The Music Center Plaza is a classy, criminally underrated gathering space. But as much as we adore its public plaza, its sometimes clumsy connections with Grand Avenue don't encourage much pedestrian activity. That may change in the coming years, though.
The performing arts and civic center is set to make its plaza more pedestrian friendly by summer 2018. While most of the changes are more subtle upgrades than radical reinventions, the Music Center hopes that they'll turn the space into a vitally important town square.
LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis announced the plans at a press conference on Monday. The county has already allocated $2 million toward the planning of the project, with a finalized design due out in early 2017. The Music Center will raise an additional $5 million and expects the county to contribute an additional $23 million to the project. It's slated to break ground in February 2017.
The biggest change will both widen and flatten the two dozen or so steps that lead from Grand Avenue onto the plaza. In addition, the steps will receive a new water feature to complement the fountains at Grand Park and the DWP building, as well as the Music Center's own Mark Taper Forum moat and Jacques Lipchitz’s watery "Peace on Earth" sculpture.
Meanwhile, the sunken portions of the plaza surrounding the Mark Taper Forum and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will be raised to improve pedestrian and ADA accessibility, as well as to accommodate infrastructure improvements. The reconfigured layout is slated to raise the plaza's outdoor event capacity from 1,500 to 2,500 people.
The Music Center will also ax some of the trees along its Grand Avenue balcony in favor of more colorful, low-lying plants to better frame views of Grand Park as well as small patio areas for casual get togethers and intimate performances. The plaza's pop-up bars and refreshment stands will give way to four new permanent food, beverage and information structures (as well as a dedicated kitchen). In addition, the plaza will also install permanent public restrooms that it refers to as both safe and upscale.
While Grand Avenue is already a cultural destination, pedestrian activity along its hilly, skyscraper-scale blocks is very much a work in progress. Hopefully the Music Center renovations paired with a long delayed Frank Gehry project across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall will go a long way in activating the area.