• History of the West LA Chamber Of Commerce

     

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    The Early Days

    The Chamber began in 1945 as the “Businessmen’s Association of Rancho Park”. By 1989, it had grown to serve not only Rancho Park, but also the nearby communities of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Mar Vista and Palms.

    To reflect this larger geographic area, the Chamber changed its name to the Westside Chamber of Commerce. In 1993, a group of dedicated business leaders formed a new organization, the West L.A. Chamber of Commerce, to serve the specific interests of West Los Angeles, including the Civic Center area and the Sawtelle District. In 1996, the 2 groups merged under the West L.A. Chamber of Commerce name to better promote local business growth and development. In November 2000, Brentwood Area Chamber of commerce merged with the West L.A. Chamber, further increasing our Chamber’s size and strength. It must be noted that, along this time and to this day, the Chamber is interchangeably also referred to as Westwood Chamber of Commerce.

    The Chamber continued its growth enjoying as many as 2,150 members from all around West Los Angeles and adjoining areas. To more accurately reflect the community the Chamber serves the name was once again changed in 2005 to the Greater West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

    2007 – Present

    In 2007, the Chamber leadership held a series of strategy sessions to clarify the focus and mission of the chamber in order to better serve the West Los Angeles area. The name was simplified to the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (WLACC) and the mission was streamlined to it’s current form: To enhance opportunities for members of the West Los Angeles business community through Referral, Advocacy and Education.

    Today, the WLACC has members ranging from local “mom and pop” businesses to some of the nations’ largest corporate entities, and is growing in both membership and influence. We are men and women that join with other community organizations to roll up our sleeves and do the work of making our area a better place to visit, work, and to live. We do the hard work of community service while our members provide jobs to thousands of employees.

    We are excited about the future of our organization and West Los Angeles. We are growing to meet the needs of our area by creating new committees to foster growth and development. These new committees include networking, tech, marketing, government, and transportation groups, as well as the West LA Chamber Women’s Networking Group (WWGN).

    The West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce thanks you for visiting our website and hope you will visit it often to find out just what’s going on in West Los Angeles.