Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

Presence of Street Walkers on Western Avenue an Issue for Two Local Schools

It’s time for a life in the big city reality check – prostitution exists in Los Angeles. The bubble of our neighborhood generally creates the illusion that we are protected from such things. Over the past few weeks, the bubble has been pierced and the presence of street walkers who use Western Avenue as their base is causing problems that can’t be ignored.

For the past several weeks, prostitutes have moved their “street corner” to the corners adjacent to two local schools – St. Brendan School on 3rd and Manhattan Place, and Charles Kim School on 2nd and Western Avenue. These working girls are there in the morning as families, and/or kids on their own, arrive for school.

Concerned parents, school leaders and members of the community are working with LAPD Olympic Division and Councilmember Tom LaBonge’s office to clean up the area. The LAPD Vice Division has been brought in to work the area and make it less inviting to this kind of crime.

Of course, it’s not a simple fix. Unfortunately, there are plenty of girls willing to jump in and do this kind of work when others are carted off by Vice. The solution involves more than just arresting the girls.  Both LAPD and Councilmember LaBonge’s Field Deputy for our area, Ben Seinfeld, are working together to add a counseling/outreach element to the plan to eradicate this problem (see Mary Magdalene Project below).

What can you do?

If you see prostitutes in action, call LAPD at 911 (in the event of an emergency) or 1-877-ASK-LAPD (in the case of less urgent matters).

Feel free to call LAPD Olympic Division Senior Lead Officer Joseph Pelayo at 213-793-0709 and/or Field Deputy Ben Seinfeld at (213) 485-3337 to voice your concerns.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease…

Donate to Mary Magdalene Project – a non-profit organization founded to help women exit prostitution; provide outreach designed to help break the cycle of activity. Working with LAPD on this particular problem.

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Mary
Mary
Mary has lived in the Hancock Park area for over 20 years - including homes in Larchmont Village and Windsor Square. Mary has lived in some great places in her life - but none compare to the convenience and majesty of our neighborhood. For Mary, the neighborhood has been a wonderful home to her large, extended family...at one time she had family members living on seven different Hancock Park area blocks! Larchmont Buzz is a labor of love - built to celebrate the neighborhood and to elevate the conversation in the area.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you, Larchmont Buzz, for covering this problem. During the summer, a group of neighborhood organizations, the WSA, RWNA and LVNA were working together with CD 4 and Senior Lead Officer Joe Pelayo + the vice detectives when the “corners of the moment” were all the corners between Melrose and 3rd, all along Western, particularly aggressive of note from 12 to 2 a.m. And then the cars “doing their business” would (and still do) park on all our residential streets, leaving their garbage behind. The problem hardly goes away, it just moves around. But we have to remain vigilant and thank you for sharing the reminder to call 911 or 1-877-ASK-LAPD when we see a crime in progress or suspicious activity.

    • Oops, with grateful appreciation to St. Andrews Square Neighborhood Assn., also very involved in the advocacy surrounding decreasing prostitution-related activity

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