The new Pershing Square - a symbol of downtown's bright future.

From the smallest villages of Mexico to Saint Peter's Square in Rome, communities the world over always have had a public square or plaza -- a focal point where young and old meet and mingle, shop, dine, and play or simply relax and watch the world go round. And Los Angeles is no exception. While Pershing Square's fortunes have ebbed and flowed since the land on which it stands was first dedicated as a public plaza in 1866, its most recent incarnation promises to return the park to its former place of prominence as the hub of Downtown.

The revitalization of Pershing Square was accomplished through a public/private partnership and financed by $6 million from the City's Community Redevelopment Agency and $8.5 million from the Pershing Square Property Owners Association, a group of 18 owners of properties surrounding the square. Its restoration was spearheaded by Maguire Thomas Partners who contributed seed money of $1.5 million and millions more in in-kind contributions. The Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks operates the park.

"Pershing Square is a crossroads for Downtown, connecting more than 350,000 people who work in the business and financial center with the thriving ethnic shopping and business districts that make L.A. an exciting urban environment," observes Nelson C. Rising, chair of the Central City Association, a Downtown business group, and a senior partner with Maguire Thomas Partners. Over the past decade, the firm has provided leadership in the building or restoration of four major public areas in Downtown including Pershing Square, Bunker Hill Steps, and Maguire Gardens at the Central Library.

The rebirth of the park was a collaborative effort between the renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta and Laurie Olin, one of the world's best known landscape architects and urban designers. Their mission was to eliminate the dangerous eyesore that Pershing Square had become, and replace it with a vibrant, modern park that would attract visitors and provide a common meeting ground for people from all walks of life who constitute the Downtown population.

INVITING DESIGN IN VIBRANT COLORS

For Legorreta, architecture is an emotional journey that is rooted in the soul. Reflecting his passion, the new Pershing Square provides openness and light, color and humor, sound and movement. It stands in startling contrast to the surrounding buildings and celebrates the diverse ethnicity of the Los Angeles community. Strong Latin influences can be seen in the paved plazas and the vibrant colors of the architectural elements.

Since the park covers five acres and could be considered physically intimidating because of its size, Legorreta decided to create many smaller and more intimate spaces within the square.

"I wanted to make it more humanistic -- to create a series of small and large spaces that would allow people different options to sit or stroll, read a book, have a picnic, meet with friends or enjoy an outdoor concert," he explains. While the overall effect is of two spacious plazas reminiscent of Mexican zocalos, Legorreta employs brightly painted walls of varying heights to define spaces and create gathering places throughout the park. He punctures them with squares, rectangles and circles, creating viewing windows of the city skyline framed in shades of pink.

"The dual purpose of these designs is to ensure the safety of park visitors," Legorreta says. "There are no hidden corners -- all spaces are open to the plaza and easily visible from any vantage point."

Pershing Square's dominant component, a 125-foot bell tower resembling an Italian campanile, marks the division between the two main plazas. Painted a deep purple, it contrasts sharply with the buildings surrounding the park, the brilliant yellow of the Pershing Square Cafe and police substation, the hot pink columns that stand sentinel around the park and the giant orange balls that reflect Legorreta's playful ebullience. The tower houses an electronic bell system which strikes the quarter-hour and plays a wide selection of familiar music.

One of the signature elements of a Legorreta design is his arresting use of color. He draws heavily on the vibrant hues of Mexico's traditional architecture and its folk art for the fanciful blue, pink, orange and red walls, spheres, cones, and pillars that are an integral part of his architectural legacy.

"Color is the basis of our life's happiness and sorrows, it is the symbol of our emotions," he says. "My decision to use a certain color is not intellectual -- it has to convey an emotional quality. The choice also is based upon the light, the background, and the effects I want to create."

Water is another element that often is featured in Legorreta's architectural designs. He expresses his feelings poetically, "Water is peace and movement, limited and eternal, landscape and architecture -- water is life." Thus, it is no surprise to find the dramatic use of water at Pershing Square. It travels from the bell tower along a raised purple aqueduct, cascading into a 5,800-square-foot circular pool that is the centerpiece of the southern plaza. The movement of the water is timed to create a tidal action reminiscent of waves on a Pacific Ocean beach. It ebbs and flows every eight minutes.

EVOCATIVE ART

California artist Barbara McCarren's art plan for Pershing Square pays tribute to Los Angeles' rich history and reflects many of the elements that are central to life in Southern California -- the ocean, the aqueduct, the earthquakes, and the agriculture.

She created a faux earthquake fault line in gold and charcoal quartzite and black terrazzo that cuts a jagged path from the southwest corner of the park deep into the smooth river rock that forms the base of the tidal pool. Its symbolism is obvious -- a clear reminder of the remarkable force of nature and the impact earthquakes have upon the lives of Californians.

McCarren also was responsible for the large, semi-circular concrete bench that overlooks the pool. It is inscribed with the words of Carey McWilliams, a renowned journalist of the 1930s and '40s who wrote at length on California in general and the wonders of Los Angeles in particular. The words from his book "California Country: An Island on the Land," offer an historical perspective of the park in its heyday.

Much of the new Pershing Square is hardscaped in traditional European style, the surfaces alternating between "stamped" flesh-colored concrete and decomposed gray granite to better withstand heavy pedestrian traffic. Steps and ramps lead to terraces and level changes that break up the space and create areas for small and large gatherings, rather like open air private "rooms."

An orange grove marks the center of the park and recalls the importance of citrus farming to Los Angeles' economic development. It also pays tribute to an orange grove that once was located on Sixth Street and provided fruit for St. Vincent's Academy, predecessor to Loyola High School and Loyola-Marymount University.

Embedded in the concrete pathway at the Olive Street entrance to the park is the star walk, Downtown's counterpoint to Hollywood Boulevard's famous attraction. "This star walk celebrates, not the legends of the entertainment world -- one of Los Angeles' most important industries -- but the constellations visible in California's summer and winter heavens," says McCarren.

Other art pieces she designed for the park include three telescopes which reveal past and present scenes of Pershing and the Downtown skyline. They are located outside Pershing Square Cafe, the canary-colored eatery operated by the Biltmore Hotel that offers outdoor tables reminiscent of European plaza cafes. McCarren also designed a brightly colored bench at the northern end of the square inlaid with porcelain photo postcards of Los Angeles gleaned from the Archives of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Fifth Street side of the park boasts a grassy amphitheater with seating for 2,000 overlooking a raised section that will provide the stage for public performing arts events. To the east, a courtyard with formal plantings of palms provides the backdrop for a collection of historic sculptures that have graced the park since the early 1900s -- a soldier from the Spanish-American War, circa 1900; a World War I doughboy, circa 1927; a statue of Beethoven commemorating the founding of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1932; and a cannon from "Old Ironsides," the historic frigate U.S.S. Constitution.

Olin's choice of plantings reflect the diversity that the California climate allows. A stand of coral trees compliments the brilliant orange and purple of giant birds of paradise, while jacarandas, cedar, sweet gum, camphor and fig trees provide textured counterpoint to the windmill, date and Mexican fan palms that are an integral part of the landscape.

The architecture of Pershing Square certainly cannot be ignored. Its purpose is to attract attention, to draw people back to the park, to provide a common meeting ground where people from throughout Los Angeles can mingle and enjoy a sense of pleasure and camaraderie in the heart of Downtown.

John McAlister is president of the Pershing Square Property Owners Association.