Add criminal tightrope walking to the list of problems besieging Oceanwide Plaza, the unfinished, bankrupt, vandalized and graffiti-covered towers that mark the downtown Los Angeles skyline.
A 28-year-old performance artist from Ohio filmed himself May 12 teetering along a 1-inch-wide slackline strung between two of the abandoned properties’ skyscrapers, 40 stories above from Figueroa Street.
“I wanted to create the greatest work of art that Los Angeles has ever seen,” Benjamin Schneider, who goes by Reckless Ben on social media, told KNBC of the stunt staged about 500 feet above the ground. He broke down a metal fence erected by the city to discourage any trespassers wanting to access the top of the building and bragged to the station that he left his slackline in place on the ugly housing development as “my addition to the building.”
It was the latest indignity for Oceanwide, once envisioned as a glamorous residential, hotel and retail complex in the red-light district of South Park but now a metaphor, in the eyes of some, for Los Angeles’ civic failures.
Earlier this year, taggers sprayed graffiti on at least 27 floors of a partially completed skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles, directly across from LA Live’s Crypto.com Arena.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
A Chinese company bought the block across the street from what was then the Staples Center in 2014, but it ran out of money in 2019. With construction halted, the site became a seemingly irresistible canvas for graffiti artists , whose work is visible every day to thousands of motorists. on Highways 110 and 10 with crowds of conventioneers and sports fans in what is now the Crypto.com Arena.
As taggers took over the exterior, stuntmen began using its three towers, including BASE jumpers who paraglided from the roof. Police also responded to reports of shots fired at the premises and the lower levels of the building were repeatedly vandalized.
To try to control the situation, the city allocated $3.8 million to remove graffiti and fencing in February, and the LAPD began 24-hour patrols. Thirty people have been arrested on the property since February, the LAPD told The Times on Saturday. As last week’s tightrope walk shows, the site remains penetrable.
Mark Tarczynski, a broker who is part of the team trying to sell the property through bankruptcy proceedings, said the owners, Oceanwide Holdings, were paying for private security to supplement the policy. But, he said, the challenge lies in the size of the downtown complex: “It’s a million and a half square feet. »
Schneider told KTLA he created a diversion by having his companions hold up large signs reading “Jesus Saves.”
“The signs blocked the view of the police and we all jumped over the fence,” he said. He said he was wearing a harness during the less than three-minute journey between the towers and could see police and firefighters watching him from below.
“They were just watching from below,” he told KNBC.
Schneider did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Los Angeles police on the grounds of the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza complex, which in recent months has been the target of vandals and thrill-seekers.
(On stage/KTLA)
The LAPD “was made aware of this incident and began an investigation,” according to written responses to questions provided by a police spokesperson. Detectives have not yet spoken to Schneider, the department said, adding, “It is a crime to enter the Oceanwide facility; the signs are clearly posted.” This is unsafe and poses a risk to intruders, the general public and public safety officers, including our fire department in the event of an emergency.
The unrest at the site is not expected to affect its sale, Tarczynski said. An appraisal last month put its value at $434 million, and a new owner who can afford the estimated $865 million cost to complete the project is expected to be identified by the fall.
“Cleaning graffiti from the building is an easy task,” he said. “The big job will be to finish it.”
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