Redemption Square

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5. Safe Haven (1980s)

In 1986, a woman with nowhere to go finds refuge in the run-down Pershing Square, while a new business association fights to redesign the park as a beacon for international investment in downtown L.A.

Safe Haven follows in the footsteps of Lorraine Morland, a native Angeleno who slept on the streets of downtown for eight years and spent much of her time in Pershing Square, as well as the writings of Janet Marie Smith, executive director of the Pershing Square Management Association, which sponsored an international competition to redesign the park in 1986.

Lorraine Morland (audio clip)

Janet Marie’s proposal from Space Design Magazine, 1987 (PDF)

Although the competition's winning design (by SITE) never saw the light of day, Janet Marie’s work laid the political foundations for another organization (the Pershing Square Property Owners Association) to redevelop the park in 1994 - this time with a design by architect Ricardo Legorreta, landscape architect Laurie Olin, and artist Barbara McCarren. Their design's purple bell tower, abstract geometry, and compartmentalized spaces and are the elements by which most people recognize Pershing Square today.

Pershing Square, 1951
(The Olin Studio)

SITE Plan, 1986
(The Olin Studio)

Legoretta concept, 1990
(The Olin Studio)

Legorreta illustrative plan, 1991
(The Olin Studio)

Pershing view, 1990
(by Rosemary Kaul, LA Times)

Pershing view, 1990
(by Rosemary Kaul, LA Times)

Legorreta perspective, 1991
(The Olin Studio)

Legorreta perspective, 1990
(The Olin Studio)

Dedication September 1994
(Ricardo Legorreta)

“Well look, it’s one of those things that...you cannot explain. That has no function. It’s just purely aesthetic. But it becomes the symbol of the place.”

- Ricardo Legorreta

Next: 6. Versions of the Truth

Terra-Sorta-Firma