For 25 years, visitors to Westwood Village who parked in the Broxton Avenue public parking structure knew they had two hours before they would owe anything. That arrangement ended on August 1, when the Los Angeles Department of Transportation implemented new rates as part of a citywide initiative to eliminate complimentary parking in commercial and mixed-use districts.
The new pricing structure charges $2 for every 20 minutes, with a daily maximum of $15. Drivers who use the structure for a quick errand, what the old free-parking window was designed to accommodate, now face an immediate charge upon entry. Business owners along Broxton and in the surrounding blocks say the change has had an immediate and measurable effect on customer behavior.
"People used to pull in, grab lunch or run into a store, and leave," said the owner of a shop on Broxton Avenue who has operated in the Village for more than a decade. "Now they're doing the math before they even park. Some of them are deciding it's not worth it. That's real money for us."
A coalition of Westwood Village business owners and residents sought an exemption from the rate change in a formal request to LADOT submitted in September, arguing that the Village's particular circumstances, its proximity to a major university, its historical reliance on drive-in customers who do not use public transit, and its ongoing commercial recovery from pandemic-era vacancies, justified a different approach than neighborhoods with more robust transit infrastructure.
LADOT acknowledged the request but has not indicated whether it will grant an exemption or modify the rate structure for the area. The department said it would add new public parking access via private lots after 5 p.m. and on weekends as part of the implementation, a concession that business advocates said was insufficient to replace the utility of the free daytime window.
For UCLA students, the change adds a cost to what was once a frictionless way to reach the Village. Students who take the Bruin Bus or walk from campus are unaffected, but students who live off campus in Westwood and neighboring areas and who once drove to the Village for evening dining or shopping now face a charge that, while modest by Los Angeles standards, adds up over a quarter or semester.
The Westwood Village Improvement Association has described the parking rate change as one piece of a broader challenge facing the neighborhood as it works to complete a commercial revival. A November 2025 report commissioned by the association urged the Village to expand its appeal beyond the student demographic to attract Westside residents who might drive from Bel Air, Brentwood, or Santa Monica. Whether those potential customers will absorb the new parking costs remains to be seen.