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Artist Gregory Kelly re-creates iconic landmarks in miniature form with his art. His next subject is Silver Lake’s Music Box Steps.Kelly, a hobby shop owner in Tustin, previously has constructed miniaturized versions of such SoCal landmarks as the Watts Towers and Newport Beach’s Balboa Pavilion, among other more global landmarks such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. His version of the steps between Descanso Drive and Vendome Street will be 9-feet long, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Kelly is collaborating with friend and wood-carver Don Converse on the project. He’s carving miniature versions of legendary comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy carrying a crated piano up the 133-step staircase, as seen in the Oscar-winning 1932 Laurel & Hardy film, The Music Box.
Here’s what Kelly had to say about the piece:
"I didn't realize the model would end up being 9 feet long. When it's finished it will be positioned at an angle to illustrate the actual incline. The side of the completed staircase will be decorated with two sets of piano keys — one keyboard the mirror image of the other. I'm not a super Laurel and Hardy fan, but 'The Music Box' was acclaimed. The steps have survived earthquakes and development and they're still there. In the film, Laurel and Hardy showed you can't move a piano up them without help. Same with me — that's where Don comes in.”
Hopefully the pair will try to keep it current and put miniature slouchy hipsters and cool moms trying to get in shape in their rendition.
