Friction remains between the City of West Hollywood and two of its newest celebrity business owners — Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney — according to a new report in The Sun.
A source close to the stars of TV’s Vanderpump Rules shared new details about the ongoing struggle they’ve had trying to run a business in the city, which the source characterized as “extremely difficult and pricey.”
Madix and Maloney are the proprietors of Something About Her, a high-end sandwich shop tucked in the chic alleyway off Robertson. The two spent many months jumping through hoops set forth by City Hall in order to get the shop open.
While they originally planned to offer outdoor seating on the property’s tiny enclosed patio, the city forced them to tear it down to comply with regulations. In December of last year, the duo applied to build a new 20-foot patio; the city approved the application in April.
Six months later, no patio has been built.
In addition to having the highest minimum wage in the country, West Hollywood has developed a reputation for being a hostile environment to do business by dragging out the permitting process.
The owners of Collars & Comb, a luxury dog grooming center on Santa Monica Boulevard and La Cienega held up for more than year, recently wrote to City Hall pleading for help in expediting their opening.
The city is worried about this patio when down the street the Robertson Lane project is an eyesore to the community. WTF!
Certainly not allowing for a ‘business friendly’ culture in WEHO, it’s difficult enough to run any good business let alone a start-up. If only council members knew, understood, & respected the plight of the small business owner.
Let’s see now, a business can’t have an outside alleyway patio to seat patrons but they can take a majority of a sidewalk on a major street to seat other diners. Gotta love the asinine thinking of progressive democrats.
This space is not an empty storefront and yet the city is trying to do everything they can to put them out of business. For God sakes let’s get our head out of our asses and help this small business get what they need to expand and thrive.
Sounds like some bureaucrat at city hall or elected didn’t get special treatment or favoritism so there’s payback.
That patio was there for forever. Who ever made them take it down should be fired immediately. Major John, do something for once, get this sorted out right away.
We have zero items pending with the City at this time for this site. The building permit was issued on 4/30/24 and there have been zero revisions submitted. The city is just waiting for the business to proceed with construction and call for inspection. I’ve asked the city to reach back out to the business. When this location said they were having issues prior, it was the County (not the City) that was the issue. If you need more specifics, let me know: jerickson@weho.org