Caught On Video: WeHo Street Vendor Pees in Alley, Returns to Food Cart Without Washing Hands

WEHOonline has obtained video showing an unlicensed street vendor urinating in an alley behind a Rainbow District business before returning to their food cart without washing their hands.

The vendor steps away from the cart, relieves themselves in the alley, and walks directly back to food service. No handwashing. No pause. You can see the video below — watch to the end.

Peeing in public is also a violation of California law, punishable as a public nuisance under Penal Code 372. 

It is the latest entry in what has become a weeks-long documentation of conditions in the Rainbow District with the illegal vendors West Hollywood’s City Council has so far declined to address.

In recent weeks, WEHOonline has reported on a Saturday night turf war brawl between two vendors competing for the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente. Surveillance footage showed cooking grease dumped into street planters. A girl working a vendor cart identified herself on camera as 14 years old. Business owners described male enforcers who show up to intimidate staff when anyone asks the vendors to move. Vendor carts have previously burst into flames on the boulevard.

The fights have not stopped. Business owners say the brawls are now a weekly occurrence. Residents say they no longer feel safe walking the boulevard after midnight.

The Grease

We also obtained an additional video showing vendors dumping cooking grease, food waste, and trash in an alley behind a Rainbow District business at 2 a.m. this past Monday morning. A photograph taken the same morning shows the aftermath the business had to clean up itself.

The business is not the source of the dumping. But under California law, illegal dumping found on or directly behind a property can be cited to the property owner or business operator unless they can prove otherwise.

Licensed food establishments in West Hollywood are required to dispose of cooking grease through permitted waste haulers with documented pickup records. Grease left in alleys attracts rodents. It contaminates storm drains that flow to the ocean. It creates slip hazards on the sidewalk.

Illegal dumping is a misdemeanor under California law. Fines escalate with each offense.

The unlicensed vendors face no enforcement. The established business that cleaned up their mess could be cited if a code officer arrived and assumed the grease came from inside.

What’s at Stake

A food handler who does not wash their hands after using the bathroom can transmit some of the most dangerous foodborne illnesses known to public health officials.

Hepatitis A spreads directly through contaminated food. It attacks the liver, causes jaundice and severe fatigue, and can hospitalize someone for weeks. Norovirus is among the most contagious pathogens in existence. One infected food handler can sicken dozens of people in a single night. E. coli O157:H7 causes bloody diarrhea, severe cramping, and vomiting. In vulnerable people it can cause kidney failure. Salmonella. Shigella. Campylobacter. All transmissible through contaminated food. All preventable with a handwashing sink and soap.

The food these vendors are selling is consumed by people leaving West Hollywood’s bars and clubs in the early morning hours. It sits in the trunks of cars before it’s served. It is handled by people who, on at least one documented occasion, did not wash their hands after urinating in a public alley.

The Double Standard

Every licensed food vendor in West Hollywood operates under Los Angeles County Health Department oversight. Handwashing facilities. Food handling protocols. Regular inspections. The vendors on Santa Monica Boulevard operate under none of it.

Under LA County Department of Public Health regulations, a food employee who does not wash their hands after using the toilet and returns to food preparation commits a Major Critical Violation. The consequences are immediate. Permit suspension. Voluntary condemnation and disposal of all food prepared after the violation. Mandatory re-inspection before the business can reopen. Fines up to three times the annual health permit cost. Potential full closure pending corrective action.

A licensed restaurant in West Hollywood can be shut on the spot for what this video shows.

An unlicensed vendor on the boulevard faces nothing.

A longtime Rainbow District business owner, who asked not to be named, told WEHOonline the issue comes down to accountability.

“As local entrepreneurs, we support entrepreneurship and community vibrancy, but there must be accountability when public safety and sanitation issues begin harming established local businesses, employees, and customers,” the owner said.

Why No One Can Stop It

That gap has no enforcement behind it right now. Danny Rivas, the City’s director of community safety, told last week’s Public Safety Commission that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health suspended street vending enforcement last September, citing concerns about federal immigration enforcement. Health inspectors are the only officials in the county with authority to condemn unsafe food on the spot.

That enforcement is currently paused.

The City’s own sidewalk vending ordinance, consistent with SB 946, limits enforcement to administrative fines. Vendors know it. They’ve made clear they’re not concerned about the consequences.

The City has the authority to change that. Amendments to the street vending ordinance can originate with staff or come by City Council direction. Either path runs through the Business License Commission before a Council vote. Neither path has been activated.

It was close once. Councilmember Danny Hang brought an ordinance amendment item to the Council last year. Councilmember Lauren Meister left the meeting before the item was heard. It was tabled and never came back.

The Unlevel Playing Field

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, a West Hollywood resident appeared before the Council to report difficulties getting a street vending license. She had been trying to come into compliance.

Kyle Brazeal, a West Hollywood resident and City Council candidate, raised the same contrast before the Business License Commission the next night.

“Why even bother trying to become a licensed vendor in West Hollywood when there’s no repercussions to not having a license,” Brazeal said.

WEHOonline is making this video available to the City of West Hollywood, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.