Lone Westwood Business Owner Stages Protest at UCLA

A protest Thursday by Westwood Village store owners drew only one business leader--the rally’s organizer--outside a meeting of the UC Regents at UCLA.

Warned that a rally was planned to protest restaurants and shops on the UCLA campus, university officials had printed statements ready but little reason to hand them out.

“It’s like that guy from ‘Roger and Me,’ ” said businessman Gary Avrech. “One lone guy fighting, and no one is listening.”

Avrech, who says UCLA campus businesses are responsible for a decline in Westwood’s retail center, planned the protest to coincide with a business blackout, but neither events panned out.

“Our crowd isn’t that big, but our cause is true,” he said. “Ideally, the university will focus on educational excellence and get out of commerce and competing against free enterprise.”

Avrech said the student-run restaurants and shops on campus are state-funded and offer “predatorily competitive” prices.

UCLA officials who have met with Avrech in the past dismissed his cause as misdirected and his claims as ill-informed.

“I met with Gary for 90 minutes when he first began this crusade and explained to him all the errors in his assumptions,” said Carole Magnuson, director of local relations for the university.

UCLA is not--as Avrech suggests--trying to run Westwood shops out of business, Magnuson said.

“I ate in Westwood today and I ate in Westwood yesterday,” she said.

Ironically, one of Avrech’s employees returned the favor.

After several minutes of guarding Avrech’s placard--which read: “The state is competing against Westwood Village”--a sweaty Jeff Vasille placed the sign down outside the Sunset Commons building in UCLA, walked into UCLA’s Hilltop Cafe and purchased an iced tea for 65 cents.

“Man, I’m hot,” he said.