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OPERATOR OF THE '80s
Dick Sogn of Westwood Village, CA
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Dick Sogn, owner of Westworld, leans on one of his current moneymakers.
The Sogn family (pronounced SONG) set
out six years ago to create an amuse-
ment center with a dinner house atmos-
phere catering to adults. Their Westworld
Electronics Amusement Center is located
in affluent Westwood Village in Los Ange-
les, California, between Beverly Hills and
Belair.
"We have thirteen first run movie the-
aters within walking distance of our cen-
ter. At night it's almost like walking
through Disneyland-there are restau-
rants and shops open and people strolling
till the wee hours of the morning," ex-
plained Dick Sogn. The amusement cen-
ter is open from 10:00 am until 3:00 or
4:00 am. Children under 18 are not al-
lowed in after 9:30 pm "Our peak hours
are from 2 until 4:00 am, when couples
come in after a movie or dinner. We've
specialized in electronic games, that's
our business." Westworld doesn 't serve
food or beverages and the 3,000 square-
foot establishment is filled with over 90
games. "People come here to play the
games, " says Sogn.
The players are so interested in the
games, says Sogn, that even when movie
stars come in the other patrons seldom
recognize them. Robin Williams, Sean
Cassidy, and the Hudson Brothers are
regulars at the center. Kate Jackson,
barraged with movie offers when an ar-
cade scene is needed, but he only allows
filming if the movie shows a positive im-
age of the amusement industry. "Buddy
System," a new film starring Richard
Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon will have a
sequence filmed at the center. "We've
had visitors from Japan and Italy who
have stopped in just to see the arcade
because they read about it in a journal
abroad," said Sogn.
The Sogns also have a center in
Marina Del Rey, a bigger and newer es-
tablishment which has over 100 games.
This center has six theaters and restau-
rants nearby, and again, most of the pa-
trons are couples stopping in after a late
movie and dinner. The Marina Westworld
is managed by Sogn's 25-year-old son
Steve.
Sogn has ingeniously used his unique
geographic location to create an excep-
tional amusement center and has indeed
"gone with the stars. "
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Cheryl Ladd and even Farrah Fawcett
have visited Westworld. "We have guards
at the door who keep autograph seekers
under control. We have to keep it that
way so the stars feel comfortable when
they are here," explained Sogn.
Westworld is popular with all players,
not only with the stars. People stand in
line at the front door during the peak
hours to get a chance to play the games.
The fun center has been featured in The
Smithsonian, National Geographic, News-
week and Fortune magazines. Sogn is
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Did You Know?
Nationwide, 9.2% of the U.S. population
is currently unemployed, and 22.3% of
those out of work are youth. According to
the most recent Federal Bureau of Labor
statistics, the youth unemployment rate is
increasing, especially the rate for minority
youth. This may mean additional traffic in
your location, particularly during the sum-
mer months.
Technical Tip
Do not create your own problems. The
logic PCB is a compact board having
fine and closely spaced traces. Boards
returned for repair often have scratched
surfaces which resulted in adjacent trace
shorts.
Caution should be used when using
pointed instruments such as scope
probes, signature analyzer probes or log-
ic probes. Carelessness in removing an
MPU with a screwdriver can scratch the
traces beneath the socket.