Oceanwide Graffiti: The Voices Are Deafening
Photo: Mark Holtzman, West Coast Aerial Photography
Everyone is talking about it. Everyone has seen it. Seen the news. Read the print. Heard the copters. Everyone has strong opinions. The graffiti is an eyesore! It's art! Where's the security? Who is responsible? Who will pay for it? What will prevent it from happening again? What about the Oceanwide project itself? Why did it take a graffiti bombing for the City of LA to act?
We listened to the residents of South Park. Here are their voices:
· “A blight and embarrassment for our city,” quipped South Park resident, Eric Bruget regarding the Oceanwide project. However, he does “respect the speed, scale, and fierceness of the taggers.”
· “The negative media attention and 24-hour police presence creates a bad reputation for our city. My clients ask, ‘what is happening?’ The feeling is that the city is declining and represents overall lawlessness of the area. People not familiar with South Park are afraid to come here,” said Dr Lori Aliksanian, owner of MedBeautyLA. Lori however, “is glad it has brought attention from the city officials to do something about the vacant and unfinished project.”
· “I have police parked out front of my building watching for taggers instead of being able to address more serious concerns. I have helicopters flying overhead with bullhorns nightly. I also now have a $4k per month one-bedroom apartment that I can't rent because it directly faces the graffiti,” from a shared memo written by Met Lofts Property Manager, Evan Janney, to CD14 Council Member Kevin de León onFeb 7, 2024.
· Peter Toumasis, Luma resident since 2007, said “How can a $1 billion development across the street from Crypto.com Arena, LA Live, and the Convention Center be left abandoned and unsecured? Our CD14 representative should have required the developer to provide security months ago. If not, then the City of LA should have secured the building and filed a lien against Oceanwide. While I commend our CD14 representative for finally initiating a security and graffiti removal proposal at last week’s City Council meeting, what is the plan to prevent similar vandalism to other buildings? Is there an anticipatory plan or does he simply hope it won’t happen again?”
· The owner of a South Park business which overlooks the Oceanwide graffiti commented on the look. While he enjoys the graphic arts as noted by his tats, he does not like the look on Oceanwide. “This does not fit South Park – it is not the vibe of the neighborhood or the image we want to convey to the world.” He admitted to a general like for graffiti, but not the Oceanwide graffiti.
· One resident shared he canceled his subscription to the LA Times after a front-page article by Gustavo Arellano – “Column: Vandalism or Street Art? What the graffiti-tagged high-rise say about LA?” –admired what the taggers accomplished.
· We believe SPNA newsletter contributor, Aileen Coyle, may have summed it up correctly. “All of our views are valid; art is meant to inspire thought and perhaps positive debate. First, I’m not a fan of tagging or vandalism at all. The graffiti/tagging style of art chosen for Oceanwide is completely intentional. Artists flew in from all over the country and even out of the country which must have taken immense planning. And at the core of all this they put a national spotlight on the same question the SPNA has asked in many newsletter articles: what’s going on with this building?”
· Attempts to talk with one of the graffiti artists did not materialize for this story, but Roger Gastman whose career is centered around graffiti recently posted on Instagram “An Open Letter to People ‘In Charge’ of LA.” Gastman began his career in graffiti in 1997 with the creation of the graffiti magazine While You Were Sleeping. He moved to LA in 2004 and published Swindle Magazine with Shepard Fairey (whose iconic mural lives in South Park on Grand between Olympic and 11th). Gastman has worked with Fairey and Banksy on projects. In Gastman’s letter (only a portion is quoted below), he writes:
“I understand graffiti is illegal and an act of vandalism. I understand it is dangerous and a good portion of the public despises it. I understand these three towers are in clear view of many of Los Angeles' iconic attractions and destinations. They sat unfinished for years and still do. To me and many Angelenos that was an eyesore. Slowly graffiti artists and other explorers started to venture in the loosely secured towers.
Quickly it became unlike anything I have witnessed before in the graffiti culture - almost overnight all three towers were completely covered from top to bottom and the story spread globally in the international news.
Now the city expects to spend almost 4 million to clean it up, lock it down and get a bankrupt company overseas to pay for it. Good luck with that. For safety reasons I understand the need to secure it. It was fun while it lasted. (The towers are dangerous - but Los Angeles is dangerous.)
But there are too many to mention communities in Los Angeles that need help. Places where most of those funds could be spent. Do you really think you won't see graffiti on a rooftop, or a stop sign right outside a day later that doesn't get cleaned up?
Get your act together elected officials of LA and do a fraction of the things you promised you would do - graffiti is the least of your problems. The streets are always saying things - but the city might be saying MORE by continuing to prove they don't give a damn about serious issues and helping those really in need.”
The strong voices and opinions regarding the Oceanwide project and the graffiti exposed even stronger feelings that were simmering below the surface, and now exposed will not abate anytime soon. The Oceanwide project will not be fully resolved quickly either. But that doesn’t mean we need to despair. It is time for all to join the conversation, voice opinions, suggest solutions, work to solve the problem, and vote to make South Park, downtown LA, and the cosmopolitan area a better place. We do have a voice.
By Marty Goldberg and Debra Shrout