Record-Breaking Concrete Pour Will Kick Off With a Parade, Drink Special

You name it, and there’s a Guinness World Record for it. A record-breaking 20-hour continuous concrete pour was set to begin in Downtown Los Angeles at 4 p.m Saturday, with a parade and other festivities planned.The 20-minute parade will feature concrete trucks, members of the USC marching band, Mayor Eric Garcetti and other elected officials, according to the Los Angeles Times. Local bars run by 213 Nightlife (such as Seven Grand, Broadway Bar and Golden Gopher) are even featuring a drink called “the longest pour,” consisting of Old Overholt rye whiskey, coffee liqueur, orange juice and lemon juice, with salt and cinnamon garnish.

It’s for the New Wilshire Grand, which at 1,100 feet will become the tallest structure west of the Mississippi when completed, with a projected finished development date of 2017, according to the project's website. The project is being developed by Korean Air at an estimated cost of $1 billion and will feature a 900-room hotel and convention space, with restaurants and other nightlife options, at the site where the Wilshire Grand Hotel used to be.

The pour will involve more than 200 trucks making up to 10 deliveries each to the site, pouring nearly 84 million pounds of concrete into an 18-foot pit about two-thirds the size of a football field. Spectators can watch from Figueroa Street and Wilshire Boulevard. Streets will be closed to traffic in the area until 10 p.m. Sunday.

A Guinness World Records official will be on hand to make sure it breaks the record, held by the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

We’ll celebrate anything around here—give us a longest pour, mate.