WeHo Recovery Center Werle Building Officially Opens with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

November 7, 2017

38191481386_b770beebc1_c — (L-R) West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman, Councilmember Lauren Meister, Mayor Pro Tempore John Duran, Councilmember Lindsey Horvath, and Councilmember John D'Amico - Photo by Jon Viscott, courtesy of the City of West Hollywood

The newly renovated Werle Building–home to the West Hollywood Recovery Center, the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum and the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives is officially open.

City council members held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, November 6, and hosted a small gathering with light snacks and refreshments to celebrate the completion of some badly needed renovations to the city-owned building. West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman did the honors of of the actual cutting while Mayor Pro Tempore John Duran, Councilmember Lauren Meister, Councilmember Lindsey Horvath, and Councilmember John D’Amico held the red ribbon at the ceremony.

WHRC Ribbon Cutting Celebration – Photo by Paulo Murillo

(L-R) David Reizin, Zack Ament, and Bobby Trendy – Photo by Paulo Murillo

Jimmy Palmieri and Ivy Bottini – photo by Paulo Murillo

The Recovery Center in the Werle Building has come a long way from its early days as a storage space at 626 N. Robertson Blvd. The building is located smack in the center of West Hollywood’s Boystown and is only walking distance from The Abbey Food & Bar. The building has become a center of recovery with over 6,000 visitors per month–thanks to the many efforts of Mayor Pro Tempore John Duran, who is responsible for significant increases in the city budget to address alcoholism and drug addiction in the community.

West Hollywood Recovery Center Werle Building – photo by Paulo Murillo

The building is also home to the ONE Archives, part of the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, which hosts regular shows and exhibits for the community, as well as the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, which is the largest major archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting lesbian and feminist history and culture.

The Werle Building is a 7,533-square-foot, two-story office building built in 1940 in the Streamline Moderne style. The City of West Hollywood purchased the building in 1987. In 2003 the city entered into agreements with various nonprofit organizations for the use of the property on a temporary basis. In late 2011, the City Council approved a plan to develop long-term relationships with tenants and to make necessary property improvements.

The Werle Building is named for Daniel Werle, a fashion designer whose “Werle Originals” graced film and television actresses such as Loretta Young, Gloria Swanson, Barbara Stanwyck, and Marlo Thomas. Werle’s ready-to-wear creations were sold nationally in such stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and I. Magnin. Werle died in May 1985.