Has the City of West Hollywood Changed its Name to ‘W’?

Has the City of West Hollywood changed its name to ‘W”? The Creative and Progressive city was in rare form on Monday via its social media platforms after it made an announcement that the City has changed its name and logo: “We are now W,” reads a post on the City’s official @wehocity social media platforms. “Welcome to W.”

The post includes a reel with a graphic showing the letter “W” which turns into a map of West Hollywood with a line over the the West Hollywood name out and in its place is the letter “W”.

We are now W. Welcome to W. pic.twitter.com/WLq6ca3GzJ

— City of West Hollywood (@WeHoCity) July 24, 2023

The city’s Instagram account is the only platform that sort of gives it away:

“If you know, you know…. 🤣😭
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Also, for those that *don’t* know, this is a joke. ✨”

For those not in the know, the city’s social media platforms are poking fun on Elon Musk’s unveiling of the new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous blue bird as part of some major rebranding of the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year.

pic.twitter.com/IwcbqMnQtA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

The X first appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday, but the bird was still dominant across the smartphone app. According to reports, the logo was removed at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. Workers were seen removing the iconic bird and logo Monday until police showed up and stopped them because they didn’t have the proper permits and didn’t tape off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.

One reader pointed out that the X (and therefore @wehocity’s W) is way too similar to the Nikon’s Z camera series which came out in 2018.

The @wehocity’s “W”post confused some followers. Some believed the change was serious, while those in the know sent laughing emojis and hearts to let the City know they were in on the joke.

“Omg I was fooled at first,” commented @brianJfagan on Instagram. “Very glad it was just a joke.”

“The shade,” wrote @juanitodotcom.

And @wehocity responded with a coy smiling emoji with its hand over its mouth (the city rarely responds to comments).

City of West Hollywood tends to be more buttoned up in its social media outlets, which mostly makes public service announcements and promotes city events. This is a whole new side of @wehocity. It may be a new voice that could take some getting used to… similar to the new logo at Twitter.