Celebrity hairstylist beaten up outside gay nightclub in West Hollywood as family says he was victim of hate crime

The family and friends of a popular celebrity hairdresser brutally attacked outside a gay nightclub in LA fear he was targeted for his race or sexuality in a brutal hate crime.

Alberto Vasquez, 53, was knocked unconscious and left for dead as he left Heart Weho in the Rainbow District of West Hollywood at 8pm on Friday, April 5.

The stylist, who has worked for studios and catwalks in Paris and New York, spent more than a week critically ill in intensive care, where doctors were forced to remove part of his skull to relieve pressure on a swelling in his brain.

His family fear he will never fully recover and that his attacker could target other gay men.

“We feel it’s gay bashing,” said sister Gloria Jimenez. ‘He wasn’t robbed.

His family do not know if he will ever fully recover from the attack that left him unconscious and requiring emergency brain surgery to save his life

‘He has injuries all over his body, his neck, we don’t know if he will ever be the same.

“He’s the type of guy who wouldn’t hurt anyone, we know that for a fact, I mean he’s harmless and it’s horrible to leave him almost for dead.”

Vasquez was leaving the nightclub to meet friends at the nearby Gym Bar, but never arrived.

He was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in the early hours of Saturday morning after a passerby spotted him unconscious and bleeding in a parking lot next to the nightclub.

But it was five days before his family was able to track him down when a nurse at the hospital answered a call to his mobile phone.

“The blow to his face, you can see it was on the eye,” Jimenez told KTLA.

“They fractured his skull around his eye socket.”

West Hollywood, which was incorporated as a city in 1984, claims on its website that more than 40 percent of its residents identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

‘For more than three decades, West Hollywood has been one of the most influential small towns in the nation; no other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national progressive public policy agenda.’

“He’s the type that wouldn’t hurt anybody, we know that for a fact,” said his sister Gloria Jimenez, “I mean he’s harmless and to leave him almost for dead is terrible”

The popular stylist has worked for catwalks and salons throughout the country and abroad

‘We need to find out who did this to our wonderful friend, brother and uncle,’ wrote friend and colleague Michelle Hansen (pictured)

Vasquez photographed himself with Emmy-winning actress Elisabeth Moss on Instagram

“We are relieved that he is expected to survive, but he will need multiple surgeries, has possible brain damage and has a long road to recovery,” his GoFundMe appeal notes.

‘We feel it’s gay bashing,’ said sister Gloria Jimenez (pictured), ‘he wasn’t robbed’

Vasquez, who boasts Emmy Award winner Elisabeth Moss among her friends, has had one GoFundMe appeal set up in his name, which has already raised $47,000 of its $50,000 goal.

“We don’t know if he was randomly attacked by a stranger in what could be a homophobic or racist hate crime, or if he was attacked by someone he interacted with at one of the bars,” administrator Brett Foreman wrote.

‘Alberto was taken by EMS to a hospital on Saturday morning and spent the last week in critical condition.

‘We are relieved that he is expected to survive, but he will have multiple operations, has possible brain damage and has a long road to recovery ahead of him.

“While we await further details on his recovery timetable from the medical staff, we are beginning to raise funds that will be used to cover medical and living expenses as he will not be able to work for the foreseeable future.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is leading the investigation but has not yet identified any suspects.

Michelle Hansen, the salon director at Pony Studios in Oakland, where Alberto had worked, said the attacker must be caught before he finds another victim.

“We need to find out who did this to our wonderful friend, brother and uncle,” she wrote.