The vision of Los Angeles as a dream-like city sketched in Technicolor is celebrated in the central panels of a mural by Carlos Almaraz and Elsa Flores, lending life to the main atrium of the Ronald Reagan Building. The mural by the husband and wife artists is entitled "California Dreamscape," 1990. California's history has been written in a series of important legal battles about water, land use and fundamental constitutional rights and here, in this stolid building designed by Welton Becket Associates (originally it was to be called the "Reagan State Office Building," until it was realized that it might be referred to as the "Reagan S.O.B."), that history continues to be written as appellate arguments are heard almost every day in the marble courtroom on the third floor.

Beyond the Dreamscape mural, several other distinctive artworks are displayed, in particular, the striking sculptures of California wildlife. These include Gwynn Murrill's "California Cougars," 1990, and Mary Chomenko's homage to the extinct "California Grizzly," 1990.

Legend has it that the grizzly's fearsome mouth invites visitors' hands with the promise of absolving any state taxes they might owe if the beast bites.

The Ronald Reagan State Building
300 South Spring Street
Mon. - Fri. 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
(closed Sat. and Sun.)

As you exit the building, look up and down Spring Street to see...