Whenever I go to LA to visit my mom, I take an hour out to go to Westwood Village to charge my car. My car is fully electric, and I don't get quite enough mileage to get back in forth without recharging. No problem. I take Pepper with me and we walk around Westwood for an hour. There is a charging station inside a parking structure right near the two famous movie theatres, Fox (first opened in 1931 and except for the pandemic would still be showing movies, and the Bruin, opening several years after the Fox, again, waiting to reopen after the pandemic. I pass by all my old favorite haunts, except that they have radically changed.
Gone is the college town vibe of Westwood that I grew up with. It disappeared over 20 years ago. What's left is a lot of boarded up shops, trash, lots of trash, a few fast food restaurants, mostly serving Asian food (to meet the needs of the UCLA population), several nice coffee shops, Trader Joes, Ralphs and Target, and a cannabis shop, and lots of homeless people.
I grew up in Westwood and visited it often until we left LA in 2003. I walk Pepper down Westwood Blvd and remember when Ralphs, Safeway and A and P were all in Westwood Village. In addition to those national stores, there was also a small specialty market called Jorgensens. Very exclusive. We had Foster's, which was an exclusive crystal and china store, similar to Gumps. We had Wil Wrights ice cream, so delicious. Every scoop was served with a little maccaroon cookie. Oakley's barbershop has been there forever. They might still be there. In the 1950's when I would walk to Westwood Village on a Saturday with friends, we would shop at Woolworth's, Lanz and Fedway (a small department store).
We had great places to eat. I loved going to Ships on Wilshire Blvd and having breakfast, a toaster at each table so you could make your own toast. In the 1950's and 1960's we would eat lunch at Woody's Smorgasburger, or go to the bowling alley across the street and have pizza. A few decades later we would have lunch at the Chatam, which finally closed in 1987. The Chatam had the best sandwich ever: turkey, ham, cheese and coleslaw on seedless rye. OMG. Who can forget Stan's Donuts across the street from the movie theatres? It's still there, but of course ownership has changed multiple times.
Exclusive men's stores, excellent restaurants like Monty's and the Moustache Cafe, and Crescent Jewlers, opened in 1946, still there today, with a new name, but run by grandchildren of the original owners.
I look forward to going to Westwood Village to charge my car, as it brings back so many memories. Hopefully, Westwood will return someday to the exciting little town it once was. That is an aspiration, but there's not much chance of that happening in my lifetime.
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