing Santa Monica Boulevard and two exiting onto Holloway. The fence appears to be between eight and 10 feet high.
The front entrance doesn’t look difficult to climb over.
A light fixture. Outdoor lighting seems lacking overall.
The renderings show two unremarkable gathering areas within the courtyard and a more prominent and visible seating space rising above street level right in front of the building, looking down onto Santa Monica Boulevard.
The depictions of people within the renderings suggest project planners have an idea in their heads of what the typical Holloway resident will look like, what their race and ethnicities are (most in the images are Black and Hispanic), what they wear and what they do during the day.
The marquee sign has been made more obscure.
A cute balcony.
THE PRESS EVENT
There are about 34,000 people living in the City of West Hollywood. A very few live in Sierra Towers, most live in ordinary condos, some in nice apartments and some live in lower-rent apartments. Each constitutes a part of the demography of this city, and any city. So these few very few people who are going to be living in the former Holloway Motel should somehow not be a part of the demographic bell curve because they aren’t as well off or exist in your part of the bell curve?
Revenge for years of anti-gay signs at Barney’s? Future site of the proposed homeless showers, bathrooms and storage facilities? What has not been revealed? And who exactly will decide what happens at the site , Ascencia? Someone (who?) at City Hall? Another of the City’s many independent contractors? Or (correct answer?) no one who can be identified for blame if some goes wrong?
Last night attempted to walk down the street at 7:15ish. Now starting to see individuals with their hoodies up lurking all around. Sad 🙁 Might just be me but in the last few weeks definitely seems like an influx of MORE homeless in the neighborhood. Pavilions side entrance (that used to be usable) sometimes now looks like an encampment..
It’s a dangerous crossing over to the pot shop across the street. We may have to build one of those wildlife highway bridges for them.
This will hurt the residents and taxpayers of West Hollywood in many ways. Hard to see a single advantage to our community and the risks are innumerable. I’ll consider that part of the sidewalk on SM Blvd. to be unwalkable and off limits.
We already avoid that corner with all the crazy now – let alone when the welcome wagon opens.
I wonder what the upscale hotel across the street on Holloway thinks about their future neighbor, a homeless shelter. I’m sure Hotel.com and Expedia will list it as a nearby Tourist Attraction. Let’s be real, the city again bailed out a failing business like they did with the theater across from city hall and the Walgreens site. I would like to know what happened to the promised Homeless Shelter that was supposed to be built by the developers of the Gateway Project? That apparently went down the drain much like ” no big box stores.”
Anybody who thinks the current West Hollywood government is competent enough to run this without it being a total eyesore, trouble-magnet, and complete failure is fooling themselves. They are naive, idealistic, and totally ignorant of what happens when homeless facilities come to a neighborhood. Maybe the rents will finally go down in West Hollywood and there will be somewhat affordable housing again, because no one wants to live near the Drug Magnet facility. Homeless people are smarter than moron City government workers; they will get played. It’s funny that this facility “doesn’t allow” alcohol or marijuana, but marijuana dispensaries can… Read more »
Interesting that Sup. Lindsey Horvath shows up to an event after which she previously announced to the county during her campaign that she has solved the homeless problem in WeHo. Will this become the Lindsey Horvath Memorial Housing Project? At least they will be able to salvage the “H” in the signage.
Lol. The renderings make me snicker. As you can see ihop building is in clear sight..most likely to be annouced phase 2 of this money maker project for the city and we all know any renderings within the last few yrs never materialize that way. Sad but this corner is gonna be a sh!t hole
As will the memorial park.
heh plus its nice and close proximity to stores to get a bottle(s). I wonder if the bus stop will go away…