That sounds like fun, but let me dial back expectations. The Second Couple aren’t caught up in scandal, they’re just members of Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles, which is being sued by a billionaire’s son whose application for membership was blackballed because his whole family are felt by the board to be jerks who sues a lot.
Ultra-elite Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles is at the center of a furious race storm in a new lawsuit filed this week against the club and its leaders
The club — known for having mostly Jewish members — has been branded ‘racist’ by Matthew Winnick, 42, who claims the club retaliated against him and his wife
VP Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, is a member there and has said it’s one of the couples favorite places in the city
By DAVID THOMPSON IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:02 EDT, 14 March 2024
The reputation of one of California’s most illustrious country clubs is now at the center of a furious race storm.
Ultra-elite Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles — where Kamala Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is a member — has been branded a ‘racist aristocracy’ with ‘depraved standards’ in a blockbuster lawsuit filed in LA against the club and its leaders.
According to the no holds barred filing on Monday afternoon, ‘Perhaps no institution embodies the racial disparities and resistance to change more starkly than the infamous Hillcrest Country Club.
‘While every-day Angelenos have advocated for progress and equality, Hillcrest has itself maintained its core principle of exclusion, under the pretext of exclusivity.’
Hillcrest was founded in 1920, supposedly due to Jews not being admitted by Los Angeles Country Club, but also, I suspect, because a lot of Jews felt, not unreasonably, that it would be more fun for them to have an all-Jewish country club. Hillcrest was a huge hit with movie business Jews, such as member Groucho Marx, and is said to have had the highest dues of any country club in America during the Roaring 20s.
The club — known for having mostly white Jewish members, including Emhoff — has also been accused of nepotism and disregarding reports of sexual assault and drug abuse.
Ultra-elite Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles is at the center of a furious race storm in a new lawsuit filed this week against the club and its leaders
The suit was filed by attorney Alexander Winnick on behalf of his brother Matthew Winnick, 42, who, is ‘party to a biracial marriage, where Plaintiff’s wife and children have Hispanic heritage.’
How far back do Mrs. Winnick’s Hispanic roots go? May 1945 when great-grandpa Hans arrived in Argentina?
According to the suit, the club opened in 1920 originally as a country club ‘for the Jewish community’ and claims that for 67 years it ‘refused admission to women and severely limited admission to non-Jewish members.’
The first gentile member was Lebanese-American star and philanthropist Danny Thomas. Member Jack Benny suggested that if Hillcrest really wants to shed its discriminatory reputation they should let in a gentile who is less Levantine-looking.
Hollywood legends who have been members of Hillcrest, include Milton Berle, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, the Marx Brothers, George Burns and Al Jolson. …
The lawsuit begins with a quote from Vice President Harris, ‘In times like this, silence is complicity.’
… ‘Symbolizing a 150-acre plantation in the heart of Los Angeles, Hillcrest’s 585 members are shielded from the true racial makeup of the City through its racist policies enforced by its bigoted and selfish leadership,’ the suit states.
‘The prejudicial impact of Hillcrest’s makeup on the business, professional and employment opportunities of minorities cannot be ignored or minimized.
‘Hillcrest claims to be founded on the principles of diversity and generosity. It boasts to the world that it upholds the highest principles of inclusivity, that the Club is intent on giving back to its community.
‘In reality, Hillcrest is overwhelmingly white, pays an embarrassingly low property tax (approximately $250,000 annually),
I had lunch with a real estate developer who built what is now Trump Los Angeles Golf Club on the ocean cliffs in Palos Verde. (He had to sell out to Trump because the 18th hole slid into the Pacific and his project went bankrupt fixing it.) He told me his father founded Brentwood, a post-war Jewish country club, and had combined with Bob Hope in c. 1962 to get a referendum passed to set property taxes for golf courses at the level of agricultural land in return for not building on the land so as to keep traffic down. So western Lost Angeles has a lot of private golf clubs (such as Riviera, Bel-Air, and Wilshire) that would be taxed heavily if they were plowed under for housing.
and has no desire or incentive to change. Hillcrest is a racist aristocracy, subsidized by the City to the tune of nearly seventy (70) million dollars per year.’
The suit claims the club has maintained a ‘plantation-like essence’ by employing a mostly Hispanic staff who cater to predominantly white members.
The lawsuit then airs some dirty laundry about club officials, who gave as good as they got in return:
… Hillcrest board members’ fiery response
In a statement to Dailymail.com, Bryan Freedman spoke on behalf of Brad Fuller, Jason Kaplan and Michael Flesch, in response to the lawsuit:
‘Let me get this right, the late Gary Winnick, a long term member, showed up at the ‘racist’ club regularly until the time of his passing. When Gary recently passed away, his family (which includes the Plaintiff Matthew Winnick and his brother, Alex Winnick, the lawyer in this case) asks to host the memorial at Hillcrest, the same place they are claiming is the ‘discriminatory’ club that promotes nepotism, disregards drug use and sexual assault.
‘Sounds to me like whether or not Matthew and Alex are beneficiaries of Mr. Winnick’s well known and unethical shady business practices, what really seems to upset them is that they could not get into Hillcrest despite the alleged nepotism policy. While Gary Winnick is gone, he has passed down his penchant for filing frivolous lawsuits to Matthew and Alex. Make no mistake Brad Fuller, Jason Kaplan and Michael Flesch will file a lawsuit for malicious prosecution.
