Each college day, Vilma Armas watches her 16-year previous daughter stroll to Miguel Contreras Studying Complicated from their house close to the nook of Lucas Avenue and West third Avenue.
It’s the identical intersection the place the Silver Platter, a historic LGBTQ+ Latino bar, needs to relocate.
The mom is against the proposal and he or she’s not alone as a lot of her neighbors and the Los Angeles Unified College District have raised considerations about opening a bar close to six college campuses within the Westlake neighborhood.
“It’s simply not an excellent choice to open that there,” Armas stated. “We’re in opposition to it for the security of our kids and ourselves, too.”
At a July 14 listening to, metropolis employees with the Los Angeles Division of Metropolis Planning heard the proposal to relocate the Silver Platter after its longtime location on seventh Avenue was slated for demolition for a brand new housing growth.
A number of neighbors have been unable to talk up through the digital listening to due to their work schedules, language obstacles, age and problem navigating the web assembly’s remark system. The bar’s house owners have utilized for a allow to promote alcoholic drinks and set up a 15-foot neon signal on the new location on West third Avenue.
No choice was made on the listening to. As an alternative, the zoning administrator left the general public document open for 30 days to permit extra written feedback earlier than issuing a choice.
Metropolis employees are balancing the bar’s cultural and historic significance with considerations raised by the Los Angeles Unified College District and residents about parking, noise, site visitors and public security.
Supporters argue the bar is an irreplaceable cultural establishment and a secure place for Spanish-speaking homosexual Latinos, transgender Latinas and working-class immigrants.
“This isn’t a brand new bar coming to the neighborhood,” stated Martha Vasquez, who runs the bar along with her mom, Margarita Xatruch. “It’s an establishment asking to maintain its doorways open in a neighborhood that it has belonged to for 60 years.”
Residents say they’re not against the clientele or the bar’s legacy however moderately the proximity to the place individuals reside, work and the place kids attend college.
The division will weigh in on the conditional use allow at a later date. Marie Pichay, metropolis planning affiliate with the Metropolis Planning Division, stated the case is underneath advisement and a choice has not been reached. Employees directed future inquiries to their spokesperson.
The Silver Platter has operated since 1963, turning into considered one of Los Angeles’ oldest and most enduring gathering locations for queer and transgender Latinos in Westlake.
However after greater than six a long time at seventh Avenue and Rampart Boulevard, the family-owned bar was compelled to discover a new dwelling when the property was slated for redevelopment as a mixed-use housing undertaking through the pandemic. Information of the proposed growth was first reported in Kim Cooper and Richard Schave’s e-newsletter, Esotouric’s Secret Los Angeles in Might 2024.
Slightly than depart the Westlake neighborhood, the house owners spent months fundraising and trying to find one other location earlier than deciding on 1403 W. third St., a couple of half-mile from the unique location.
Supporters say remaining within the neighborhood is crucial to preserving the group the bar has served for generations.
Preservation advocates have recognized it as a culturally important website, and in 2025 it was named one of many nation’s Endangered Latinx Landmarks, in line with the Latinos in Heritage Conservation.
“The subsequent neatest thing for this historic establishment to stay the vital cultural landmark that it’s, is to remain inside the Westlake-MacArthur Park neighborhood,” stated Jesi Harris, the applicant’s consultant, through the digital listening to.
Weeks after the digital listening to, Roni Lopez stood within the foyer of his house constructing, surrounded by neighbors who gathered to speak in regards to the proposal.
Lopez has lived within the constructing for greater than a decade and was one of many few residents who spoke through the July listening to to voice his opposition.
Like a lot of his neighbors, Lopez, a pastor in South Los Angeles, stated he isn’t against the Silver Platter or the group it serves. His concern, he stated, is the proposed location.
Residents keep in mind the earlier bar that occupied the ground-floor industrial area was a nasty neighbor.
There was late-night noise, individuals consuming or lingering on the entrance steps of the residential constructing, and bar patrons blocking entry to the house parking entrance and loitering across the close by DASH bus cease.
A number of residents stated the block grew to become noticeably quieter after the enterprise closed and fear one other bar would convey again the identical issues.
“Town might be accountable for the choice it makes,” Lopez stated. “As you’ll be able to see, there’s a big group right here that doesn’t need that place to open.”
Candidates for the Silver Platter dispute the characterization, describing the bar as a quiet gathering place whose patrons have lengthy trusted its low profile.
The candidates additionally stated they agreed to a number of working situations, together with opening after the varsity day, putting in safety cameras, coordinating with close by colleges and different measures.
LAUSD nonetheless opposes the proposal.
Julissa Hernandez, legislative liaison for the district, stated LAUSD acknowledges the Silver Platter’s historical past however remains to be involved a couple of late-night, alcohol-serving institution adjoining to a number of colleges. Hernandez stated the proposed website is close to six LAUSD campuses.
Esther, Vilma’s 16-year-old daughter, shares those self same considerations. She even wrote a letter to her metropolis councilmember, Eunisses Hernandez, urging the town to reject the Silver Platter’s proposal.
“I believe it’s actually thoughtless to open a bar that near not just one college, however an elementary college, after which you’ve center colleges and different excessive colleges round right here,” she stated in her letter.
Isaac Vargas writes for the LA Native, a nonprofit newsroom masking Los Angeles communities.
