Grand Park is a park located in the civic center of Los Angeles, California. First developed in 1966 as the 'Civic Center Mall' with plazas, fountains and a Court of Flags. It is now a part of the larger re-development known as the Grand Avenue Project, with its first phase having opened in July 2012. Grand Park is part of a joint venture by the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. It was designed and built by the Los-Angeles-based multidisciplinary design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios. Park programming and entertainment, security and upkeep are maintained by the nearby Los Angeles Music Center. Grand Park stretches between the Los Angeles City Hall and the Los Angeles Music Center on Grand Avenue. It is designed to be pedestrian friendly and connects Bunker Hill to the civic center. The park plans include tree-shaded sidewalks, drought-tolerant plants, an interactive fountain plaza, performance lawns and courtyards, plenty of street lights, movable park furniture, and kiosks to encourage the walking and exploration of the area. City officials and some visitors have compared Grand Park to other well-established urban parks such as New York'sCentral Park or San Francisco'sUnion Square.
History
First proposed as a park by landscape architect Charles Mulford Robinson in 1907 inspired by the City Beautiful movement, but was never developed. After years of proposing the clustering of Los Angeles County government buildings in one place, the county and city finally accomplished that goal with a centralized park in 1957. The park was completed as "Civic Center Mall" in 1966. Re-development of Grand Park began in 2010 at a cost of $56 million. $50 million provided by Related Companies, the developer planning the nearby Grand Avenue Project. The parks later phase includes a Frank Gehry-designed mixed-use development. Due to the Great Recession in the early 2010s, the development was pushed back, commencing construction in 2019. Other phases of the project remained stalled, but the park and grand avenue project moved forward thanks to a special agreement between the joint powers authority overseeing the project and its developer.
Management
The Los Angeles Music Center's contract to operate Grand Park is expected to run until mid-2017; in addition, it earns in rents and fees charged to concessionaires and others. Routine security is provided by the Music Center's security department, and law enforcement services by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. In 2014, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved funding of $1 million for an independent nonprofit group, the Grand Park Foundation.
Activities
By virtue of the mostly sunny weather, the park also features programs year-round. In 2012, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors allocated $3.3 million for the first year's operations, mainly to cover logistics such as security and maintenance, with $100,000 for programming. Events will be coordinated by the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, which also oversees the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The inaugural event featured Bandaloop, a professed vertical dance company of aerialists, performing against the backdrop of Los Angeles City Hall. During the first six months, Grand Park hosted about 40 events. Some were bids for a mass audience, while others aimed to grab passers-by. The Community Terrace features a large picnic table and lawn area for gatherings and viewing visuals projected on nearby wall of the Hall of Records. Open lawn space can be used for major public events such as New Year's Eve celebrations and festivals.
The park is host to the United States' "west coast flagship" New Year's Eve celebration. Los Angeles' first free major public New Year's celebration, shortened to "N.Y.E.L.A.". The first edition was held December 31, 2013-January 1, 2014. The first event, which included food trucks, art installations, light shows, concert stages, drew an estimated 25,000 spectators. Every year since, at 11:55 p.m., a light projection show is displayed onto the side of Los Angeles City Hall and other municipal buildings, displaying visual art before ultimately counting down to midnight with the crowd. The art is in collaboration with The LA Music Center. It is intended to become an annual celebration, with the hope that it would rival other major cities' festivities in years to come. So much so they added fireworks in 2015-16 celebration. By the sixth annual event, Grand Park + The Music Center's N.Y.E.L.A. drew over 50,000 guests. Doubling its inaugural event attendance. Aloe Blacc was the featured artist in 2018–19. On August 30–31, 2014, Jay Z's Labor DayMade in America Festival was held in Grand Park featuring, Imagine Dragons, John Mayer, Kanye West, and many other performers. An Armenian genocide memorial opened in September 2016. The music video for "Play That Song" by Train was partly filmed in front of the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain. On September 22, 2019 Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a rally at the park that was attended by around 10,000 Armenian Americans. During the 2028 Summer Olympics the park will serve as a venue for the marathon, race walk and road cycling.
