West Hollywood habitants are in a twit about Soho House’s forthcoming invasion into the upper floors of Luckman Plaza on the Sunset Strip’s west end. Over 80 neighbors signed an appeal to the city’s planning department that their quality of life is threatened by noise from a planned rooftop lounge at the all private club, plus the drama that comes with increased traffic, trigger-mad paparazzi, and a bigger police presence, according to an L.A. Times story. While living just a Red Bull and vodka’s toss from mega-discos like Key Club and celeb tea parties at Urth Caffé, neighbors insist their stretch of The Strip is surrounded by a “family neighborhood” with no room for a TMZ base camp. Soho House counters that it is set up as an anti-club, restricting access to its elite members, and only 300 of them at a time. A glass wall will enclose the roof and club rep Steven Afriat insists, “This is not a nightclub…People aren’t going there to be entertained. They are going there to meet and to relax.” While Soho is backed by WeHo dwellers Elton John and Felicity Huffman, the opposition is boosted by arguments from Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne that traffic on the famous stretch already sucks and could only get worse. While we’re disgruntled about another club that will deny most of us access, it sounds like even Soho’s biggest haters predict it will be as in-demand as its U.K. and New York forebears, love it or loathe it.
West Hollywood Residents Object to Plans for New Club [L.A. Times]
