Along with shooting down in the LA River channel, most every day I was in Los Angeles I would venture east across the Seventh or Fourth Street Bridges to document the progress of the demolition from that perspective and location. The viaduct structure was equally as monumental on the western periphery of Boyle Heights in the industrial/warehouse zone, where the demolition began. After a miraculously quick 40-hour demo of the 250-foot concrete span over the 101 Freeway, the spans running west towards downtown were pummeled by a fleet of enormous excavators with hydraulic jack hammers up on the roadway itself, leaving behind stands of colossal columns three abreast. Appearing like Roman ruins with the gleaming electric skyline of downtown Los Angeles in the distance, the columns felt and looked apocalyptic. Remnants of 1930’s grandeur – bombed out and destroyed with intention and a greater purpose.
The groups of columns that were adjacent to existing buildings and warehouses, many of them art galleries, were draped with wire mesh on the building side - vast hanging sheets of sheer chain mail. These metal draperies protected the existing buildings from the crumbling falling debris as the excavators chipped away at the structure. The crews managed to insulate the existing businesses from damage simply but effectively. And the draperies were beautiful, almost translucent, like looking through lace as they heightened the elegant scale of the columns.