September 25, 2004

• squid, do you have to live in the L.A. area to write the letter? I mean, what if people who visit L.A. make this one of their regular stops? I'm all for keeping buildings/businesses of our past alive and well.
• my lil' college town now sports a gap, a bruegger's bagel chain, a barnes'n'noble, a powerhouse gym, and two starbucks, right around the corner from the CVS pharmacy. used to be all small local shops. i understand your frustration. unfortunately, even if the old-timers see the old store as a landmark, the only thing the new kids see is that they don't recognize any of the logos. sad, but it keeps happening - there used to be a tower records downtown too, it came in just long enough to drive my favorite local music store out of business, then it closed too. thanks, big corporate chains, for helping us create McAmerica.
• Aw, jeez, consider it done. I was conceived in LA, but I never saw the place until I was 12, having been born in Connecticut (etc.) in the meantime. It seemed to be a big priority for my parents that we go to lunch at Irv's. And anyway, I have about as much affection for Big Coffee as I do for Wal*Mart. Not to mention that I'm sick of the unique being destroyed to make room for the ubiquitous.
• Actually Darshon, the other day I was at Irv' and there was a family from France who had a guide book out and had ordered a couple of Irv's classic cheeseburgers. The Korean American woman who runs the place, Sonia, has a habit of greeting you with a cheer and a sing-song greeting with your name (...Hello Michael, how are you Michael, Michael is so hungry, What do you want Michael...). She was so infectious with her warmth and humanity that the French family were all singing along to the "Michael Song" within seconds. This is a place where folks from all over the globe visit. If anyone from the sphere of monkeydom wants to write an email of support, I'd be very grateful.
• Its called Irv's, it sells burgers, its run by a Korean-American woman named Sonia? That is just so....so..... Hard paper makes more of an impact than email, methinks. Can you post the adresses for these mucky mucks? I'm sick of the unique being destroyed to make room for the ubiquitous. What a delightful turn of phrase, Little Durian. May I steal it?
• Various and Sundry Mucky-Mucks c/o West Hollywood City Hall 8300 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069-4314 Web Site: www.weho.org If you want the telephone numbers, let me know. Thanks for the interest monkeys!
• Darshon: I doubt letters from outside the West Hollywood area would have any affect on a decision that affects primarily local people unless you do a significant amount of business there. This is not always the case, since some things take on a significance that is felt far beyond the local region. That being said, I hope your campaign goes well, squidranch. We had a local coffeeshop where I used to live and a I remember many a fine Saturday spent hanging out, conversing, drinking iced tea, playing chess, and just generally excercising our brains for other's amusement. Perhaps if I ever make it to West Hollywood, we can grab a cuppa joe.
• I'd really like that drivingmenuts. BTW, if any of you monkeyfolk make it out my way and want to sample the best of LA, drop me a line. I've always appreciated your company online, why not in person?
• There are five Starbucks within a two mile radius of my downtown area of a town with 100,000 people in it. Hope.
• Okay, I'm confused about what writing a letter to City Hall is going to accomplish. Does the city own the property? If not, then you should be taking the issue up with the property owner. If they just want more money for the same space, it won't matter if the City rejects the plan. They'll just raise the rents to force Irv's out, and try again when the building is vacant. Or something. I'm not saying you shouldn't fight this specific plan if the evil coffee overlords offend you. (I detest the "gentrification" of downtown areas, meself) I'm just saying that it's probably not that simple.
• Oh, and I also wanted to say that the locals should attend city council and/or planning board meetings and voice their opposition in person.
• I'm confused too. What does the city have to do with it? And if Irv's is forced off that property, surely they can reopen elsewhere if their food is that great and they have such a loyal customer base. Also, I'm not sure why Peet's is so evil. They make good coffee, I know that. Do they do environmentally unfriendly things or something?
• The owner of the property has been sitting on the parcel that Irv's is on as well as a larger piece that surounds it for years without any intention of developing it. They need to have city approval to allow for the redevelopment. Peets (not evil just large enough already) made an offer to the property owner to tear down everything on the parcel and build a new structure on it for their coffee franchise. The property owner would not have ordinarally tried to force Irv's off the property without the added benefit of the new building offer from Peets. I have spoken to Sonia and really their only strategy of staying put is to appeal to the city council and their planning commission. BTW, Sonia and her family really don't have the financial wherewithall to rebuild Irv's, and besides, the place would not be the same. The cool thing about Irv's besides the food and the wonderful people who run it is the original ambiance. You can't re-create that.
