Sheriffs Prepare for Huge Crowds Expected at Pride

This Pride weekend, the small city of West Hollywood is expected to balloon to a population that rivals the likes of Atlanta or Miami. While , that large influx of people could create a logistical nightmare for local law enforcement, say officials. 

“Fridays and Saturdays are West Hollywood’s biggest nights, attracting folks on a 52 week basis, but on Pride it swells to 400,000 or 500,0000 people coming in to our city, so we have to prepare each and every weekend,” said Lt. Dave Smith of the West Hollywood station.

Smith heads West Hollywood’s Community Impact Team, a special unit that includes an Entertainment Policing Team that works throughout the year with local bars and clubs to ensure patrons have a safe and peaceful experience out in West Hollywood.

“[The team] is something that was created back in 2001, knowing that this is a place to be seen, a place to hang out, a place to have fun, but we also wanted to police it in a manner that people felt safe coming here,” Smith said.

That kind of cooperation with law enforcement is what has kept Christopher Street West Pride at its current location—with an epicenter at on San Vicente Boulevard—since 1979. 

The original CSW Pride Parade took place in 1970 and started at Hollywood and Highland. Later the event developed into a three-day carnival located near the intersection of Sunset and Cherokee before the festivities moved to West Hollywood “in response to continued LAPD hostility and urban development of the festival grounds,” according to the official LA Pride website.

The West Hollywood sheriffs will be out in full force for Pride weekend, but the bars and clubs will be doing their part too to help with crowd control.

A bar such as  sees approximately 4,000 people on an average weekend, but over Pride weekend, it will serve more than 20,000, according to a West Hollywood bartender.

To handle the large amount of foot traffic, some bars, like Fiesta, are setting up extra drink stations and forgoing their normal specials in exchange for deals such as “Mega” drinks served in larger containers to minimize the number of trips patrons will need to make to the bar, resulting in less congestion and better traffic flow within the establishment. 

Fiesta Cantina will also be bringing in extra security to ensure all fire code regulations are followed and the disorderly conduct is kept to a minimum—all in conjunction with Smith’s team.

“There's that relationship built between our team and the [venues] that if they need help we are there for them and vice versa,” Smith said. “If they aren't policing their business right, we will instruct them. We are very proactive as far as alcohol enforcement, safety, and all the above.”

Public intoxication issues and batteries and assaults are the two most common infractions the entertainment policing team deals with, according to Smith. But heading into Pride weekend, West Hollywood Mayor John Duran has the utmost confidence in the policing efforts of the Weho Sheriff’s Station.

“We have half a million people and maybe we will have 10 arrests for drunk in public,” Duran said. “So yeah, 10 people got arrested, but 499,990 people didn’t.”

Stay tuned for Weho Patch's Guide to Pride 2011.