Block Y
A Los Angeles Olympic Art
Legacy Project
The Sunset Strip deserves a landmark. The 2028 Games are the reason to build it.
A Los Angeles Olympic Art
Legacy Project
The Sunset Strip deserves a landmark. The 2028 Games are the reason to build it.
Block Y proposes to transform a city-owned lot at Sunset & Crescent Heights Boulevard into a permanent public art installation and community space in time for the 2028 Olympics.
The site's history makes the case on its own.
The Sunset Strip served as a critical incubator for world-renowned musical icons, establishing this stretch as a premier engine for Los Angeles' cultural export. From the Monkees to Frank Zappa, the area's creative energy shaped a generation and transformed local tension into an enduring artistic record.
Today, the high-visibility triangle at its heart sits largely dormant. As a gateway from the Valley via Laurel Canyon, surrounded by the Academy Awards, the Emmys, and the Chateau Marmont, it is not contributing to the cultural fabric it borders.
In 1966, thousands of young people gathered at Pandora's Box, the club that once stood on this very site, to protest strict curfew laws and the forced closure of the Strip's youth-oriented venues. The demonstrations, known as the "curfew riots," marked a pivotal moment of civic engagement and a challenge to local government overreach. They became a direct precursor to broader social justice movements, including the landmark Black Cat protests in Silverlake, and inspired Stephen Stills to write "For What It's Worth" in a single night.
Los Angeles will showcase itself to the world in 2028 during a particularly delicate global moment. Block Y demonstrates what vision, commitment, and cultural investment can accomplish. Delivering something enduring, real, and worth being proud of would prove something Los Angeles needs to prove to itself: that we are capable of coming together when it matters most.
Block Y reimagines a derelict traffic island as a welcoming public landscape. Walking paths radiate through the site from multiple access points, drawing visitors into shaded gathering spaces with integrated seating beneath existing palm trees. New planting, improved bus stop infrastructure, and protective bollards transform the parcel into a safe, considered environment that invites you to stay.
LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games"...highlight the city's artistic and cultural offerings through performances, exhibitions, workshops, installations and educational activities..."
— Maria Arena Bell, LA Cultural Olympiad Chair (LA Times, 6/13/24)
"Improve and expand arts uses in existing City-owned facilities and open land."
— WEHOArts 'The Plan', pg 12
City of Los Angeles"...request LA28 to develop at least 28 locations throughout the City where viewing party locations and activations can be hosted to serve Angelenos."
— LA City Council Motion, 9/20/24
Project Director
Background in Civil Engineering and Transportation Planning. Nearly a decade leading marketing, communications, and public affairs across the technology sector and housing advocacy. Committed to spaces that increase the livability of California cities.
Art Advisor
Curatorial expertise and deep knowledge of the contemporary art landscape.
Strategic Advisor
Guidance on community engagement and institutional partnerships.
Block Y is taking shape. Be part of what comes next.
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