The City of West Hollywood will celebrate the holiday season with special programming throughout the month of December.
That will include decorative street pole banners and a commemorative holiday card featuring original artwork created and donated by the artist Shag (Josh Agle). As part of the holiday card, a poem entitled “Homecoming” was specifically penned for the season by Charles Flowers, the city’s poet laureate.
The poem and a digital image of the card are available on the city’s website. Printed cards are available at City Hall, the West Hollywood Library, and Plummer Park. Street pole banners featuring the holiday artwork can be seen on Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue.
Upcoming Holiday Events
On Dec. 8 at noon, the city and the Avanti Art Center’s student dancers will present a special performance of “The Nutcracker” at Plummer Park’s Fiesta Hall, located at 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. Suggested donation is $10. For more information, call (310) 980-3171.
On Dec. 14 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. the city will kick off it’s 2019‐20 Winter Sounds free indoor concert series and will feature a holiday jazz concert with world renowned vibraphonist Nick Mancini and his quartet. This concert will take place at the City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. Admission is free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. More information, music samples, and parking information, can be found online.
On Dec 28 at 11 a.m., children are invited to bring their parents and guardians to West Hollywood Library for a special holiday Drag Queen Story Hour at the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. At Drag Queen Story Hour, children are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people present as they wish — a world where dress-up is real. Drag Queen Story Hour is for children of all ages. No registration necessary and admission is free. More information is online here.
On Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. #Boom, West Hollywood’s premiere alcohol and drug‐free New Year’s Eve event, will bring together hundreds of people for a celebration with a DJ, dancing, food, and an alcohol‐free midnight toast. #Boom will take place at the West Hollywood Park Auditorium, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd. This year’s theme is “Icons.” Admission is free. Attendees must be 18 years or over to enter and capacity is limited. For more information and to RSVP, click here.
In addition to holiday programming, the City of West Hollywood will also be conducting its 29th annual West Hollywood Toy and Food Drive in partnership with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station. The West Hollywood Toy and Food Drive provides families in West Hollywood with a holiday meal — as well as two toys for every child in the family. The city will be accepting donations from Dec. 2 until Dec. 20, with the goal of providing up to 900 families with meals and gifts. For the past three decades, contributions of local businesses and individuals have helped provide more than 7,300 local families with food and gifts.
New unwrapped toys are needed, as well as new clothing, store coupons, and discount cards. For more information about the holiday drive contact Bonnie Smith at bsmith@weho.org. Monetary donations can be made online at or at the cashier’s window at West Hollywood City Hall, located at 8300 Santa Monica Blvd. A donation of $65 will help one family, but every donation, no matter how small, counts. Gift and food drive donations can be dropped off at City Hall or at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, located at 780 N. San Vicente Blvd.
On Dec 28 at 11 a.m., children are invited to bring their parents and guardians to West Hollywood Library for a special holiday Drag Queen Story Hour at the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room,…….REALLY???????????????
Drag Queen Story Hour for kids? I’m gay and I don’t approve of this. I”m following hundreds of stories of KIDS whose parents are putting them on dangerous hormones, cancerous drugs and setting them up for surgery as teens. This is wrong and takes away from a kind, benign “drag queen.” We’ll never know the agenda. I was terribly confused about sexuality and my place in the world as a gay or bi person teen and in early adulthood. After visiting 10 therapists…that’s how committed I was. I found one that really helped me. Thank goodness no parent or doctor… Read more »
When I was a child, I was exposed to clowns, Clowns at the circus, clowns at the fair, clowns at the parade. My aunt was a clown named Butterfly on my eighth birthday. She communicated with a kazoo. So many clowns. And yet, I’ve never wanted to be a clown. All this overexposure to clowns never gave me a secret longing to don big floppy red shoes or wear a big red nose or ride in a go-cart instead of a car. Maybe I am just lucky. Also, dragqueens are not necessarily trans.
I’m sorry, but the one confused is you, not the kids.
Drag Queen Story Hour has nothing to do with hormones or surgeries. It’s about acceptance of others’ differences, being loved for who you are regardless of the clothes you wear or the toys you play with…and oh yeah, it’s about making reading fun.
I agree with learntobeajournalist. Transgenderism is in the news a LOT now and kids will make the connection to drag queens and what they are hearing. Kids don’t need to know about alternative life styles until they are much older; more than that is sexualizing them much too soon. They should learn to be kind to everyone, but for the first few years of life all they need to know is that they were created by mommy and daddy.
I think everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. I was exposed to many different kinds of people when I was a kid EXCEPT GAY. Guess what? I’m gay!