The Grand Success of Downtown's Grand Park

Grand Park, which opened in July 2012, has proved to be quite the jewel of the Downtown L.A. scene. Part of a Downtown renaissance that has been happening over the last decade, the park has been a popular location for lunch breaks, picnicking, and outdoor events. The pedestrian friendly space near the Music Center connects Bunker Hill to the Civic Center and includes tree-shaded sidewalks, native drought-tolerant plants, an interactive fountain plaza, performance lawns and courtyards, plenty of street lights and movable park furniture.

A big milestone for Grand Park occurred this past New Year's Eve. The City of Los Angeles had long wanted to stage a centralized celebration like those in New York, Chicago and other major cities but previous attempts always fizzled. This time, organizers took advantage of the buzz surrounding the new park and, hoping to attract at least 10,000 people, went all out with DJs spinning tunes, art installations, photographers stationed in front of brightly-lit fountains to take pictures of revelers, food trucks, craft beer kiosks, and balloons and confetti everywhere. The star attraction was a colorful 3-D light show projecting images of flowing water, bouncing balls and psychedelia onto the side of City Hall. Taking event planners by surprise , over 25,000 actually showed up. Things ran smoothly and the City plans to make this an annual event. Because of the success of New Year's Eve, one of the top concert tours of the past year, Jay Z's popular Made in America 2 day festival, will be the first paid-entrance event planned for the park and could draw more than 50,000 over Labor Day weekend.

The park offers plenty of weekday events for Downtown residents, workers and visitors. Every Wednesday and Thursday is LUNCH ALA PARK, when the region's top food trucks line Olive Court (between Grand and Hill) & Marketplace (between Spring and Broadway). On Wednesdays and Fridays free yoga classes are offered over the lunch hours, and live music fills both weekdays and weekends in the summer. There are free ballet performances, jazz concerts, outdoor movies and a Dance Media Film Festival scheduled over the next few months, and on July 4th the park is planning a huge fireworks bash that organizers hope will be as successful as the New Year's Eve festivities and become another annual centralized event for Angelenos.