Melomaniacs

Melomaniac: a person with an unusual enthusiasm or fondness for music

From the historic Sunset Strip to “out and proud” Santa Monica Boulevard, the 1.9 square mile urban space of West Hollywood (WeHo) has habitually served as a haven for emerging and established musicians and artists of multicultural genres and identities. And beyond securing its annals in music history, WeHo has routinely challenged the status quo and boundaries of the Arts, which continuously helps to attract and protect artistic individuals of all backgrounds—including the more than 40% of WeHo residents who identify as LGBTQ+. Yet, while the megacity and “musical universe” of Los Angeles may be well-known to arts researchers, I find the creatively inclusive “music worlds” within West Hollywood to be overlooked within academic communities beyond its ties to progressive legislation, historical LGBTQ+ movements and gender/race studies. WeHo has certainly populated music magazines such as Rolling Stone, Billboard and Spin over the decades; however, beyond these mainstream publications, there is a notable gap in published research studies specifically exploring the harmonious bond between West Hollywood’s social biography and its musical cosmopolitanism. And since music has always had a strong association with space and place, more intention is needed by researchers to understand how musical cities and scenes are conceptually constructed and rationalized by those artists who belong to them.