Video shows brawl outside West Hollywood hot dog vendor carts in latest troubling incident

Cell phone video captured a fight between two women outside a pair of hot dog vendor carts in West Hollywood over the weekend, which local business owners say is just the latest in a troubling trend in the area.

It happened early Sunday morning on Santa Monica Boulevard, where multiple street vendors often set up, according to Larry Block, who owns the nearby Block Party Store.

Surveillance camera footage from Block's store shows vendors dumping what he says is bacon grease from the carts, leaving the pavement stained and slippery. 

"Then the rats get in there, and the rats come into the store," Block said. "We have a number of infestations. We have a number of rats in the city."

On top of that, Block says that vendors have been violent at times. 

"I had asked them to move, and they went to punch me in the eye after I had eye surgery last year," Block said. 

He's one of several business owners in the area who have expressed concerns about fire hazards from the vendors' carts, many of which they say aren't licensed. Cellphone video from last summer shows one hot dog cart engulfed in flames as customers stand by. 

Block said that he also believes many of the workers at the hot dog stands are underage. 

"A truck lines up on San Vicente somewhere around 9:30, 10 o'clock in the evening and 30 carts come off this truck at a time," Block said. 

West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman says that a 2019 law decriminalized street vending, so enforcement has become increasingly difficult, even if the vendors are operating across the street from the sheriff's station. 

"It's tough to enforce, because some of the vendors go out there and they're only out there for an hour or two," Heilman said. "By the time our code enforcement officers arrive, they're gone, or they move."

Additional difficulties in addressing the issue include politicization, which has increased since immigration enforcement operations became more common last year, according to WeHo Times publisher Paulo Murrillo. 

"Anyone whose criticized them, like, they get called racist and it just becomes a whole different thing," Murrillo said.

Business owners say that they've been complaining about the problem, but they are not getting support from city hall on an issue they say shouldn't be politicized.

"Everybody is suffering from fear of speaking up, because they've been batted down for being against immigrants," Block said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who are investigating the brawl from the weekend, says that they've spoken with the alleged victim but have not been able to track down the other person involved yet.