Unfortunately, decades of disinvestment caused the plaza to become a dilapidated and overlooked urban environment. While nearby residents avoided the area, the skateboarding community embraced the site’s stage, fountain, stairs, and ledges as the ultimate testing ground for fearless experimentation. The plaza, which became known as the “West L.A. Courthouse,” enticed skateboarders from around the world to develop trailblazing techniques on its expansive surfaces.
In his book, Skateboarding LA, Gregory J. Snyder (one of the authors of this article) explains how, “plazas that many had thought of as failures of urban design, like Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, the Courthouse of West Los Angeles, Love Park in Philadelphia, and Pulaski Park in Washington, DC, were actually skateboarding paradises … These plazas therefore spawned the most progressive skaters of the generation, and most of the top pros of the 1990s and early 2000s began their careers performing tricks in these spots. (Snyder 2017, 48). “The Courthouse came to prominence in the early 90s, but the first video to really showcase the versatility of the space for skating was shot by Girl Skateboards called Goldfish, directed by Spike Jonze,” writes Snyder. (Girl Skateboards is a skate brand that was created in 1993 by Megan Baltimore, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, and Spike Jonze.) “This video features now legendary skaters, all of whom had significant lines at the Courthouse. Rudy Johnson, Javontae Turner, and most notably Eric Koston, all had groundbreaking performances at the Courthouse that were documented and disseminated to the rest of the subculture, which only increased the Courthouse’s fame” (Snyder 2017, 219). That pivotal era was featured on the big screen in the 2018 film, Mid90s, written and directed by Jonah Hill, who grew up in the area and skated at the Courthouse as a teenager.
As the vibrant, but unsanctioned, skateboarding community flourished and encampments of unhoused individuals expanded, government leaders pursued plans to redevelop the civic center’s valuable property. In the 1990s, proposals were created to replace the overcrowded courthouse with a new facility and construct a parking structure. Minutes from the February 17, 1992 meeting of the West Los Angeles Citizen’s Committee, which was convened to review the proposed parking garage plans, reveal the group’s broader aspirations. “The Committee expressed the desire to do away with the bandshell. Unfortunately, this area is not part of our project” (West Los Angeles Citizen’s Committee 1992). Those ambitious visions made officials reluctant to make any routine repairs or short-term improvements to the plaza.
In 2020, a joint Los Angeles County and City of Los Angeles development, called West LA Commons, threatened the entire eight-acre civic center property with demolition. The approved plan, designed by Koning Eizenberg, Olin, and AC Martin, included 926 residential units (including 495 market-rate and 431 income-restricted units); 76,341 square feet of municipal offices; 36,569 square feet of retail and restaurant space; a 20,900 square-foot senior center; 1,500 parking spaces; and 118,000 square feet of open space (Sharp 2024).
The Los Angeles Conservancy mobilized its resources and “advocated for preservation-based solutions that recognize the cultural and architectural significance of this historic place.”
While it may be deemed easier to demolish everything and build subterranean parking over the entire site than build around the historic buildings, that’s not always the best approach. Easy does not equal better. Until someone in leadership steps forward and presses for an alternative that successfully marries the old with the new, this development team will continue to seek the easy way out. As a familiar pattern that keeps repeating itself across this city, L.A. can do and deserves better.
(Los Angeles Conservancy)
