Iconic Statue for LA in the 2010s - Page 2

fflint · #21 Posted **Dec 29, 2015, 5:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/4.jpg

This is the rendering I remember floating around when I lived in LA. I also remember why it seemed--and still seems--completely foreign to Los Angeles: dark neo-gothic architecture capped by an avenging angel brandishing its mighty sword. None of that fits.

sopas ej · #22 Posted **Dec 29, 2015, 11:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fflint

This is the rendering I remember floating around when I lived in LA. I also remember why it seemed--and still seems--completely foreign to Los Angeles: dark neo-gothic architecture capped by an avenging angel brandishing its mighty sword. None of that fits.

I remember this rendering too; I thought it was hideous then, and I think it's even more hideous now. I don't know what they were thinking. Glad it never got built.

And yes, I didn't understand the architectural context; it totally doesn't fit in with Los Angeles.

Steely Dan · #23 Posted **Dec 29, 2015, 11:32 PM**

^ i don't think that silliness would fit in anywhere outside of a theme park.

maybe vegas. then again, the vegas strip is really just a big linear theme park.

ThePhun1 · #24 Posted **Dec 29, 2015, 11:52 PM**

I'll echo previous sentiments. What's wrong with the Hollywood sign? If anything, there needs to be less. I'd like LA (and basically every city in America) if it didn't have an artificial skyline, as I love LA's streetscape, which is pretty unique to it.

Why does it have to be like New York and have multiple cultural icons?

Leo the Dog · #25 Posted **Dec 29, 2015, 11:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dktshb

The City of Angels needs a giant frickin' Angel for Christ's sake. The asphalt parking lot that is Dodgers Stadium can be converted to a park and the Angel can overlook the city.

Good idea! It would instantly become a "go to" spot in LA.

Although there would be lawsuits filed by atheists saying public funds cannot be used for religion...etc. they've been trying to take the cross down on San Diego's Mt. Soledad for decades. It's a Navy memorial btw.

llamaorama · #26 Posted **Dec 30, 2015, 3:30 AM**

You might say its a "miracle" that monstrosity never got built...

Centropolis · #27 Posted **Dec 30, 2015, 5:10 AM**

wikipedia.com

i was just thinking...theres got to be a mural of the asian blade runner lady somewhere around town. make a big led one.

that neo-gothic pile is unsettling in that annoying 1990s way.

King Kill 'em · #28 Posted **Dec 30, 2015, 5:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Centropolis

wikipedia.com

i was just thinking...theres got to be a mural of the asian blade runner lady somewhere around town. make a big led one.

that neo-gothic pile is unsettling in that annoying 1990s way.

Put it on the giant wall of 611 Place.

mrnyc · #29 Posted **Dec 31, 2015, 5:01 PM**

damn i love bladerunner asian lady and the gothic theme park. they are both perfect. make it so!

dktshb · #30 Posted **Dec 31, 2015, 5:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

So then Angel City.

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/1.jpg

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/2.jpg

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/3.jpg

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/4.jpg

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/10.jpg

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/12.jpg

http://www.blsart.com/angel/la/14.jpg

Oh man, that is just awful. No, I was thinking more along the lines of something similar to what you would see from Michelangelo.

montréaliste · #31 Posted **Dec 31, 2015, 5:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dktshb

Oh man, that is just awful. No, I was thinking more along the lines of something similar to what you would see from Michelangelo.

Not "dee" Mickey L. Angelo? Da one who pain'did da street mural on da Sixteenth Street Chapel ceiling in Broog-klyn?

TarHeelJ · #32 Posted **Dec 31, 2015, 9:44 PM**

Whether "HOLLYWOOD" is a sign or a statue, it is an iconic landmark recognized worldwide. Either way, there are statues in both Griffith Park and MacArthur Park...and I remember a statue of Magic Johnson outside the Staples Center. I think there is a statue of John Wayne somewhere and maybe Bruce Lee too, and I feel sure there are MANY others around the city.

