By Rachel Cohen By Rachel Cohen | January 13, 2020 | People
Brent Bolthouse, the founder of The Bungalow Hospitality Group (thebungalow.com), is on a mission to save a Los Angeles institution: The Log Cabin. Built by the Boy Scouts of America in 1928, the cabin serves as a safe space for recovery groups. Bolthouse is attempting to preserve the community staple by rallying citizens to sign a petition to present to the city of Beverly Hills. Here, the entrepreneur explains the building’s significance and the role it has played in his personal journey of sobriety.
For those that don't know, what is the Log Cabin and why is it so important to you?
First and foremost, I've been sober for 33 years and the Log Cabin has been one of those dreams that have been very instrumental throughout the years of my sobriety... There's a huge sober community in Los Angeles and it's one of those few places that if you are new to sobriety or you're struggling, any time of day you can just go to that place and within a few hours there's always a meeting beginning or ending.
Please tell us why you think it is so important to preserve the Log Cabin?
The Log Cabin is almost like a clubhouse of sorts where there are always meetings going on. This is a beloved space where lots of Angelenos come to get sober, and we don’t want to see it go away.
Why does the community need places like the Log Cabin, now more than ever?
We have seen on the front page of the news this opioid epidemic, which is not new, but now it's made its way into the media... so now is the wrong time to suddenly be taking away a building of this significance. If this building had one meeting a week, personally, I would feel differently but if I need to go to a meeting early in the morning, I know that I can go to the cabin then start my day; it's just there. Not every building is so accessible, so that was the key for me.
How has sobriety helped inform your career and shape your life?
I don't think I'd have any kind of a real-life, at least the life I have today, without getting sober at the young age I did. I got sober when I was 16, and that's a miracle in itself. I've had ups and downs in my life and I know, in some of my darkest days, that room helped me stay sober... the community aspect of it, the fellowship, all of it.
To sign the petition to preserve the Log Cabin visit change.org/savethelogcabin
Photography by: Travis McCoy
