The Hollywood Hills are famously home to a pink marijuana party house and a well-established multi-mansion party compound rented out over the years to Justin Bieber and a TV show about swingers (among many others), but those aren't the only houses hosting seemingly endless parties—disgruntled locals say that there are huge estates in the Hills that are being rented out specifically for parties, and that it's wrecking the neighborhood. To try and stop the practice, Councilmember David Ryu has proposed that the city make it a misdemeanor to rent out a house just for a party, a rep for Ryu tells the Beverly Press.
The president of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council unsurprisingly welcomes more regulations on the houses, but says it's not the parties themselves that are the problem, but the way they're executed. "The attitude is part of what has inflamed the community," she explains. "People who are doing this don't have any consideration about the neighborhood. ... It's like taking Airbnb to a new level." Worse than Airbnb! (They don't like Airbnb.)
Cops say they get lots of calls about parties on the narrow, windy streets of the Hills ("They raise huge issues with traffic and noise.") and always address them, which the Hollywood Division sergeant says is a big waste of police resources. Cops write citations for noise complaints and other party-related offenses, but all that does is require the ticketed person to pay; it doesn't necessarily stop them from further partying. "We write tickets to get compliance, but they have money and they just say OK," a sergeant with the LAPD's Hollywood Division tells the BP. "It's a slap on the hand for a lot of people." If renting a house out for parties were a misdemeanor, the sergeant says, "it would be something that would go on your record, and a lot of people don't want that."
· Ryu calls for tougher laws to prevent house party rentals [BP]
· Hollywood Hills Residents Worry That Wild Party House is Turning Into the "Next Playboy Mansion" [Curbed LA]
· Runyon Canyon's Infamous Pink Mansion Has Become an Elaborate Marijuana Party Pad [Curbed LA]