TarHeelJ · #33 Posted **Dec 31, 2015, 9:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

I'll echo previous sentiments. What's wrong with the Hollywood sign? If anything, there needs to be less. I'd like LA (and basically every city in America) if it didn't have an artificial skyline, as I love LA's streetscape, which is pretty unique to it.

Why does it have to be like New York and have multiple cultural icons?

Does LA not have multiple cultural icons? I can think of a pretty good list of them and I've only been there a couple of times.

King Kill 'em · #34 Posted **Jan 1, 2016, 12:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Does LA not have multiple cultural icons? I can think of a pretty good list of them and I've only been there a couple of times.

I feel like you did not quite understand my idea very well which is totally reasonable because I'm not always that good at explaining some of my ideas. The 2010s have been and will continue to be an important decade in Los Angeles as it continues to shed it's car-centric, low density, sprawling image and reinvents itself as a clean, dense, and transit-oriented city. New York has the Charging Bull statue which is representative of the 1980s, an important decade there, so my idea was if we had a statue representative of the 2010s in Los Angeles because it's an important decade here.

King Kill 'em · #35 Posted **Jan 1, 2016, 12:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Does LA not have multiple cultural icons? I can think of a pretty good list of them and I've only been there a couple of times.

Cities create new cultural icons all the time. Most recently in LA is the Broad.

ocman · #36 Posted **Jan 1, 2016, 2:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

So then Angel City.

Thank god no one took that seriously. I also question how iconic the Wall street bull actually is. It’s pretty cheesy. People take pictures of it because it’s just there and bored tourists need to take a pic of something for trekking all the way to Wall Street.

"Jesus Saves" Neon by Eric Richardson, on Flickr

The Jesus Saves sign is an effective symbol for LA. It was constructed in 1990 but seems like it would be older, and would even seem blasphemous to have it moved from it’s current location at the Ace Hotel. It’s noir-ish, seedy, cool, hopeful, optimistic, and exploitative all at once and speaks to LA’s history of religious and cultish extremism.

Jaycruz · #37 Posted **Jan 3, 2016, 2:40 AM**

That "Angel City" monstrosity was what I was referring to in my earlier post. It screams European and maybe eastern Canadian. Even trying to envision that in LA is hard, It doesn't fit it.

LAs geographical size, its hard to put a statue anywhere without it competing with something near it. Place it near Dodger Stadium and it will be competing with Downtown, Place it in the Hollywood Hills and it will be competing with the Hollywood sign. Place it in Santa Monica and the hills over Malibu and the pier will over shadow it there.

brickell · #38 Posted **Jan 3, 2016, 3:33 AM**

A giant statue of St Genesius? Apperntly NYC already has a shrine.

Or a memorial to the struggling actor? May they ever struggle.

ByTheBay · #39 Posted **Jan 4, 2016, 2:16 PM**

I don't think statues make good icons in LA but I think sculptures would. I always imagined something that represented LA such as a giant star shaped sculpture somewhere in the city kind of like how the LOVE sign represents Philadelphia. One location I could think of would be Grand Ave Park in front of city hall, they could light it up every night since the Hollywood Sign never gets lit up, maybe cover it in LED projections. Another idea would be to have it part of LA's newly created New Year's Eve celebration and a counterpart to NY's ball drop, LA can have a rising star for New Years but keeping the star as a permanent fixture rather than a once a year attraction. That would be a great way to represent LA and especially downtown's resurgence in the 2010's.

Cirrus · #40 Posted **Jan 4, 2016, 8:22 PM**

Guys, a city can have more than one piece of public art. OP equated his proposal to New York's Wall Street bull. Are y'all saying New York should rip out its Wall Street bull because the Statue of Liberty is already a perfectly good symbol for the city? Of course you're not, because that's dumb. Every good city has lots of public art. I don't have an answer to OP's question, but dismissing the very idea just because LA already has the Hollywood sign is not the right answer.

As for that cathedral, I do wonder, had it been built, if it would have ushered in a decade-long fad of neo-neo-gothic architecture all over the world. I bet it would have. Imagine how ridiculous we'd all think the Bilbao Guggenheim would be if it had never been built, and thus not exported Gehry's deconstructivism all over the world.