It has been hailed as a cultural and architectural jewel, nicknamed the ”sparkling artichoke” but also portrayed as a symbol of the vast gap between the city’s rich and poor.
Today the $276m Walt Disney Concert Hall will open to the sound of superlatives from architectural critics and carrying with it the hopes of a city that has often been accused of lacking a heart.
The concert hall is the latest work of the Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry, perhaps best known for designing the Guggenheim in Bilbao, but none of his projects have carried quite the same financial and civic burdens as the new hall. Commissioned 15 years ago, it has had to overcome many obstacles on the way to tonight’s gala opening.
The 2 265-seat hall, now housed inside the sweeping stainless steel exterior, was originally financed and conceived in 1987 by Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, who donated $50-million to create it.
Although, according to the architect, she ”nearly went into cardiac arrest” when she first saw Gehry’s plans, she remained a supporter of the project until her death in 1997.
In the meantime, soaring costs and internal feuding had placed the building in jeopardy and work on it came to a halt in 1994. Gehry said he saw its final completion as a ”kind of flower” to Mrs Disney.
This week, the former mayor of LA, Richard Riordan, who has been one of the building’s main fund-raisers, said: ”Los Angeles has now become a great cultural centre. We’re no longer La-La Land.”
Even the recently-recalled governor, Gray Davis, managed a joke at his own expense by way of tribute to the hall. Of those attending the opening, he said: ”One thing I can guarantee is they won’t recall (it) with anything but pride and dignity.”
As locals and tourists strolled round the building in temperatures well over 30C, the general reaction was favourable. Dora Klatt (80) from Anchorage, Alaska, said she had always wanted to see Gehry’s building in Bilbao and was delighted to be able to see the new LA hall instead ”I love the free form … It reminds me a bit of the opera house in Sydney,” she said.
Joseph Selassi (35) who works in real estate in Torrance, was equally effusive. ”It’s gorgeous,” he said. ”It’s a new landmark and people will be proud of it.” He hoped it would regenerate the surrounding area. ”Downtown is still neglected. It will revitalise it.”
Musicians have lined up to express excitement at playing in the new venue. What is less certain is the effect it will have on its surroundings.
For the last few years, downtown LA has been trying to redefine itself and create the atmosphere of a genuine big city centre rather than a place inhabited by corporate employees by day and the homeless by night. Developers have started to build lofts for young singles, some new bars and clubs have emerged and a $1-billion development is underway. However, downtown LA by night is still a pale shadow of the centres of New York, London or Paris.
The nearby Skid Row is possibly the largest and most desperate of anywhere in the US, with around 4 000 people living on the streets or in hostels in a five block area, not far from the new building.
The arrival of the hall, on the heels of the opening last year of the new Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, has prompted protests locally.
The 2 000 guests arriving for the opening may have to run the gauntlet of local homeless charity groups.
”It’s fine to have a music centre,” said Allice Callaghan, of Las Familias del Pueblo, a local community group, ”but this has cost $276-million and, if you add the $200-million that the cathedral cost, that’s almost half a billion dollars to provide services for the rich. Where’s the half billion for the poor?”
Callaghan, a veteran campaigner for the homeless, said the police had told her they intended to remove all the homeless from the streets by Christmas. She said she and others would be protesting as guests arrived. Their banners would be on the theme of: ”For the rich — over-abundant opulence, for the poor — the boot.” – Guardian Unlimited Â