Will WeHo keep street signs that target outdoor gay sex?

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Traffic signs all around the idyllic neighborhood in the center of West Hollywood carry an odd warning: “No Turning 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.”

Why?

The signs might be dissuading drivers from criss-crossing these sleepy streets at night with the radio blasting. But their original purpose was to keep out a far different kind of traffic. 

A May 1991 article in the L.A. Times describes it as this:

For years, the area—one block south of Santa Monica Boulevard on Romaine Street between Havenhurst Drive and Harper Avenue—has been notorious for cruising and prostitution. Residents have long complained about men urinating in bushes and having sex in cars parked along the streets, sometimes in broad daylight. Concerns also have been raised over the used condoms and hypodermic needles that are found regularly in neighborhood hedges. The city has tried to resolve the problem in recent years by instituting foot patrols and placing no-turn signs on nearby streets, but no solution has been entirely effective.

In the 30 years since, the LGBTQ+ community has won the right to marry and witnessed the waning of many taboos and attitudes that were once common. 

Gone are the days when a West Hollywood councilmember (Abbe Land) would rush to the defense of her city commissioner (Norma Kemper), who faced calls to resign after she harassed a man she thought was turning tricks on her street in the middle of the day. (She pretended to snap pictures of him and threatened to send them to the police.)

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Rigorous prosecution and discrimination of gay activities have fallen out of fashion, at least in WeHo, and today law enforcement officers seldom interfere with the city’s cruising spots except to disperse crowds. Yet while Vaseline Alley is still a 24/7 magnet for horny gays, the neighborhoods nearby no longer seem plagued by the level of scandalous behavior described in the LA Times.

So is now the moment to rid WeHo streets of the “No Turning” signs? Are they an antiquated relic of a discriminatory past?

Silver Lake thought so.

Just this week, L.A. Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martinez celebrated the removal of similar signage in Silver Lake which had been displayed since 1997.

“Los Angeles has a rich history of welcoming the LGBTQIA+ community, but there has also been real and present homophobia— which at times has been inscribed into the city’s physical spaces, as with these no-U-turn signs,” Raman said.

It’s actually kind of shocking that West Hollywood’s City Councilmembers weren’t the first to address this.

The question now is whether removing the signs would send the message that cruising in West Hollywood is OK. 

It might already be legal. The city did after all direct the sheriff last year to stop pursuing similar low-level offenses like public solicitation. 

Regardless, hopes of pumping up WeHo’s progressive bona fides might still get cockblocked by the local sex NIMBYs, whose problem remains as matter-of-fact as it was three decades ago.

Former Commissioner Norma Kemper captured it succinctly: “I don’t want to infringe upon anyone’s rights, but I also don’t want to look outside my window and see people having sex.”

 

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Harambe’s Vengeful Ghost
Harambe’s Vengeful Ghost
5 months ago

I find it amazing that that groomer Maebbe A Girl got the anti-cruising and anti-loitering signs taken down in Silverlake when they were erected to keep people from raping, mugging, and killing gay and trans hookers. This couldn’t possibly backfire in WeHo in any way.

CHLOE ROSS
5 months ago

Public streets? Rights of way? I was imagining signs that said far more explicit behavior. Doesn’t this entire idea exclude folks who just need to turn and drive on? What about “Dicks” Street?

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
5 months ago

So now it’s homophobic if sex in a car in front of my house is frowned upon? Next it’ll be homophobic if people don’t join in when they see guys going at it in public?

Tommy
Tommy
5 months ago
Reply to  Rodrigo

Well, it depends on if they’re cute or no of course!

WeHo Mary!
WeHo Mary!
5 months ago
Reply to  Rodrigo

Yes, it is, because apparently it’s society’s job to make sure people have as much gay sex as possible.

jacktwist
jacktwist
5 months ago

and gone are the days of terrific GH action- it was just so simply then!!!!

Jerome Cleary
Jerome Cleary
5 months ago

This is an article I wrote as a columnist for the Los Angeles Independent: “Lewdness Is Everywhere: So Why Target Gays?” https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/23570191/114195956210793443

WestHoBornRaised
WestHoBornRaised
5 months ago
Reply to  Jerome Cleary

that link does not work, pls try again I’d like to read it , thank you

Jerome Cleary
Jerome Cleary
5 months ago

it works I just clicked on it now from this post, try it again

Frank
Frank
5 months ago

No one knows those signs are homophobic, no one cares about the signs, no one obeys those signs, and the police do not enforce those restrictions and probably don’t even know they’re there.

WeHo Mary!
WeHo Mary!
5 months ago

Again, at this point, is anyone in our community actually being prevented from sexual encounters? This joint is a gay sex theme park, I think everyone is getting more than enough sex. So much sex, in fact, that we all have to be worried about the next disease that will be rapidly distributed around the community.

West
5 months ago

There’s things that I genuinely like about Maybe A. Girl (George Pudlow), but LAPD and WHSD haven’t pursued public cruising for years. This was purely a publicity stunt— and it worked. Pudlow is trending on X and this story is circulating among the usual pundits critical of LA’s performative progressive politics.

Naturally, expect Weho CC to follow suit.

Cy Husain
5 months ago

People outdoors having sex, really ❓ After cruzing around on my high performance e scooter 🛵 with camera phone, it’s starting to look like this is West Hollywood’s version of jackalopes; elves 🧝🏽‍♂️ ; fairies 🧚🏽‍♀️ and; sasquatch. After years of actively looking for this activity, I’ve come up with as much verifiable evidence as the UFO 🛸 hunters. Now I don’t doubt the existence of extraterrestrial life 👽 in the Universe but, NOTHING shows they’re coming to WeHo to have sex.

WeHo Mary!
WeHo Mary!
5 months ago
Reply to  Cy Husain

I would LOVE ❤️ to know 🧐 more about your research 🕵️‍♀️ 🤓 in this area, and what you’ve come up with, and where 👾 (see what I did there? 👻)

KoWeho
KoWeho
5 months ago

Ask the people who live in that area and on those streets what they want. I do know that keeping cut-through traffic has long usurped the sex angle for many on these streets.

greeneyedguy
greeneyedguy
5 months ago

It says Brandon wrote this article but this blurb has Larry Block written all over it:

Gone are the days when a West Hollywood councilmember (Abbe Land) would rush to the defense of her city commissioner (Norma Kemper), who faced calls to resign after she harassed a man she thought was turning tricks on her street in the middle of the day. (She pretended to snap pictures of him and threatened to send them to the police.”

Brandon moved to this city only 4 years ago lol.

Larry Block
5 months ago
Reply to  greeneyedguy

Sorry man, never heard of norma kemper and brandon writes his own articles and your wrong again w your assumptions,

Tom
Tom
5 months ago

Is there really still an issue? Sure in the 80’s when it really was Vaseline Alley and there were sex booths at Drakes and Circus of Books (so I have heard) but we’ve got far more problems with over-served bridesmaids leaving Hamburger Mary’s and yakking up that last Classic Long Island Big Leg.

Doesn’t everyone pretty much ignore them anyway?