• And we will show up at the city council/planning commission meeting, no worries about that.
• squid if the clientelle is loyal and you can get some press exposure, a raffle might raise enough to get Irv's into a new spot. If you can get radio stations to plug the 'save this cultural icon' thing ...or maybe even Peets! they could sell tickets at the shop and prove to everyone that even tho they are corporate scum, they are not without soul. A heartwarming story in the metro section wouldn't hurt (color picture, first page, above the fold) and you may attract the attention of the local news. In my experience, people are suckers very generous with this kind of community thing. Hey, you never know.
• squid, I get the feeling that few people are familiar with the concept of original ambiance. The nice thing about where I live, zero tolerance for corporate anything. In my town, you will never see a Starbucks, or anything of it's ilk. Our boutique's buy locally or they will buy from artists or, at the very least, make sure that what they carry cannot be found in the next town. And yes, that does make it more expensive, but at the same time, it enables our town to stay small and you can't go just anywhere to find what you can find here. The next town over has four Starbuck's on one street that is less than half a mile long. Seriously....and it's not a particularly big town.
• Well yeah, but we're talking about West Hollywood, fer chrissakes.
• I'm not too sure if your last comment was sarcasm or not, PatB. Actually, for all the bright, shiny corporate shops that line the boy's town area of the city, there are small treasures here. I just hope that the city hall will recognize one of them.
• I have also written the LA Times, the LA Weekly (the local alternative weekly) as well as Huel Howser (a public television institution who seeks out unusual local history for his program) to alert them to the plight of Irv's. We shall see what the reaction is.
• That was for Darshon, squid. To me it seemed he was saying few would be willing to help keep Irv's in business. And the part about getting the media involved was sincere as all get out. We kept a thrift shop open after the headline 'Thrift Shop Loses its Home.' Not only did we find a new (and better-ly located) place, we got shitloads of donations. I realize a thrift shop is in a different category altogether but I still think you might give the rest a try if you do lose the site. It worked, years ago, for The Brown Derby. Ok, MANY years ago, but still.
• Find a local radio personality with a morning show (people who listen to morning radio have more disposable income.) to take it on as a cause. Unless there are no more local radio stations that do live stuff, in which case you're SOL. somebody from a paper will hear about it, maybe do a human interest...yuh know, maybe you could ask SideDish if she has connections in LA.
• Oh, and I left out that West Hollywood is a pretty populated place...surely you can find enough people willing to be a part of this. Or maybe some super rich movie star with fond memories of Irv's will buy the whole fucking block and take it as a tax write off.
• ...people who listen to morning radio have more disposable income... PatB, I know I'm sidetracking, but what a weird statement! Is that true? I don't listen to it except when my alarm goes off, or when I'm in the car.
• well, shit, tracicle, I don't listen to morning radio either. but someone must. it's the most listened to time of day. i don't listen to it because i don't get up until noon or so. Anyway if you're gonna start looking for weird comments from me, you might as well count all of them as weird. What can I say? I live in the woods. There's a good reason for that. I am not 'hep' to this modern stuff...I mean, did you check when the Brown Derby thing happened? On the other hand, Hitler learned (before he got successful) that the best time of day to get a thought to settle in a person's mind is just after dinner, when they're full and resting from a long day so maybe I missed the right time. I just keep thinking that morning commute people have jobs and are making money.
• Hey, aren't planning anything in case you loose your fight? Like for example do a little fundraising to let the owners rebuild the place somewhere else? Or is this an all or nothing?
• Zemat, that's kinda where I was going with the media and raffle thing.
• PatB, I didn't mean the comment itself was weird, rather the idea. It surprised me. I find your comments invaluable, on the whole. :)
• Just got out of a city hall meeting regarding the future of Irv's Burgers. Seems like the developer has all his ducks in a row and Peet's is going to be starting construction in Feb. of 05. I think the only thing we can do now is to appeal to Peet's corporate office to ask that they help Sonia (the owner of Irv's) with moving costs, re-location help and loss of business. They are not legally obligated in any way, but if they want the goodwill of the neighborhood it seems like it would behoove them to help in some fashion. Thanks to all who contributed to my plight.
• Sorry to hear that, squid.
• thnx darshon