A country club that's historically accepted members kept out of other Los Angeles social organizations—including Hollywood moguls and celebrities—is now facing its own discrimination lawsuit. A 42-year-old Jewish man says he was rejected for membership in Hillcrest Country Club, which was founded in 1920 as the city's first for Jewish people, because his wife and their children are of Hispanic heritage. Matthew Winnick's application normally should have received priority, his court filing says, because his father was a longtime member, Forbes reports. He blames his rejection on "Hillcrest's policy of racial discrimination."
His father was Gary Winnick, who became a billionaire and one of Los Angeles' richest people after founding an undersea internet cable company. Another son, Alexander, and his law partner are involved in the litigation. Although the suit argues Hillcrest is a "150-acre plantation in the heart of Los Angeles" that violates state and local civil rights laws, a lawyer for club officials says the Winnicks had never complained before. "The late Gary Winnick, a long-term member, showed up at the 'racist' club regularly until the time of his passing," Bryan Freedman emailed the Los Angeles Times. Hillcrest disputes the accusations.
Winnick was an intermediate member for years before applying for full membership last year. His suit says the club president, knowing that his wife and children are Latino, once yelled across a table at them in Spanish to "shut up." Presidents have played golf at Hillcrest, and members have included Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra, and Sydney Poitier—as well as Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. The filing opens with a quote by Harris, per the Times: "In times like this, silence is complicity." (More Los Angeles stories.)
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