Bunker Hill PUBLIC ART Walking Tour Download free audio tours to your personal MP3 player and explore the public art of Los Angeles like never before. Use the map and tour information on the following pages to help direct you to each stop as you listen to the artist’s stories. The Art Program of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) developed these tours to introduce residents and visitors to their collection of public art created by a broad range of artists, in a variety of forms and neighborhood contexts. The Art Program is integral to CRA/ LA’s mission to eliminate blight and to revitalize Los Angeles through focused redevelopment activities in designated project areas. crala.org/art TOUR STATS Length 2.0 hours Togography Generally level except for the climp up and down Bunker Hill Distance 1 mile CRA/LA Public Art in Los Angeles Transit www.metro.net Walking Audio Tour www.ladottransit.com Bunker Hill FROM VICTORIAN NEIGHBORHOOD TO CULTURAL BUSINESS CENTER INTRODUCTION Located between 1st St. and 5th St. and Hill and Figueroa, Bunker Hill was originally an affluent residential neighborhood served by the shops and offices on the commercial corridors below. Angels Flight, dubbed “The World’s Shortest Railway,” transported residents up and down the steep grade and thus to the main business district During the depression, the down and out filled the area as property owners moved out to the east and west launching the urban sprawl of greater Los Angeles. For the next twenty years, Bunker Hill became a common setting for the filming of noir crime films. The City eventually moved to revitalize the area, and plans were developed to fill Bunker Hill with public plazas and modern buildings. The public art installed as part of this transformation, representing some of the most highly sought after artists of the late 20th century, including Miro, Rauschenberg and Stella, perfectly reflects the optimism with which Los Angeles was remade into a modern city. Stop 1: Angelus Plaza 255 S. Hill Street Bunker Hill - 03/19/09 ****NOTE: THE KAY MARTIN COLLECTION DISCUSSED IN STOP 1 MAY BE UNAVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC VIEWING DUE TO SCHEDULED RENOVATIONS AT ANGELUS PLAZA. Development in Bunker Hill began in 1867 when businessman Prudent Beaudry purchased the majority of the property for $517. And by 1898, it was full of Victorian homes and elegant hotels. Beaudry, originally from Montreal, came to California in 1850 by way of the Panama Canal. He played a major role in the early growth of Los Angeles pursuing a variety of business interests including real estate development. To ensure the city had an adequate page 1 water supply, in 1868 he formed the Los Angeles City CRA/LA Collection of Water Company and built an aqueduct at his own Kay Martin Paintings expense. By 1874, he was mayor of Los Angeles. the “Vagabond of Bunker Hill”... During the 19th and early 20th centuries until just after WWI, Bunker Hill flourished as did the streets directly below that served the business and retail needs of the Hills’ residents. However, by the 1950’s, the wealthy residents of Bunker Hill had moved west, looking to escape the increasingly crowded downtown region of Los Angeles. The grand Victorian architecture that once lined the streets became neglected. The lavish residences were internally divided to accommodate low income renters and the area soon became a slum. Bars, liquor stores and a swell in crime made Bunker Hill an undesirable location to live or visit. The deterioration of this area motivated the Bunker Hill Urban Renewal Project, a “plan to reclaim a blighted portion of the city’s core and restore and strengthen the central city through major new buildings, improved traffic ways, parking and physical beauty . to become one of the nation’s most modern business and residential centers.” The Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) later became involved with the revitalization of this area. Unfortunately, many of the distinctive residences and buildings of the area fell into disrepair, were torn down and soon replaced by high rises. Some years after the founding of Bunker Hill, in the late 1940’s to be exact, a young painter named Catherine Martin, knows as Kay Martin, of Springfield, Illinois relocated to Los Angeles with her new husband, Lowell Martin, an insurance executive.