The Purpling of Pershing : Colorful Tower, Faux Fault Line Are Highlights of Renovated Park

The radically redesigned Pershing Square, its 10-story purple bell tower chiming music over Downtown streets, was dedicated Thursday as a symbol that Los Angeles can renew itself despite riots and earthquakes.

“The new Pershing Square,” Mayor Richard Riordan said in an emotional speech, “is a bold statement of what Los Angeles is--a city that looks forward.”

The mayor and other officials recounted how the five-acre park had decayed into a dangerous and dirty turf until the $14.5-million face-lift, more than half financed by owners of nearby property. The square now provides, Riordan said, “a special place for peopleand nature, a pause in a busy day’s work, an open space among skyscrapers and hotels, a breath of fresh air, a vision of hope.”

About 500 people, mainly invited guests, attended the dedication Thursday of what is the park’s fifth remake since it was set aside as public space in 1866. They eagerly inspected new features such as the bright yellow cafe, the waterfalls and tidal pool, and the bench decorated with Los Angeles postcards from the 1920s and ‘30s.

Not surprisingly, there was much nervous humor about one park walkway that was whimsically paved and shaded to resemble an earthquake fault--months before the Jan. 17 Northridge temblor.

“I think the designers must have had some special knowledge,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Rita Walters said of the faux fault line. Artist Barbara McCarren, who designed it, joked that she expected to be invited soon onto late-night cable television talk shows to discuss her psychic ability.

Filling the block enclosed by 5th, 6th, Hill and Olive streets, Pershing Square will open to the public Sunday. A free festival between noon and 5 p.m. will include a gospel choir, a mariachi band, Korean folk dancers and a circus workshop for children.

Urban planners from around the nation will be watching to see if the park attracts a lively and well-behaved mix of Downtown shoppers, workers and tourists or if it descends again into being a campground for the homeless and an open-air bazaar for drug dealers.

Early reviews were mixed and included some puzzlement at the work of architect Ricardo Legorreta and landscape architect Laurie Olin.

“I don’t know what the big purple thing is, but it looks cool,” said 9-year-old Morgan Segal, who came with her Carpenter Avenue Elementary School classmates.

On the other hand, Robert Rodriguez, an MTA bus operator who once worked in the garage beneath the park, wished for “something better in terms of the architecture and design. It just seems to me that a lot of it is just something sticking out of nowhere.” He also worried that the park’s many walls may create dangerous hiding spots.

Park Rangers have the main responsibility for security but LAPD officers, transit police and guards from the nearby Biltmore Hotel and garage will also patrol the square. Well-lit, but unfenced, the park is supposed to be off-limits from 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Counselors will offer homeless visitors van rides to shelters. To further discourage overnight camping, the park has no public bathroom and its grounds are mainly concrete and crushed granite, with only a modest lawn.

Legorreta, who flew in from his Mexico City home, said some of his design was altered for safety concerns. But the architect contended that real safety will come from citizens who “react positively and say ‘Let’s respect this place.’ ”