Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images

We can only imagine the stories these walls could tell.  Transgender icon, Holly Woodlawn, who passed away just last week at the age of 69, called our apartment building in West Hollywood home for more than 10 years.

Born Haroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl in Puetro Rico, Holly grew up in Miami and rose to fame in Andy Warhol’s 1970 movie Trash.  She was later immortalized in the opening lines of Lou Reed’s song, “Walk on the Wild Side”.

Living in our building in West Hollywood, Holly was a colorful and lovable character.  She’d often call down to us from her upstairs window when we were out tending to the landscaping and ask if we’d go pick her up a bottle of chardonnay and a pack of cigarettes from the store. On the 4th of July, we’d hear her giggling and tossing firecrackers from her balcony and she could always be counted on for the occasional photo shoot in her apartment.

Above all, our favorite memory of Holly was watching her flirtatious kindness during Gay Pride. As she was being pushed down the center driveway in her wheelchair, she asked to stop and picked a handful of flowers from the courtyard so that she could pass them out to all the cute boys on the street.

Holly not only made a lasting impression on pop culture, the transgender community, and West Hollywood, but also on us, our residents, and our small apartment building.  Our floor plans have all been named after actresses of 1950’s Old Hollywood, as a nod to the era in which our building was built.  To honor Holly’s memory, we’d like to dedicate her previous home, Suite 4, in her honor.  It will now be known as The Woodlawn Suite and we hope that its residents, current and future, will continue to make fabulous and colorful memories within its walls.