Residents have been asking what the hell is happening in West Hollywood’s Rainbow District. On Monday night, Councilmember John Erickson put the question to the City.
Erickson said he had seen reports of fights in the area and had received multiple comments from residents.
“A number of us have been seeing online reports about fighting continuing to happen in the Rainbow District,” Erickson said. “My understanding is that the EPT teams, block by block and other individuals should be out patrolling our streets.” The Entertainment Policing Team is a dedicated unit of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station that patrols the Rainbow District. The EPT’s funding was cut during the pandemic and has been the subject of repeated council votes in the years since.
Erickson said he wanted the public to hear about the City’s enforcement efforts in the area.
“I’ve gotten several comments from individuals and would just love if there could be a quick update about ongoing enforcement on our sidewalks,” Erickson said. “My understanding is the EPT team is fully funded and should be out there doing this type of work already.”
Erickson made no mention of the street vendor brawl WEHOonline reported May 11, in which two unlicensed vendors fought outside a Rainbow District nightclub in an alleged turf dispute. Business owners told WEHOonline at the time that the fights the City is responding to are not club fights. “These fights are not spilling out from the clubs,” Paul Nicholls, operations partner at Beaches Tropicana, said at the time. “They’re happening on the street because there are unregulated environments where people are just hanging out eating and drinking.”
City Manager Jackie Rocco called Danny Rivas, the City’s Director of Community Safety, and West Hollywood Sheriff’s Lt. Ashley Turner to address the council.
Rivas said the City’s Entertainment Policing Team, made up of one sergeant and five deputies, has been conducting foot patrols in the Rainbow District between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The patrols concentrate along Santa Monica Boulevard between Robertson Boulevard and Palm Avenue.
“They do their patrols together for safety purposes,” Rivas said. “But definitely are responding to calls, dealing with things proactively, as much as possible.”
Rivas said the City has also increased its security ambassador presence in the area. Ambassadors are working in tandem with the Entertainment Policing Team.
Turner confirmed two fights in the Rainbow District over the weekend. Arrests in both.
The second incident, Turner said, involved two family members fighting. A third person stepped in and was injured as a result. The person was knocked unconscious. The video is disturbing.
Turner said he spoke with the EPT sergeant Monday morning. The sergeant told him the team broke up multiple fights through preventative patrol over the same weekend.
“The EPT team is out there on the weekend, patrolling,” Turner said. “We are hiring additional bodies as well to be out there patrolling.”
She also acknowledged a coverage gap.
“If a fight happens on one end of the neighborhood district, and they happen to be on the other end, then there is a response time,” Turner said.
The fights in the Rainbow District aren’t a new thing. They’ve been building for months. Recent examples include one on March 21. A fight spilled out of a bar onto the sidewalk. Two people were attacked by a group of suspects after being thrown out of the venue and suffered visible injuries to their faces and heads. The attackers fled before deputies arrived. No arrests were made.
Three weeks later, on April 12, a group brawl involving roughly 10 people broke out around 1 a.m. near Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente Boulevard, outside Mattie’s WeHo. Deputies responded Code 3. By the time they arrived, the crowd had dispersed. No arrests were made.
A video of a man knocked unconscious outside a Rainbow District bar last Thursday circulated widely on social media, drawing hundreds of thousands of views. WEHO TIMES said the footage was forwarded to the Sheriff’s Department for review.
The department had not publicly confirmed details about that incident before Monday’s council meeting.
Related Coverage
West Hollywood Street Vendor Turf War Erupts in Rainbow District — The brawl Erickson didn’t mention at Monday’s council meeting.
‘This Is Screaming Red Alert’: Residents Pack Safety Commission Over Vendor Crisis — Business owners, residents, and nightlife workers demand action.
‘They’re Right Back Out There’: Why West Hollywood Can’t Stop Illegal Street Vendors — The state law problem the City says it can’t work around.
John Erickson is a hypocrite of the highest order. Refuses to pursue illegal street vendors and then complains when they wage violent public turf battles. After Chelsea Byers gets the boot, next on the list!
The city is getting worse. Apparently there was at least one 1 other major fight this week right on Santa Monica Blvd. They need to stop this before these fights escalate and become worse or more violent.
Has anyone been arrested for any of the brawls? If there are arrest reports, I’ll bet the home addresses of the arrestees are NOT in West Hollywood. The troublemakers come from other areas to have their wild night out in Weho. They don’t think of this as our home or our neighborhood, just a destination where they can come to go crazy. It’s a “What happens in Vegas” mentality. Our abundance of nightlife doesn’t exist in the IE or Downtown. They come here to intentionally go overboard. These individuals do not match the demographics of our city. They’ve turned our Boystown… Read more »
First off, Rivas is useless. All talk, no action. Second, our city council has been anti-police for years now. We should have a kiosk on the corner of the blvd in the “rainbow district” but oh, no, that would send the wrong message. And the council is considering allowing open consumption of alcohol on the blvd…are they kidding?! Things are bad enough now. Our little city is turning into one big sh*thole. Empty stores, the mentally ill and drug addicts zombie-ing out all over, fights on the sidewalk. This city’s policies have really put us in the crapper. Get rid… Read more »
I agree that Rivas is totally useless. Smiles to everyone’s face but does nothing and doesn’t really care about this community. I wish Weho would hire more people who actually care.
The original source of the violence was turf wars between the immigrant hot dog vendor, who John Erickson defended. When Danny Hang wanted to take some action against the unlicensed vendors, Erickson objected, saying that he worked for a Latino advocacy non-profit, and he would be obliged to protect the street vendors. Obviously Erickson’s first obligation is to his employer, not the residents he supposedly represents.
Erickson, Byers and Shyne have been the worst three things to ever happen to this city…we did it to ourselves and we need to wise up and vote smarter next election.
This latest Rainbow District drama feels less like leadership and more like political deflection. Councilmember Erickson’s framing is deeply disingenuous. Rather than confronting legitimate frustrations over public safety concerns, disorder, street conditions, business struggles, and broader quality-of-life issues, the conversation is once again being redirected into ideological theater and personality conflict. It is far easier to manufacture villains and symbolic battles than to acknowledge policy failures that have unfolded on this council’s watch. West Hollywood residents are increasingly exhausted by performative politics masquerading as governance. The city does not need more slogans, branding exercises, or factional infighting over activist turf.… Read more »