Sheldon W. Andelson
(March 5, 1931 - December 29, 1987) U.S.A.
Businessman
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Sheldon had a grandmother who gave him a piece of West Hollywood real estate when he was a boy. Over the period of his adult life he amassed a large portfolio of real estate in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
One of Andelson's acquisitions was the 8709 Bathhouse located at 8709 West Third Street near Cedars-Sinai Hospital in West Hollywood. Wildly lucrative and possessing an extremely discriminatory entrance policy (generally only young, hot, under 30 men were allowed in), in its day the 8709 was host & fantasy central to the hottest men in the country if not the world. Only after Governor Jerry Brown was about to appoint him to the University of California Board of Regents were close friends able to successfully encourage Andelson to divest himself of the property.
In addition to serving as the first openly gay man on the Board of Regents (1980 to 1986), Andelson personally gave and helped raise large sums of money to support gay candidates for election in Los Angeles and was one of the founding members of MECLA (Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles).
He died of AIDS related complications in 1987, however not before leaving a lasting mark on the cultural and social climate of the city that he loved.
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