College Towns

Her book bag bulging, UCLA senior Amy Kennard walks swiftly up the hill from Westwood Village, past the giant, modern buildings of the medical school, past the lines of students streaming off campus at the end of the day and toward the library.

“My life is centered around campus and Westwood, mostly ‘cause it has to be,� said the biological sciences major who works long hours in a campus laboratory.

That’s just how she likes it.

Her universe--from her campus-adjacent apartment to the student store, to the movie theaters and cafes of Westwood Village--is exactly as she imagined college life would be.

The setting, however, is a far cry from a sleepy college town. Giant chrome office towers are visible from outside the bagel joints, clothing stores and sub shops clustered just south of the sprawling UCLA campus, and the hum of traffic on busy Wilshire Boulevard is constant.

But she’s still in a student-dominated campus community, and much more likely to run into someone from the dorms than a studio executive, an aspiring actress or a real-life movie star.

That Amy and many of her classmates feel that Westwood is their little village is good news for local merchants, many of whom are increasingly dependent upon UCLA’s 36,000 students and 14,000 faculty and staff.

In an effort to attract even more student dollars, many Westwood businesses recently began allowing students to use their university identification cards not just to check out library books, pass by dormitory guards and purchase snacks at the campus store, but also as debit cards in the wide world of Westwood.

But business owners have also been campaigning to revitalize the area, hoping to transform it into more than a student hangout with sky-high rents and return it to its former glory.

Until the late 1980s, Westwood was the hot spot for yuppies and club kids alike, but after a much-publicized shooting and a gradual departure of high-end stores, consumers from throughout Los Angeles drifted away to Century City, Old Pasadena or the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Sophomores Keenu Sandhu and Upinder Jodhka say revitalization is a smart strategy, because many students yearn to follow other consumers right out of the Village.

Sandhu said she brought her car from Northern California this year just so she could escape the campus community.

“We’re bored with Westwood,� Jodhka said. “It’s only cool for about the first month of the [freshman] year.�

Nevertheless, the two girls added, it is the place to go during the week, for that timeless student activity of pretending to study while talking to friends over a cup of coffee.