[1] Recognizing the hidden beauty of the decaying architecture of Bunker Hill, Kay Martin noted that Bunker Hill - 03/19/09 “the houses have developed personalities from a combination of wood lace, a pot of geraniums at an open window, people who come out of the houses and the colors of the stained glass windows.” For over a year, the artist made an effort to archive the noteworthy Kay Martin area. Soon known as the “Vagabond of Bunker Hill,” Martin consistently visited the neighborhood, using her station wagon as her studio. She entitled most of her works merely by the street addresses of the structures she painted or drew, letting the pieces not only become a work of art, but also a testament to the history of the area. While many of the developers are building luxury housing and offices on Bunker Hill today, the CRA/LA has very strict provisions established to help prevent gentrification page 2 and to ensure the creation of affordable housing. One such example is Angelus Plaza, 1 Section on Kay Martin taken from the Angelus Plaza website at http://www.angelusplaza.org/ RHFCMS/Community.aspx?id=1554. Accessed on 01/10/07. which is home to senior citizens and the largest such residential dwelling in the nation. Kay Martin’s relatives gave the CRA/LA the artist’s collected works in 1994. The agency then thought appropriate to place her work in the area that inspired her art, Bunker Hill. Angelus Plaza formed a partnership with the CRA/LA and soon became home to the works. You will find a great selection of Mrs. Martin’s paintings on the ground level and the third floor of the complex. Please wander in and take stroll back in time to view the Bunker Hill of yesteryear. Upon entering the lobby, you will see two of the most striking works in this collection Angel’s Flight on your right and Sack Alley on your left. What is interesting about these two works is that as they oppose each on either side of the entryway, they portray the two histories of Bunker Hill. Sack Alley depicting a waif child playing in an alley behind a dilapidated building represents the Bunker Hill of Martin’s time. Angel’s Flight harkens to another world, when the ‘world’s shortest funicular’ transported the wealthy on ‘the hill’ down to shops and fine stores below. If you continue into the building, you will see additional works by Martin and a bank of elevators that will take you to the third floor to see more paintings and drawings that give you a good history of residential life of Bunker Hill in the late 19th and early 20th century. Walk straight after exiting the elevators and continue to the right to view more of Martin’s pieces. Once you have finished looking at the artwork, take the elevators back down to the first floor. Exit the building, make a right on Hill Street and head to 4th Street. As you walk, note the steep train tracks going up the side of Bunker Hill. This is the funicular called Angel’s Flight, which beginning at the end of the 19th century, transported the elites of the area to the shopping district below and back home again. Always a much loved feature of the area, it was preserved even as redevelopment created the current skyscrapers. But, tragically, in 2001, a passenger was killed when a faulty cable gear mechanism broke and it has been closed ever since. There are plans to reopen it once safety concerns have been resolved. Once you arrive at 4th Street, turn right and walk up the hill. Make a right on Olive and stop under the bridge across from the brightly colored neon sculpture. Bunker Hill - 03/19/09 Stop 2: One California Plaza, Lower Level, Olive St. just North of 4th St. The majority of the developments on Bunker Hill mushroomed in the 1980’s. Bulldozers and cranes came to life when a new ordinance passed enabling building heights to exceed City Hall. It was at this time that the tallest skyscrapers ever in Los Angeles made their debut, the two towers of One California Plaza, Wells Fargo Center, Arco Plaza and the US Bank Tower. It was a very optimistic time in the history of the city because people were thinking page 3 big about the present and the future, and for the most part, the art commissioned by the developers Lili Lakich, LA Angel, 1992 reflected these grand visions. L.A. Angel is an homage to Los Angeles’ history, culture and industry through its subject matter and the materials used. Artist Lili Lakich executed LA Angel not only to complete the site developer’s public art obligation but also to respond to a utilitarian need of the space. The developers of One California Plaza, Metropolitan Structures, extended their construction above part of Olive Street, leaving this section of the street hidden and dark. Needing to fulfill a lighting requirement of the City, the developers decided to install a light sculpture. They asked the Museum of Neon Art for recommendations for the $75,000 commission. The developers also specifically asked for the museum to suggest women artists to include women in the representation of the project.