The artsiest cafe in downtown is on top of a parking sign — and it's for birds

Los Angeles has plenty of world-renowned art museums, but you often don't have to stray far from the street to see interesting work.

One of them is housed on top of the parking garage sign at the intersection of 5th and Hill streets near Pershing Square. It’s been there since last Spring, situated right next to the familiar sight of deterrence spikes.

The big draw? It’s a restaurant for pigeons.

Six pigeons sit at the "Spike Cafe" on top of the Pershing Square Garage sign.

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S.C. Mero

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S.C. Mero

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You can’t perch here

“ The project came about because I was messing with these deterrents,” said S.C. Mero, the artist behind “Spike Cafe”. “Some of the deterrents are human deterrents in downtown, to keep the unhoused population from sleeping in certain areas. It's essentially hostile architecture.”

Mero is a guerilla street artist based in Los Angeles. She uses the found environment of the city for whimsical storytelling, juxtaposing social issues with smile-inducing imagery.

In other pieces of the series, she put things like fake marshmallows, cheese and olives on the bird spikes around L.A, which led to the idea of "Spike Cafe."

“I’d just sort of had an idea like, wouldn't it be interesting, since they're supposed to deter the pigeons, if the pigeons instead had just set up right next to them and they were using the deterrents as a place to dine,” Mero said.

So Mero installed two fake pigeons: One with a top hat and the other with a hat made of straw. She fastened them to a strip of plastic deterrence spikes, then put that on top of the garage sign. She even fit the spikes with a fake feast of finger sandwiches and shrimp cocktails.

“These pigeons took something that was supposed to be, putting them down or keeping them away, and they flipped it and used it for something that was good.” Mero said.

High noon at the Spike Cafe

Mero considered the installation complete, but a couple weeks later while walking through Pershing Square she noticed one of her fake pigeons lying on its side. Her first thought was she hadn’t secured the sculpture properly.

But that wasn’t it. Mero eventually found out that real pigeons were landing on her sculpture. “They were dining at the Spike Cafe, but they were using my pigeons as stools,” Mero said.

Mero liked that real birds were appreciating her art, but she wasn’t thrilled they were damaging it. So she put spikes on her fake pigeons — which also didn't deter the birds.

“The pigeons just continued to land. They found a different little spot, like the head of the pigeon to land on. And I just kind of conceded,” Mero said. “I might as well just embrace it.”

Consider the birds

Mero took down her fictional birds. She added stools for the real ones, umbrellas for shade, and plastic strawberries and watermelon pieces for her diners.

Three pigeons at the "Spike Cafe" look down onto Pershing square from their resting places.

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S.C. Mero

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S.C. Mero

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“It ended up being a very fun installation because I realized that it's even better when it's the actual pigeons,” Mero said.

So the next time you find yourself in Pershing Square, pull up a seat right next to a feathered friend at Spike Cafe.

Pigeons at the "Spike Cafe" pose for a picture while sunbathing.

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S.C. Mero

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S.C. Mero

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