Welcome to All Things Westwood, your comprehensive resource for anything related to Westwood. Here you will find reviews and discussions about restaurants, events, news, entertainment and more. For information about things to do in Westwood or nearby, please click the links above.
About Westwood
Westwood is a district in Los Angeles, California and is home to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It is a small community composed largely of students and young professionals, and is centered between Brentwood, Bel-Air, Century City and Beverly Hills. The main streets bordering Westwood are Sunset Boulevard to the north, Wilshire Boulevard to the south, Veteran Avenue to the west and Hilgard Avenue to the east. Some consider the district to extend as far south as the Westwide Pavillion at Pico Boulevard, although many would argue that “real Westwood” ends at Wilshire Boulevard because that’s where most of the smaller, walkable shopping venues end and the area becomes more corporate with large office buildings.
Westwood is a frequent leisure destination for nearby residents, who consider the area to be quaint and relaxing. It is one of few remaining areas in Los Angeles where people can enjoy spending a day walking around town, dining and shopping at boutique stores. Celebrities often bring their families to spend time and enjoy the fact that they are typically left alone by students, many of whom are more likely to gripe over having to walk an extra block due to a street closure for movie premieres than to stand around and gawk. The Fox Theater and Bruin Theater host numerous premiers. More than 150 movies are filmed on campus every year, and many events are held at UCLA such as the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the Mercedes-Benz Countrywide Classic tennis tournament, as well as students events, speakers, concerts, and even weddings.
The thing that people probably complain about the most in Westwood is parking. It is incredibly difficult to find anywhere to park in the area. Most businesses don’t have their own parking lots and those that do usually charge patrons for parking. There is a city lot that offers 2 hours free before 6 pm and $3 flat rate parking after 6 pm located on Broxton Avenue, which provides convenient access to the Fox Theater, Diddy Reise, BJ’s Restaurant and California Pizza Kitchen. Another frequent complaint is rent prices, which are extremely high for Los Angeles. The vast majority of students share a room, unless they live further away from campus in areas such as Culver City, the San Fernando Valley, Brentwood, Palms or Mar Vista.
History
Westwood was originally 3,000 acres of farm land that was purchased and developed by the Janss company in 1922. UCLA was originally located in Hollywood (where the Los Angeles City College is currently located), but was moved to Westwood in 1927. The land for the university was purchased from the Janss company for $1 million – one-third of its value – and Janss steps were named in the company’s honor.
High-rise office towers began emerging along Wilshire Boulevard in the 1950’s, in anticipation of the Beverly Hills freeway that was going to go through the area, but was never actually built. Westwood Village was wildly popular from the 1960’s through the mi-1980’s. In the late-1980’s, all of Los Angeles experienced elevated crime. In 1988, a gang-shooting in Westwood, that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander, was highly publicized. Westwood’s popularity dropped dramatically and struggled throughout the 1990’s, although it seems to have bounced back in recent years. Small businesses still face difficulty however, as nearby malls, chain stores, and other urban shopping areas such as Third Street Promenade and The Grove, are challenging competition.
Bruin Pride and Tradition
UCLA’s colors are blue and gold, modeled after Cal. The colors are said to reflect aspects of California: blue representing the ocean, and gold representing the Golden State. UCLA’s mascot was originally cubs, reflecting UCLA’s fledgling status and their relationship to Cal as the “little brother” school. UCLA students didn’t like the diminunitive mascot, and soon adopted the grizzly. The University of Montana protested that the grizzly was their mascot. Cal was using both the Bears and the Bruins as their mascot, and elected to bestow upon UCLA the Bruins. Initially, live bears were used as mascots, but costumed students eventually took over the role. The mascot was given the name Joe Bruin, with Josephine Bruin as his femals counterpart. The two bears, along with UCLA cheer team, dance team, and yell crew, help rally students up with the famous 8-clap chant during games, which is simply “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, U-C-L-A, UCLA fight fight fight!” UCLA’s song is “Hail to the Hills of Westwood,” which was written for the University in 1960 by Jeane Emerson.
While UCLA students in Westwood are usually very welcoming and friendly, one thing makes them extremely territorial: the color red. Around here it’s well-known that UCLA students bleed blue and gold, and anyone walking through Westwood wearing a USC shirt is likely to get an earful of choice words. “Blue and Gold Week” at UCLA consists of various rallies and a huge “Beat SC” bonfire in the week leading up to the UCLA-USC foorball game. The rivalry is a fierce and the competition is intense. It began as soon as the university was built, when it was referred to as “The Southern Branch of the University of California.” USC students would taunt UCLA students by calling them “twigs.” The two universities started competing in football in 1929 and in 1941, USC students stole UCLA’s victory bell after a game. Students at UCLA retaliated by covering USC’s Trojan statue with blue paint and lighting the USC Homecoming fire early. When USC’s student president recieved kidnapping threats, the two schools agreed to cease fire, but with one condition: the bell would become an annual trophy to be held year-long by whichever school won the previous year’s football game. The tradition has stuck ever since, but the pranks have continued.
