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HOPE
STREET
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You are at the beginning of what is intended to be a major pedestrian walkway - the Hope Street Promenade. In the street and on the sidewalk, as integral parts of the 550 Hope Building (1991), is an art project by Lita Albuquerque, "Site/Memory/Reflection." The artist acknowledges the space as the prior site of the Church of the Open Door and ties the site to the Library with its sunburst motif on its pyramid. That design is reflected in the street itself with a medallion 73 feet in diameter. At street level, under the stairs, is a Memorialization Room which is an "Ode to Memory," and at the top of the stairs is a 52-foot tall black polished granite monolith with a sun disk as a metaphor for the universe. Up the stairs you will find a fountain in this urban pocket park.
Continue down Hope Street to Wilshire Boulevard ... |
| Spanning the west side of Hope Street from Sixth Street to Wilshire Boulevard is a skyscraper that is reminiscence of the one in the disaster movie, Towering Inferno. In an instance of life imitating art, it was. The worst high-rise fire in the city's history occurred here in the late night hours of May 4, 1988, resulting in some deaths and the closure of the building for well over a year. In the early minutes of the fire it appeared the entire building would be lost. In an amazing tribute to the resources, skill and dedication of the Los Angeles Fire Department, the fire was contained in 3-1/2 hours. The building stands guard over the virtual start of Wilshire Boulevard, the city's principal artery, which runs for 16 miles from Downtown to the Pacific Ocean. The street was named for prominent Socialist, H. Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927) who, in addition to conceiving the bold idea for this monumental boulevard, also popularized the grapefruit. |
Continue on Hope Street to Seventh Street, once known as... |
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