* In a sad note, Brad Burlingame (Chic’s younger brother and Eddie Frierson’s dear friend) passed in December 2015 from complications with pancreatic cancer. The following is a obituary and tribute from the city of West Hollywood:
Brad Burlingame, for 18 years the head of West Hollywood’s visitor and tourism agency, died December 8, 2015 of pancreatic cancer.
Burlingame, 62, was named president and CEO of what now is Visit West Hollywood in 1997. Under his leadership, Visit WeHo has helped West Hollywood become a major travel destination for people as far away as Australia. Spending by tourists and visitors is a major source of revenue for local businesses. And the largest source of revenue for the City of West Hollywood is its hotel occupancy tax.
Brad Burlingame
Burlingame is former chair of the California Travel Association and is a past president of the Western Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (WACVB). He has served on the boards of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and was an honorary board member of the West Hollywood Design District.Under Burlingame, Visit WeHo has expanded its promotion of West Hollywood as a destination with forays into overseas markets like Australia, Brazil and England. Burlingame has been instrumental inpromoting West Hollywood as the “Creative City”
Eddie Frierson met Brad when they performed together in Steve Kluger’s critically-acclaimed 9-inning Boston Red Sox comedy, BULLPEN. Eddie portrayed the dim-witted “Tank” and Brad was the brains in the bullpen as “Ripper.” That production created a lifelong friendship that will be forever cherished.
