Just a short distance from the iconic Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue lies Larchmont, a neighborhood renowned for its charm and historical significance in Hollywood. However, this upscale area is currently grappling with a growing issue that threatens its serene reputation.

The neighborhood has become a hotspot for sex work, which is becoming increasingly visible even in front of the multi-million-dollar homes that line its streets. This illicit activity is primarily concentrated on Western Avenue, a less affluent area only a few blocks away, where young women are overseen by pimps stationed in high-end vehicles.

Concerned residents have noted that this problem is now encroaching on the quieter streets of Larchmont. Families are finding themselves stepping over abandoned condoms during their morning routines, highlighting the extent of the issue.

One resident captured this stark reality in photos showing a maintenance truck parked in front of his home on a weekday morning, with a sex worker visibly conducting business in daylight. This scene is not an isolated incident.

In an effort to understand the situation, the Daily Mail spent several nights and mornings in the area. They observed numerous women dressed in revealing attire such as bikinis, towering stilettos, and thigh-high stockings, all part of a scene that starkly contrasts with the neighborhood’s otherwise family-friendly environment.

The Daily Mail spent several nights and mornings in the area, observing dozens of scantily clad women in bikinis, huge stilettos and thigh-high pantyhose. 

Most appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties, getting in and out of cars through the night and into the morning, even as commuters and school buses passed. 

Residents who spoke to the Daily Mail said the Johns pick the women up from Western Avenue and then drive to the quieter and dimly lit streets in the Larchmont, Melrose Hill and Windsor Square areas. 

Elmwood Avenue and North Ridgewood Place, where homes average several million dollars, have become hotspots where the men park. 

Jonathan, a resident, told the Daily Mail: ‘I think what really made a lot of us fed up was when the Johns and the sex workers kept leaving condoms everywhere.

‘In the morning when you’re taking your kids to school, suddenly you are jumping over condoms.

‘I think every parent would not want to have to explain to their seven-year-old son or daughter what a used condom is. We are just not ready to have those conversations.

‘How do you explain that to your child when you are walking over these used condoms as you walk them to the car?

‘Not just in the early hours of the morning, but when the neighborhood is waking up. So this problem has fingers that go in every direction as far as the damage to society and the damage to individual women and girls.’

Residents told the Daily Mail that the scourge came to the residential parts of Larchmont, Windsor Square and Melrose Hill about three years ago after the Los Angeles Police Department launched a major crackdown on human trafficking in the Figueroa Corridor, which is located about ten miles away in the South LA area.

The LAPD, along with the LA County District Attorney, the LA City Attorney and federal authorities launched a human trafficking initiative in 2024 targeting Figueroa Avenue, which had been plagued with human trafficking for decades.

The city placed video cameras up and down the 3.5-mile stretch of Figueroa Avenue that captures license plates of alleged Johns who pick up women in the area.

The men then receive ‘Dear John’ letters at their homes, warning them that their vehicle has been seen in the area where prostitution and human trafficking has been known to occur. 

‘This is a huge warning shot, and we are going after the Johns,’ LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a January 16 press conference. ‘In fact, I’m not going to dignify them with the word “John.” I’m going to call them sex-exploiter buyers.

‘These are the individuals, and they are often men, who come down these corridors looking to buy sex from these young women who are effectively enslaved by their pimps. We are going to go after these Johns for felony prosecution.’

Since the Figueroa Corridor crackdown, however, residents in Larchmont, Windsor Square and Melrose Hill areas said they have noticed an uptick in prostitution in their neighborhoods.  

Jonathan said confrontations have broken out between neighbors and the women.

‘Sometimes a sex workers parked on our street with a John and they would be screaming in the car, so a neighbor would try to help, but then they would get yelled at,’ he said.

‘The women seemed like they were in trouble and the neighbors tried to help, but then they get into it. There are so many scenarios happening, and all of them not good.’

