Serve's Pride Bots Debut with West Hollywood Artist Sküt

Serve's Pride Bots Debut with West Hollywood Artist Sküt

Serve's Pride story began four years ago with a message from local artist Sküt in West Hollywood, California. He saw our robots rolling through the neighborhood and reached out to Serve CEO Ali Kashani with a simple question: “Can I design a custom robot for Pride?”

We said yes, and a tradition was born.

That first collab became Marsha, honoring Marsha P. Johnson, a pivotal figurehead at Stonewall, New York City. Then came Gilbert, named for Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, activist, and designer of the Rainbow Pride flag.

This year, the tradition continues. On Friday, June 5, 2026, Serve Robotics kicked off WeHo Pride Weekend by unveiling two new Pride robots, Marsha and Gilbert, featuring new original Sküt art. Hosted at Beaches Tropicana, the event united West Hollywood leaders, local partners, merchants, community members, and the Serve team with Sküt for an evening celebrating Pride, public art, and the neighborhood that helped shape Serve's approach to sidewalk delivery.

Both Marsha and Gilbert are now serving the West Hollywood community with food deliveries, featuring designs that honor LGBTQ+ history, identity, and Pride.

West Hollywood is part of Serve’s origin story. Our robots began operating here in 2019 with a simple goal: make local delivery more reliable, sustainable, and connected. In the years since, West Hollywood has grown into one of our most active and beloved markets, where residents wave at the robots, businesses know them by name, and the city has become a true partner in shaping how sidewalk delivery fits into daily life.

That long relationship is also where Serve's Pride tradition was born in 2023 with our first Pride robot, Marsha. Gilbert followed in 2025. Each year the designs evolve and the celebration continues. WeHo Pride Weekend has become an annual moment for Serve to show up for a community that has shaped so much of who we are.

As Serve's VP of Policy, Vignesh Ram, shared during this year’s event, West Hollywood has been more than a launch market for Serve. It has been one of the places where we learned what it means for new technology to earn trust in a real community.

"Not to drop into a community and hope people adjust. Not to treat local streets like a test track. But to show up, listen, work with the city, work with residents and local businesses, and try to build something that reflects the place it serves." — Vignesh Ram, VP of Policy, Serve Robotics

West Hollywood Vice Mayor Danny Hang welcomed the new robots to WeHo Pride Weekend, calling attention to the connection between the designs and WeHo history. He spoke about the City’s partnership with Serve, noting that revenue generated through the partnership supports city services and community programs.

"We're excited to welcome back Serve’s delivery robots, Marsha and Gilbert, in collaboration with Sküt, to the streets of WeHo for Pride and beyond." — West Hollywood Vice Mayor Danny Hang

What started as a single DM has become a multi-year creative partnership. Sküt the artist (aka Scott Lewallen) is no stranger to technology, known best as original designer and Co-Founder of Grindr. A Los Angeles native and longtime West Hollywood resident, Sküt is a fixture in the regional art scene with his bold, edgy, pop-inspired style. This year, he refreshed Marsha and Gilbert with a shared design language of love and happiness.

During the unveiling, Sküt shared a brief history of the Rainbow Pride flag, commissioned by Harvey Milk and designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, originally with eight colors. Due to practical considerations of the era, the flag lost two hues (Pink and Turquoise) and progressed into the familiar six-color version (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple) while paving a legacy for future iterations.

Sküt intentionally designs with the original eight colors across his Pride art collection for historical pageantry.

“As an artist and gay man, it’s important to champion history and honor Gilbert Baker’s original vision, projecting a full spectrum of color to embody everyone in our community." — Sküt

On Marsha, Sküt decorated the robot livery with his colorful "happy heart parade" design. Gilbert features a series of custom iconic gems highlighting each of the original eight rainbow Pride flag colors.

The new designs also feature a local tribute "WeHo 66” design motif celebrating the 2026 centennial of Historic Route 66, traversing Santa Monica Boulevard through West Hollywood, California.

Hidden inside both robots under the hood, when you collect your delivery, Sküt reveals a simple message: “Delivered with Love."

West Hollywood may be where our Pride story began, but it is not where it ends. We kicked off the year at the Long Beach Pride Diversity Hiring Fair in March, then returned to Long Beach in May for one of the country's longest-running Pride parades. June brought the West Hollywood Pride Parade, where Marsha and Gilbert rolled through a crowd of tens of thousands, followed by the LA Pride Parade in Hollywood, where Serve employees, friends, and family marched and rode together. As the month closes, we will carry that same spirit to Chicago for the city's Pride celebration. Five cities, one message: for us, Pride is a season of showing up in the places we already call home.

Pride has always held many meanings: celebration, community, visibility, and joy. For West Hollywood, it is also a reflection of the city's identity and the people who make it what it is. Serve is proud to be part of that celebration, and in a way that feels genuine rather than seasonal.

As Vignesh put it, real support is consistent. That is why we keep showing up through local partnerships, artist collaborations, merchant support, and robots designed by artists like Sküt to reflect the neighborhoods where they operate. We don't expect a delivery robot to embody the full meaning of Pride, but we do believe that companies bringing technology into public spaces have a responsibility to design it with genuine care for local culture.

A Serve robot should not feel anonymous. It should feel local. It should carry food, but also character, supporting merchants, serve residents, and fit into the neighborhood around it. That is what West Hollywood taught us, and it is the lesson we carry into every city where our robots roll.

Happy Pride, WeHo, and happy Pride to every community that welcomed Marsha, Gilbert, and our team this month. Here's to cleaner, safer, louder, prouder, and more connected cities, all year long.