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Not Everyone Is In Love With The Giant LED Screen On Top Of The Wilshire Grand
The Wilshire Grand illuminated with the colors of LA2024 (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
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With the Wilshire Grand just days from opening (and a 5-year era coming to a close), the West Coast's tallest skyscraper (hold the semantic arguments for the comments, please) has been donning its final touches. In early May, the $1.2 billion, 1,100-foot tower lit up for the first time. And when the International Olympic Committee's evaluation delegation arrived that same month, the 73-story tower was peacocking with the colors of the L.A. sunset (re: LA2024's colors). But the light show didn't end there. Over the last few days, a giant LED configuration in the crown of the building has been in testing mode. Spectators may have seen the Korean Air logo on display (Korean Air is a subsidiary of the Hanjin Group, which owns the Wilshire Grand), as well as the Intercontinental Hotel logo, which will operate the tower's hotel.
The brilliance of modern technology aside, not everyone is happy with the outcome (though, is happiness the real goal in life? I digress).
I, for one, was not aware that L.A.'s ginormous new skyscraper, the Wilshire Grand, would have A GIANT SCREEN ON TOP https://t.co/6Bq6w0WwYK
— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) June 20, 2017
Congratulations LA, you built the tallest flatscreen TV west of the Mississippi https://t.co/iaPNayNowE
— Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) June 20, 2017
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Update: Apparently the top of the Wilshire Grand building is going to be an animated LED advertising space? pic.twitter.com/UXw09s9Et6
— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) June 19, 2017
This isn't to say that others don't love the new spectacle.
LA skyline just stole my 💖 Look at the new Wilshire Grand Tower with all those colorful LED lights !! 🌆 🌛🌃 #LosAngeles #wilshiretower
— Nancy PG (@NancyGabrielaPG) May 11, 2017
Hope to see more structures like this! #dtla #LosAngeles https://t.co/iSZLOFKTR7
— InTheFreshLA🌴 (@InTheFreshLA) June 20, 2017
To wit: as the towers along Figueroa continue to rise, it's becoming clear that LA Live will become the Times Square of the West (re: a million LED monitors searing overloading your retinas with ads). Just look at these renderings for the Circa towers, Oceanwide Plaza, 1020 South Figueroa, and Apex II. If nothing else, we're happy to see L.A. finally becoming the Blade Runner fantasy we've always dreamed of.If you want to check out the screen in action, the fine people at Urbanize LA have put up a video of the spectacle:
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