UCLA managed to reroute USC’s Homecoming Parade into a dead-end and dropped 500 pounds of manure out of a helicopter onto USC’s mascot, the Trojan statue. USC has counter-attacked by replacing UCLA’s game stunt cards with cards displaying USC’s name and colors, as well as sporadically replacing UCLA’s daily newspaper with fake copies riddled with headlines saying things like “Presidential Candidates Dukakis, Paul agree: UCLA is for losers” and made-up quotes such as a UCLA football player saying, “I’d feel much better about our chances against those terrific Trojans if we had a couple of players who understood the game.” UCLA retaliated in kind, replacing USC’s newspaper with ones headlined, “USC celebrates 100th year of academik excellence,” and scandalously describing the “vital role” that the USC song girls play in recruiting players for the USC football team. USC responded by releasing hundreds of chirping crickets in UCLA’s Powell Library during finals week, leaving notes saying, “Hope you enjoy studying today, Bruins. USC beat UCLA. Signed, the Trojan Boys.” USC has also been known to dye UCLA’s fountain red.
One USC prank ended up backfiring when a group of Trojans came to UCLA to play a prank but ended up being caught by the Kelps, UCLA’s group of spirited prank leaders against USC. The Kelps shaved the Trojans’ eyebrows, shaved theis heads so that combined they spelled “UCLA,” painted their faces blue and tied them to the flagpole during a pep rally. The Bruins also suffered a failed prank when police caught a group trying to behead the Trojan statue. USC students were later caught by police for trying to change the Hollywood sign to read “USC.”
The rivalry hasn’t always been particularly good-spirited. In 1966, USC was chosen over UCLA to go to the Rose Bowl, even though UCLA had a higher standing. Hundreds of angry UCLA students marched onto the the 405 freeway, blocking traffic for 3 hours. They halted a car bearing a USC sticker, pounded in the trunk and ripped wires out of the engine. When UCLA moved their home field from the Coliseum to the Rose Bowl, students petitioned to ban USC from being allowed to bring their Trojan horse, Traveler IV, to the stadium. The movement failed, so during the following game UCLA borrowed a horse from Anheuser-Busch and paraded Joe Bruin around on the field atop the horse.
Not all UCLA traditions are formatted around rivalries or sports. One popular UCLA tradition is the Homecoming Dance, which happens near the Homecoming football game, and the Homecoming parade, in which various UCLA student groups create floats that parade through Westwood. Spring Sing began in 1945, when the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon challenged Phi Kappa Psi as the “unofficial serenading champions” when it was popular for fraternity brothers to serenade girls in sororities. William Ackerman drew up rules for the competition between the two fraternities and the debacle turned into an event. All fraternities ended up competing in the event annually, and celebrity judges (including Ronald Reagan) were used to help determine the winner. In 1980, the competition was opened to all UCLA students and Spring Sing has since displayed the skills of many singers who have gone on to have great singing careers. Sara Bareilles and members of Maroon 5 performed at the show when they were UCLA students. Another hallmark of UCLA is Founder’s Rock, which used to mark the spot where Regent Edward A. Dickson stood when he decided to make Westwood the future site of UCLA. The 75-ton boulder was brought in from Perris Valley for the dedication of the new campus in 1926.
Despite all the great traditions that still endure, not all UCLA traditions have stood the test of time. For years, the Big C stood as a symbol for UCLA in it’s place atop the hill where Sproul Hall now sits. It was built there in 1939 by students, using donated materials. In 1960, Big C Junior was constructed where Drake Stadium is now located. Mardi Gras - a three-day long festival with games, food, entertainment, rides, etc. - used to raise money for UniCamp, a summer program for underprivileged children. Mardi Gras, the largest collegiate student-operated activity in the world, was cancelled in 1996 when it consecutively lost money three years in a row. The UCLA student rooting section at football games used to be known for their light stunts, which was a spinoff on the usual card stunt. They constructed cards with lights in them for night games, but the tradition died off in time. Another bygone tradition was called “the trip,” in which students would travel by boat or train to the Bay Area for the UCLA-Stanford or UCLA-Berkeley game. The trip was eventually made by airplane or car and although some ardent student fans still make the trip, it doesn’t hold the traditional status that it once did.
More recent traditions include Bruin Bash, which was created to replace Black Sunday, a day in which every fraternity threw huge parties. The event occurs on the first Sunday before fall quarter classes begin, and includes a concert and a movie. Past performers include Bad Religion, T.I., Thrice, Common, Rooney and Xzibit. The student-run Jazz Reggae Festival happens every Memorial Day weekend and draws about 30,000 people to UCLA. Past performers have included Sean Paul, Lupe Fiasco, India Arie, The Roots, Stephen Marley, and John Densmore of the Doors.
Possibly the most popular tradition among students is the Undie Run. Every quarter on Wednesday of finals week, over 5,000 students don their most flattering boxers, underpants, thongs (and bras for the ladies), drink heavily, and run around. The tradition used to take students through the streets of Westwood, but safety concerns had the event moved onto the UCLA campus. Students now run from Gayley and Strathmore Avenue up to Powell library. The event is costly to university administration, who have to pay police overtime as well as damage costs that are inevitably incurred, but the event will most likely always continue despite administrator’s concerns. A similar tradition that has given way to regulation is the former Midnight Yell, in which every night (starting Sunday before finals) at midnight, students go outside and yell as loud as possible for one minute. When dorm students began throwing burning furniture out of their windows to add to the excitement, administration intervened and now any student who participates in the yell is cited. Undie Run actually began in 2001 when student Eric Whitehead walked around in extremely short shorts, singing and playing his guitar as protest against the Midnight Yell sanctions.
