• To recognize outstanding environmental sustainability leadership in West Hollywood.
• To recognize local actions big and small which dare to be different and are not status quo.
• To accelerate the completion of local green projects.
• To build community resilience and collectively combat climate change.

• To recognize outstanding environmental sustainability ideas + concepts that could one day change the world.
• To provide official recognition to the merit of these conceptual projects.
• The Green Seedlings are big green ideas that aspire to earn a Green City Award in the future.

Green City Award - Individual Adult Category

Project Status: Ongoing
Sustainability Area(s): Plants & Trees
Description:

Heidi Schooler’s “Heidi’s Garden” is an example of one individual’s ongoing effort to beautify a multifamily residential surrounding with plants grown from seed and rescued before being discarded. The colorful flora is maintained using water-wise landscaping principles and helps to support beneficial insects such as pollinators, hummingbirds, and squirrels -- all of which she sees daily. She believes her efforts inspired their landlord to plant a cactus garden in front of the building. The project nomination notes: “[Heidi’s] goal was to not only bring life to our home, but also to our neighbors, and to inspire them.”

Green City Award - Business Category

Project Status: Ongoing
Sustainability Area(s): Energy; Plants & Trees; Other (Eco-Tourism)
Description:

Bikes and Hikes LA, located at 8500 Santa Monica Boulevard, is an outdoor adventure company that offers biking, hiking, and walking tours. The business is focused on eco-friendly, health-conscious, and sustainable/carbon neutral ways to experience the region. At its store, Bikes and Hikes created a protected monarch butterfly sanctuary and a spot for foster dogs. Bikes and Hikes aims to remove existing barriers that impact bike-riding and hiking, and has developed unique community-based educational outreach programs to encourage local community members, school groups, and visitors to enjoy the outdoors, impacting car culture and reducing people’s reliance on motor vehicles. The project nomination notes: “Bikes and Hikes LA believes everyone deserves the opportunity to choose bicycling regardless of income, education, or background — and this is the motivation behind everything that we do.”

Green Seedlings Prize

Project Status: Conceptual Design

Sustainability Area(s): Energy; Water; Materials; Plants & Trees; Biodiversity
Description:

“9176 Sunset Blvd” is a conceptual design project by Faring, a real estate development firm, along with project partners Gensler and The John Buck Company. The design makes the case for project innovation, sustainability, and community compatibility. The existing site, which is situated along the world-famous Sunset Strip and is comprised of a car dealership and surface parking lot, would be the site of an all-electric five-story building with a mix of retail, food and beverage, and creative office uses. The design raises the bar in new building construction practices in eliminating the use of natural gas (a fossil fuel) to heat water and occupant spaces. Additional sustainability components would include passive heating and cooling strategies, recycled foundation materials, water-efficient plumbing fixtures, solar photovoltaic panels, bicycle parking spaces, electric vehicle-capable parking spaces, durable materials, sustainable finishes, a green roof, green screen façade, landscaped terraces, and the intent to pursue LEED-Gold certification. The project nomination notes: “9176 Sunset Blvd is fighting global-warming by proving that the newest and best structures in our communities can also be the most environmentally conscious.”

Green City Award - Individual Category

Project Status: Ongoing
Sustainability Area(s): Other (Habitat Creation/ Preservation)
Description:

Mike Carter’s “Monarch Sanctuary Project” is an example of an individual’s ongoing effort to raise local awareness for the habitat creation and preservation of the western monarch butterfly, an important pollinator species in California that is suffering severe population decline. Mike encourages all of West Hollywood to pitch in and purchase plants – both native milkweed and nectar – to help increase the monarch butterflies’ feeding and breeding locations. 

Green City Award - Business Category

Project Status: Completed
Sustainability Area(s): Materials; Plants & Trees
Description:

 “1 Hotel West Hollywood” is a completed project by DoveHill Capital Management LLC located at 8490 Sunset Blvd. The sustainability components of this submission focus on two urban gardens (2,000 square feet in total), locally sourced lumber, and bringing nature center stage into the hotel experience through biophilic design. From planters to the reception desks and the lobby area, every log is sourced within 50 miles and “resulting in an exceptionally light carbon footprint.” The project showcases how a circular economy approach provides myriad benefits to the execution of construction projects. Additionally, this project is open to the public and aspires to provide a local, natural refuge not only to the community but to nature and the local wildlife. 

Special Features: Lumber Sourcing, Planters, and Reception Desks
Angel City Lumber installed over 60 tons of locally, sustainably sourced lumber (from LA County) to bring nature center stage at 1 Hotel West Hollywood. The project includes unique furniture pieces, large scale sculptural objects to support bio-habitat, and functional landscaping elements (like the edible vegetable gardens). Using local trees throughout the project was challenging because they were not standard in shape, color, grain structure, and size. Locally-sourced lumber has several environmental benefits including (1) use of a local lumber company for a local project in WeHo, (2) smaller carbon footprint associated with transporting lumber from yard to project site, (3) the trees reuse as furniture and design elements retain sequestered carbon, and (4) more knowledge about the supply chain of lumber.

Collaborating with Rios Clementi Hale Studios, the elegant planters form the design foundation of the hotel’s exterior. Every log of the 51 total logs installed lived within 50 miles of the hotel which resulted in an exceptionally light carbon footprint for such a massive installation.

Green City Award - Organization/School Category

Project Status: Ongoing
Sustainability Area(s): Other (Bicycle Advocacy)
Description:

The West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition’s “Safe Streets for All Project” is an ongoing project led by a local nonprofit organization with an emphasis “to make safe, complete and sustainable streets available to all by promoting bike-oriented services, advocacy, education and projects that benefit all road users.” Notable contributions by the Coalition to the WeHo community include providing input on City planning and implementation projects, holding educational programs about bicycle safety and road use laws, facilitating communications between law enforcement and the bicycle community, holding community bike rides, and bicycle advocacy. This project is also remarkable because it illustrates the important role that nonprofit organizations play in advancing public-private partnership goals and outcomes.