MOCA is at the center of one of the more intriguing details in the series of stories senior editor Alice Short put together on the past, present and future of downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Avenue. Describing his decades-long involvement as a driving force in making Grand Avenue an art and culture hub, philanthropist and entrepreneur Eli Broad recounts his frustration with Bunker Hill Associates, the developer consortium that, Broad writes, “wanted to put the museum inside its condo building, which I thought was insulting.“ Broad convinced the developers that architect Arata Isozaki’s building would be good for foot traffic, but had to agree that part of the building would be underground so that visitors could see the nearby apartment towers. “It was an unfortunate compromise for Los Angeles for a talented architect (who won this year’s Pritzker Prize),” Broad says, “and for me.”

Source: Los Angeles Times May 26, 2019 17:24 UTC