The official opening of the Westside Democratic Headquarters on the Promenade on Sunday afternoon attracted all manner of attention as political supporters and willing volunteers queued outside while anti-Israel-Gaza-War protestors made quite the commotion outside.
On August 22, the Westside Democratic HQ began setting up their site at 1241 Third Street Promenade, but now the store is fully operational and stocked with all manner of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz merch, including patches, pins, posters, badges, baseball caps, stickers, sweatshirts, t-shirts and lawn signs. There’s even a photo opportunity with a life-size cardboard cutout of the Vice President.
"Thursday was our soft opening, in that we were not ready to fully staff the headquarters and open the doors … because we still didn't have our computers or office furniture or other necessary supplies," said Adam Wolman Communications Manager, Westside Democratic HQ, adding, "But we didn’t want to miss the opportunity, since we had taken possession of the space, to open the doors and let people see what we were doing there, and, you know, turn on the big TVs and get people interested in what was coming."
Wolman explains that the store "offers merchandise in exchange for a donation" and that money is used in a number of ways, but mostly to cover the six figure sum of keeping the Third Street location open for three months. However, that itself provides a venue for people to meet, gather, give talks, listen to talks, collect crucial supporter supplies and the opportunity to train staff and volunteers.
Wolman says that the seemingly high cost of rent was actually a pretty good deal.
"We couldn't afford to pay market rents for the space. But, in the past, even when Santa Monica has been at its peak thriving economically, there have always been a couple of empty storefronts that we've been able to purchase, landlords to ask, ‘Would you be open to having us come in for just, say, three months, if you don't have a tenant coming for another six months or so, you know, at a discounted rate, so that we could do some good.’ And if they are sympathetic to the Democratic cause, they [might agree]," he says.
But not every property owner in Santa Monica is in full agreement with the policies of the Democratic Party.
"The gentleman who has always led the charge on the search for a space, is Gary Bettman (COO/Head of Production at The Miller Group) and he has been a part of this operation since its inception in 2004 … He went around for weeks and weeks, trying to negotiate with maybe a dozen different places before we found this one," Wolman says.
He explains that in addition to looking at venues on the Promenade, they also looked on Wilshire Blvd and around most of the Downtown area. "You know, either the landlords weren't sympathetic, or they were sympathetic, but they weren't willing to cut us enough of a break for us to move forward and they let their properties remain empty," Wolman says.
The official opening on Sunday also attracted a protest from approximately 30 locals and residents calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The crowd was encouraged to sing chants and many were using megaphones to express their opinions with volume.
"I'm personally sympathetic to a good portion of their message, and I wish the administration would truly investigate human rights abuses and withhold military funding if criteria are not met for protecting civilian populations," Wolman said. "If the protesters had been mostly quiet and not harassing people, out there making their point, chanting — but not through a megaphone — being seen, being heard, but not trying to disrupt what we were doing inside, then I would have fully embraced it."
"I partially embraced it because it could have been worse. But as I tried to explain to the people out there, that we're in there, working for their cause, in large part, because we all know that if Kamala doesn't win, the alternative, a Trump administration would be far, far worse for the civilian population in Gaza than a Harris administration … There's at least a chance that a Harris administration will listen to their pleas for peace and justice. There's zero chance a Trump administration is going to give them the time of day," Wolman said.
He also says that he tried to engage some of the protestors in discussion. "It was fascinating, because it was a mixed bag of some people who listened and wanted to engage in dialog and understood what I was saying about how Harris is our best bet for seeing policy change, and other people who were just angry and shut off to any kind of discussion, and they're just like, ‘If you're supporting her, you're supporting genocide,’ and they wouldn't hear my arguments at all."
There will be watch events at the Democratic HQ, including the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, still currently scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, beginning at 6pm PT. (ABC will host the debate and it will also be livestreamed on the ABC News app, Disney+ and Hulu.)
Currently, the Democratic HQ is open Monday–Thursday: Noon–8pm, Friday: Noon–6pm and Saturday–Sunday: 10am–6pm, but as Wolman says, these times will probably expand as we get closer to the election. For more information on opening times, events and how to volunteer, visit the website at westsidedemhq.org/
scott.snowden@smdp.com
