As of Wednesday, July 3, luxury vehicles remained on display inside the 9030 Wilshire Blvd. showroom. (photo by Tabor Brewster)
After months of heated back-and-forth discussions with the owner of a luxury car showroom at 9030 Wilshire Blvd., the Beverly Hills Planning Commission denied the applicant’s conditional use permit on June 26.
The showroom, Wires Only, is owned by RD Whittington, who is known for the Discovery Channel reality series “Million Dollar Wheels,” where he can be seen selling exotic and luxury supercars to celebrities including Tom Holland, Kim Kardashian and Jamie Foxx. However, according to city staff, Whittington had been selling cars at the Wilshire Boulevard location since at least 2022 without a business license, without paying business taxes, without a DMV license and without a conditional use permit. The business was also cited for multiple city code violations since it began operating – including for car deliveries on Wilshire Boulevard that blocked the public right of way and for a rear fence that exceeded height restrictions.
As a result, the city issued a cease and desist letter in October 2022 to Wires Only to either vacate the property or complete a conditional use permit application. Whittington hired Gabbay Architects, a Beverly Hills architecture firm, to complete the CUP application, which was submitted to the city on Dec. 27, 2022.
The commission held its first hearing on the CUP application on March 28, 2024.
In the first meeting, Whittington said the reason he did not pay business taxes or have a DMV license for the location was because the location was not a showroom at all, but a “home office” containing his “personal” car collection. Despite this assertion, cars visible on display at the Beverly Hills location were also listed for sale on the Wires Only website, a fact with which Commissioner Jeff Wolfe took issue.
On March 28, the planning commission did not make a decision to grant or deny the CUP, and continued the hearing to May 9. The commission cited application inconsistencies, unpaid fines from code violations and the lack of proper business certifications for the continuance. The commission also instructed Whittington to resolve the issues before the next meeting.
However, when the CUP application returned to the commission on May 9, Whittington was absent from the meeting, and the project’s representative – former planning commissioner Hamid Gabbay – said Whittington’s absence was due to a “family emergency.” At the second meeting, it was revealed that Whittington did not obtain a business tax license, DMV license, pay the overdue fees or remove the noncompliant fence since the previous meeting.
When asked by commissioners why Whittington did not address the issues with the application, Gabbay said he simply didn’t know.
“I realize it was promised to you, and I don’t know why he didn’t do it,” Gabbay said, referring to the business tax license renewal.
Despite the unresolved issues, the Planning Commission gave Wires Only another chance on May 15, when it continued the hearing to Wednesday, June 26.
Between May 9 and June 26, Wires Only addressed some of the issues, as promised. On May 16, Whittington obtained a business tax license for the Wilshire Boulevard location. On the morning of June 26 – the same day as the Planning Commission hearing – Wires Only paid the outstanding fees to the city. However, the business had still yet to obtain a DMV license, and the city’s code enforcement officers documented another car delivery blocking Wilshire Boulevard on June 20.
Whittington and Gabbay went before the Planning Commission once again on the afternoon of June 26, this time requesting a 45-day continuance of the hearing due to an “inability to comply with draft conditions” of the CUP, according to a staff report.
Gabbay read a letter that listed reasons for requesting the 45-day extension, including “devising delivery protocols,” “exploring filming parameters” for the TV show and providing “thorough accounting of sales and tax revenues.”
However, members of the commission immediately questioned the reasons Wires Only would be unable to comply with the proposed conditions of the CUP, and Gabbay quickly admitted that the main reason for requesting the extension was because Wires Only had not obtained a DMV license.
“The 45 days that they are asking for, more than anything else is referring to the DMV … Everything else that you see here – filming, obtaining architectural commission [approval], things like that, really doesn’t need this 45 days,” Gabbay said.
Whittington added that he couldn’t obtain a DMV license for the property until he received a CUP, an assertion which was later proven false. He clarified that he intended to transfer the DMV license from his Los Angeles showroom on Sepulveda Boulevard to the location in Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard.
“I’m confused. Is that license going to cover both locations? Are you going to be unlicensed in West L.A.?” Commissioner Lou Milkowski asked.
“West L.A. is no longer going to be the dealership. It’s going to be 9030 [Wilshire],” Whittington said.
However, he also said the location in West L.A. would not be closing down.
Multiple websites list the Wires Only location at 2134 S. Sepulveda Blvd. for sale as of January 2024.
“I thought I understood you to say that obtaining the conditional use permit is a threshold issue for DMV to agree to transfer your license to operate as a dealership from West L.A. to Beverly Hills,” Vice Chair Terri Kaplan said. “If that’s the case, I’m even more puzzled why you would be in front of us asking for a continuance rather than coming before us to say ‘please issue my CUP’ … I feel like there is some agenda that is not being shared.”
Whittington responded by saying he had hired “the best person in the business” to advise Wires Only in the DMV registration process – someone known only as “Paul.” He said he would follow up with Paul to resolve the DMV issue.
Commission Chair Gary Ross then called a recess to allow Whittington to call Paul, to clear up the DMV license issue. But when the hearing resumed almost two hours later, Whittington was nowhere to be seen.
Gabbay read an email from Paul with information about the DMV license transferral.
“The bottom line for your information is that the DMV does not require to have a CUP approved,” Gabbay said. “So they could issue the transfer … without the CUP.”
Gabbay added that the DMV is required to respond to the transfer request within four months, and that Wires Only had already applied for the transfer in May.
With the new information from the applicant, the commission voted against continuing the hearing.
“This has been dragging on for forever and a day,” Milkowski said.
The council then considered granting the CUP. Milkowski asked Gabbay if he truly believed the numerous issues with Wires Only could be cleared up if the CUP was granted.
Gabbay responded by saying he had been “thrown under the bus” twice by Whittington, and had originally not even planned to attend the June 26 meeting. He stated that he told Whittington that he would attend the meeting and advocate for the CUP only if Whittington “put [his] act together” and resolved the issues. He revealed that the reason Wires Only paid the overdue fees that morning was because he insisted they be paid after Whittington “begged” him to be at the meeting.
“Do I trust [Wires Only]? Yes. Do I have my doubts about it? Yes. But I promise you that if they don’t follow this, I know what I have to do,” Gabbay said, implying he would part ways with the business.
Ultimately, the commission voted to deny the CUP.
“I don’t like what I’ve seen from this applicant. I don’t think we can approve something where there has been so much dysfunction and so little clarity,” Ross said.
Whittington has until July 10 to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision to the City Council.
As of Wednesday, July 3, there were still vehicles on display inside the 9030 Wilshire Blvd. showroom.
The luxury showroom at 9030 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills was once a Cadillac dealership. (photo by Tabor Brewster)
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