Semester Two Week Three Part Two (Laurie Olin )

Laurie Olin 

The intersecting planes of Pershing Square in Los Angeles provide a modernist getaway for many Angelinos in the downtown region. Pershing Square is surrounded on all sides by "commercial blocks of architectural beauty and metropolitan size." While the park has received unfavourable criticism because of its lack of green space and high concentration of drug-related activity, some view it as a cultural landmark because of its huge stucco tower and aqueduct-like water feature. In his documentary Redemption Square, John Moody intentionally focuses on the perception, memory, and identity of the area; this film won the Best Urban Design Feature 2017 award at the New Urbanism Film Festival. Moody leads you from the park's founding in 1866 to its approaching closure using the voices of visitors, locals, and those who had called it home.