The City of West Hollywood invites community members to attend a Melrose Gathering Place Community Conversation on Thursday, September 29, 2022, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the Respite Deck of theWest Hollywood Park Aquatic and Recreation Center (Floor 5 at the top of the grand staircase), located at 8750 El Tovar Place, next to the West Hollywood Library.
The space at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Norwich Drive is currently sidewalk and diagonal parking. It will be transformed into approximately 7,200 square feet of park-like space with landscaping, trees, seating, public art, and other amenities.
The previously proposed design for this space is now being reimagined, and the City is excited to restart the effort with a new design team, artist, and with renewed input from the local community. The Community Conversation will be an in-person opportunity for neighbors, local business owners, and residents’ associations to meet the newly commissioned design team early in the process and participate in reimagining the space.
The Melrose Gathering Place project was established as part of the Design District Streetscape Master Plan, which was unanimously approved by City Council in 2014. The Design District Streetscape & Undergrounding Project is now in its second phase of construction.
The Master Plan was designed to improve the overall aesthetics and mobility of the commercial district known as West Hollywood Design District, with the goal of strengthening the economic vitality of the district. Key features of the project include pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements; new pavement and sidewalks; distinctive trees and landscaping; upgraded street furniture and streetlights; smart city infrastructure installation; utility undergrounding work; and the creation of new public gathering spaces, such as the Melrose Gathering Place, with integrated public art.
For additional information, please contact Michael Barker, the City of West Hollywood Project Architect in the City’s Urban Design and Architecture Studio, at (323) 848-6483 or at [email protected]. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
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West Hollywood City Hall is open for walk-in services at public counters or by appointment by visiting www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services are accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via website at www.weho.org.
The City’s coronavirus updates are available at www.weho.org/coronavirus.For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or [email protected].
Trees, trees, trees! 100% focus on the environment and not silly pseudo amateur art projects.
Who doesn’t love a tree.? We need them to breathe!
A lovely idea.
This is a welcomed willingness to move away from the original plan of installing debris from a demolition site and calling it a park. I’m sure that when the Design District Streetscapes peeps got around to seeing what was planned there, they said oh no! That is No Bueno……It takes what it takes.
I don’t live in that neighborhood, but is anyone there asking for this? Or anything like it?
That’s a good question. We’ll see what the new “reimagining” looks like. But the previous design certainly wasn’t anything that many people wanted.
A very large majority of the neighborhood hated the plan, which had construction detritus masquerading as utterly depressing art. That plan was approved with no input from the Public Facilities Commission and with little regard to the neighbors desires or concerns. We’re hopeful that the city will listen to us on this go-around and adopt a plan for a gathering space that offers a true respite for residents and visitors alike.