Attorney Appeals to West Hollywood Mayor to Preserve ‘Log Cabin,’ a Haven for Recovering Addicts
By Variety Staff
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Veteran music-business attorney Dina LaPolt has appealed to West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico and other officials to preserve the “Log Cabin,” a building that for years has been used as a meeting place for 12-step meetings and other efforts supporting substance abusers in recovery.
LaPolt, who has worked extensively with Aerosmith, Britney Spears and Deadmau5 and is a vocal spokesperson for people in recovery, wrote, “I am writing to you with respect to the possible destruction of the Log Cabin located at 621 N. Robertson Blvd. in West Hollywood, a Lions’ Club facility that has been used for twelve-step recovery meetings for decades.
“I have been clean and sober from alcohol and drug addiction since April 19, 1998 and I got sober at the Log Cabin,” she continues. “The Log Cabin 7:30 a.m. 12 step meeting was my first meeting ever, and the Log Cabin has been a continuous part of my sobriety over 21 one years. Moreover, the Log Cabin—in part because of its appearance— also serves as an easily recognizable landmark of sobriety in West Hollywood. It is located in close proximity to many well-known bars and clubs, some of whose patrons find themselves needing a positive change in their life and finding it at the Log Cabin. I have met and helped such people countless times in my nearly twenty-two years of sobriety. The reason I mention some of my achievements above is because none of them would be possible without my sobriety from drugs and alcohol, with the Log Cabin being the mainstay of my sobriety.”
The WeHo Times reported last week that the city of West Hollywood is making an offer to the city of Beverly Hills to have the West Hollywood Recovery Center (WHRC) take over the lease at the building in order to preserve it as a sober space (both cities have a share in the cabin, which was built nearly 100 years ago, before West Hollywood was founded). According to the report, the city is proposing WHRC pay the rent and run the day-to-day operations of the Log Cabin and will Pledge $150,000, which will be matched by the city to renovate the building.
“The Log Cabin is an extraordinary place that has saved countless lives,” LaPolt continues. “It is a beacon of hope that gives a safe place for alcoholics and addicts alike to go to in order to change their lives for the better. And they do, in countless numbers. To demolish the Log Cabin is to tear down an important part of history—and more importantly, the present and the future—in the lives of alcoholics and addicts both local and from afar.
“I ask you as a member of a twelve-step recovery group, a regular attendee of the Log Cabin, and a resident of West Hollywood to not demolish the Log Cabin and to do everything in your power to keep it preserved now and for generations to come,” she concludes.
