If you’re reading this story, you likely already know the West Hollywood origin story. I’m guessing you’re someone who cares enough about this city to stay informed, to show up, to care enough to want to make a difference.
That’s exactly what WeHo Stories is about. The people on these pages cared enough to stand up and fight for something that seemed rather impossible back in 1984. Back in Reagan’s America.
Think about that moment. The AIDS epidemic was devastating the queer community. Reagan was sweeping to reelection. Conservative America, heck even conservative California was driving the body politic. The odds of a place like West Hollywood being born weren’t just long—they were kinda laughable. Especially a city with an openly lesbian mayor, an LGBTQ majority on City Council, and councilmembers ranging from 22 to 73 years old running on what seemed like radical ideas for the time – because they were.
Except to the people who made it happen anyway.
The book launched Wednesday night at City Council Chambers, and the room pretty much told the story. Mayor John Heilman opened the event alongside Vice Mayor Danny Hang and Councilmembers John Erickson and Chelsea Byers. Heilman served on that original 1984 City Council. Forty-one years later, wrapping his final term, he was there to see the stories finally documented.
Former mayors Abbe Land and Steve Martin showed up. So did County Assessor Jeff Prang, actress Barbara Bain, and former Assembly Member and Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz. The founding generation, still here, still paying attention.
County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath started the project back in 2015 when she served on City Council. As the people who built West Hollywood got older, she realized something urgent – time was doing what time does and there was a need to make sure these stories weren’t lost.
“I didn’t want to be the only person who had the privilege of hearing these stories and knowing them,” Horvath said.
Why It Took Years
The book’s project lead Barbara Grover walked through the timeline Wednesday evening. Horvath reached out to her around 2015 with the idea. They then formed a nonprofit in 2017 to raise money. Then COVID hit. Then accidents and cancers slowed everything.
“Somehow, we got to the end of the book,” Grover said.
Grover brought her own history to the project. She worked as a consultant on the 1984 cityhood campaign and served as Council Deputy to Helen Albert during the city’s first years. That firsthand connection helped her conduct in-depth interviews with 28 people, shaping their recollections into first-person narratives paired with portrait photography.
The stories are heartfelt, funny, poignant. They’re also urgent. By the time the project started, many key figures had already died. Ron Stone, known as the Father of Cityhood. Helen Albert, who served on the first City Council. Joyce Hundal and Bud Siegel, homeowner activists instrumental in making Cityhood real. They’re remembered throughout the book by people who worked alongside them.
How A City Was Born 
Photo courtesy of WeHo Stories
How A City Was Born
The road to incorporation started in early 1983. The Coalition for Economic Survival began organizing to save rent control as LA County prepared to phase it out. That August, Ron Stone formed the West Hollywood Incorporated Committee to explore making the area an independent city.
When a county-wide rent control measure failed that November—despite winning overwhelmingly in what would become West Hollywood—CES joined the incorporation effort. The strategy became clear. Local rent control through local government.
Residents launched a signature-gathering campaign in January 1984 to get incorporation on the November ballot. They collected signatures while the AIDS crisis threatened the community and national politics shifted right.
Election night, November 6, 1984. Reagan won nationally. In an unincorporated 1.9 square mile patch of LA County, something different happened.
Renters made up 85 percent of the population (much the same as today). They faced the LA County Board of Supervisors, which was about to abolish rent control. CES spearheaded the campaign. Seniors joined. Russian immigrants from the Soviet Union wanted a voice, homeowners wanted a say in unchecked neighborhood growth. And LGBTQ activists saw a chance to build something unprecedented, something historic.
Incorporation passed with nearly 67 percent of the vote. 10,248 residents voted yes, 5,017 voted no.
That same night, residents elected the nation’s first gay-majority City Council. Valerie Terrigno won 6,617 votes and became the country’s first openly lesbian mayor. Alan Viterbi got 5,581 votes. John Heilman got 4,490. Helen Albert got 4,328. Steve Schulte got 4,264.
The first City Council meeting happened November 29, 1984. From day one, they raised issues like domestic partnership, strong rent control, robust funding for social services. West Hollywood became an incubator for policies that would spark change far beyond its borders. A model for local grassroots democracy when powerful special interests dominated Southern California politics.
Horvath noted the devastating toll on the community. “West Hollywood had the greatest number of people who lost their lives to AIDS,” she said. “And there’s now a beautiful monument right out front to commemorate what the impact of that has meant for this community.”
The First Believer
Horvath gave special recognition to Margot Siegel. Siegel was a German-born architect who settled in West Hollywood and formed the committee that drafted the city’s Community Plan in the early 1980s. That plan was adopted when the city incorporated.
Siegel’s husband worked with the city and county on financial documentation proving West Hollywood could survive independently. Margot gave the first major donation to WeHo Stories, convincing others to invest.
“Margot gave us our first gift to believe that this project could come to life,” Horvath said.
The City of West Hollywood, Horvath’s County office, Santa Monica College Public Policy Institute, Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, LA County Library and individual donors funded the project.
What Wednesday’s Panel Discussed
LA County Library CEO Skye Patrick, a self-proclaimed “huge fan” of West Hollywood, moderated the discussion with Horvath, Grover, and Professor Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein from Santa Monica College Public Policy Institute.
The conversation kept circling back to stories about building trust between unlikely allies. How housing insecurity affected renters and the impact of discrimination on LGBTQ residents and those living with HIV AIDS. How these and other personal stories helped people see their shared struggles and turn them into policy.
For the most part those values have lasted. Renter protections remain central to West Hollywood. A progressive social contract remains in tact and the HIV/AIDS and more recently, the COVID crisis continues to shape public health policy and approaches.
Development fights existed from day one and have never stopped. But shared progressive values and community engagement remain constant. Grover summed it up this way, “for the most part, everyone loves the City, and they’re so proud to be part of it.”
More Than Just a Book
WeHo Stories is both a coffee table book and a digital archive at wehostories.org. The website includes memorabilia saved from the cityhood era, a timeline, and multimedia pieces created for West Hollywood’s 41st anniversary in 2024.
The 28 individuals featured include Jamie Adler, Barbara Bain, Marina Berkman, Ivy Bottini, David Cooley, John Duran, Larry Gross, John Heilman, Wendell Jones, Paul Koretz, Abbe Land, Helen Levin, James Litz, Mikael Maglieri, Steve Martin, Lauren Meister, Tony Melia, Karen Ocamb, Jeffrey Prang, Corey Roskin, Karina Samala, Steve Schulte, Jeff Seymour, Margot Siegel, Grafton Tanquary, Valerie Terrigno, Alan Viterbi, and Ruth Williams.
How To Get It
The book was printed in a limited run. Copies are available for a suggested minimum donation of $25 to Friends of the West Hollywood Library. Proceeds support library programs, collections, services and technology.
Visit wehostories.org or lacountylibrary.org/weho-stories for more information.
Horvath again. She needs to claim ownership of WH’s demise. GO AWAY. AND Abbe Land as well.
I was unable to attend the book launch Wednesday evening. Although your fine article provides links for more information, neither says where a copy can be obtained. Are the books being sold at the West Hollywood Library? Thank you.
The books will be available at the WeHo Library, – but they are not in yet. At the event Barbera Grover mentioned they were ‘on the boat from China.’
I like the picture of Jeffrey Prang & Peewee Herman
Thank you for this. Heading over to Friends of the Weho Library! Gotta get my copy.
Thank you Brian for this article! Wish I had known you were there so I could say hello!
Your article provides more of the fascinating background behind WeHo’s unlikely creation- thank you for that!