Residents have petitioned Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez and city officials for help. They said not enough is being done to help the women, many of whom are victims of human trafficking. 

Soto-Martinez told the Daily Mail his office has recently launched a ‘cross-agency task force’ to address human trafficking on Western Avenue ‘head-on.’ 

‘As part of this work with the City Attorney and law enforcement, we’re partnering with Journey Out, an organization that specializes in rescuing young women and girls being trafficked to provide survivor-centered support and permanent solutions to these issues,’ Soto-Martinez said.

Residents, however, said that’s not enough. 

‘We just want city leaders to do what they promised, which is to increase the funding to police the area,’ Jonathan said.

‘The signs we put up in the lawns have deterred some of the sex workers and Johns, but there is still so much more work to do.’ 

Officials with the LA City Attorney’s office told the Daily Mail that they are aware of the residents’ concerns, and said in a statement: ‘The Western Avenue activity has increased as of late but, unfortunately, is not a new issue, having previously been a part of the notorious Hollywood corridor that includes Santa Monica Boulevard.

‘During Covid and following the repeal of the prostitution loitering law Penal Code 653.22, there has been a resurgence of sex and human trafficking throughout the state.

‘Sex trafficking is unacceptable everywhere, and we have put together a coalition to address sex trafficking, specifically on and around Western Avenue.’

The activity appears to begin around 10.30pm on Western Avenue, which is lined with discount furniture stores, 24-hour laundromats and an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. 

Girls occasionally wander into the nearby 7-Eleven for drinks, snacks or condoms, while pimps in Mercedes Benz cars watch from the parking lot. 

On Sunday night after the Super Bowl, dozens of men stopped and picked up girls on Western Avenue, many heading toward Larchmont and Windsor Square.

One woman, wearing a bra top and hoodie zipped to her navel, crouched to talk to a driver in a red sedan for five minutes before hopping in. She was dropped back 15 minutes later and returned to work.

On the next block, two women in five-inch stilettos canvassed for clients.  

Several cars stopped; one woman climbed into a Cadillac Escalade and headed toward Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue. 

By 3am, the only visible traffic were Johns and pimps monitoring activity. 

Patrons of the 7-Eleven said prostitution has plagued the area for years, but it has now reached residential streets.

‘But now everyone’s talking about it because they [sex workers] are going into the nice part of the neighborhood,’ a resident said.

‘These guys [pimps] have been around for years, and it is sickening. It has to stop.’

Another resident said she sees used condoms on her dog walks.

‘They are out there having sex all night from midnight to 6am,’ Heather told the Daily Mail.

‘They look very young and I am afraid that human trafficking might be involved. I just don’t want them to arrest the young women who might be forced into this. 

‘They need to arrest the men who are controlling them and the men paying for them.’

Officials with the LA County District Attorney’s Office told the Daily Mail they are working to ‘aggressively prosecute’ traffickers and pimps who have infiltrated the area.

‘We urge community members to report suspected criminal activity to law enforcement so we can continue our work with law enforcement and community partners in identifying, arresting and prosecuting the sex exploiters, commonly referred to as “Johns,” who come into neighborhoods and drive this illegal activity,’ LA County DA officials said. 

In the seven hours we were there, only one police car stopped a driver for a traffic violation.

We went back on Tuesday morning at 5am, where some women remained on the streets. 

One woman in skin-tight red lingerie and sheer pantyhose worked past 6.30am as construction workers filled up their vehicles at a nearby gas station.

Yellow school buses and morning traffic returned by 7am, as the sex workers finished their shifts.

Karen, a local resident, said: ‘Even at six or seven in the morning, neighbors walking their kids to school see this because they [the sex workers] are still on the street. 

She added: ‘My top concern is the exploited women and girls. And secondly, the violent crime that’s associated with this and the violence perpetrated by the pimps and whoever is in control of, of the rings that the women and girls are at risk and neighbors are at risk.’