Elite members of the Iranian diaspora community in the West Hollywood area came together Wednesday evening to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, at WeHo City Council Chambers.
The event, co-sponsored by the city and the Iranian American Women’s Foundation, did not draw a packed house, but the crowd in attendance was certainly its intended audience. Farsi was spoken during the program as much as English, and the event featured stirring performances by an Iranian soloist and a traditional ensemble.
“Women, Life, Freedom” was the mantra of the evening, the same chant of resistance aimed by millions of protesters at the Islamic Republic, which has controlled Iran since the revolution. The protests continue even as the regime has launched a brutal crackdown on dissidents.
Mayor Sepi Shyne gave a heartfelt introduction, saying it’s unusual for Persians to celebrate during times of trouble, but that marking Nowruz together this year was vital to supporting their kinsmen in the Iranian homeland, those who did not or could not flee the revolution more than 40 years ago.
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I would love to know the names or have a list of these “Elite Iranian Residents of West Hollywood”? I would also know what exactly makes them “elite” and does West Hollywood have a “garden variety, pedestrian” population of Iranians and are how are all these Iranians further delineated as Islamic, Jewish or non-sectarian?
Many of these supposed “elite” were likely present during the city hearings regarding the eventually dashed “Parking Garage” which was to be the solution for the near 24/7 nuisance behavior the immediate neighborhood at Fountain & Crescent Heights was subjected to for several years. That would likely make them members of the congregation at IAJC/IAJF who held events at Neman and Sapper Halls. The city was successfully sued over the debacle. It was hardly “elite” behavior the neighborhood witnessed.
Mayor Shyne always looks disheveled.
Replying to Ham Shipley’s comment…one I can’t find now..I hope you didn’t imagine I had mistaken WeHo for Mumbai!
She brings to mind my kid’s name for a long ago for sweetie of mine from Nishapour. “The Persian Version”.It was a code name. For him it was said with a smile.
The self proclaimed patroness/patronix of this event, a legend in her own mind.
Ayatollah Come Lately