Yes – tonight the rock portion of “Levitated Mass” will roll down Wilshire to its new home at LACMA. Knowing the crowds it has drawn at stops along its 11 night journey, we can only imagine there’ll be a lot happening on Wilshire in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
Word from LACMA is that the behemoth boulder, weighing in at 340 tons and floating in on its specially-built red transporter, should arrive in the Miracle Mile area between 2-6 am Saturday morning. To learn quickly just where exactly it is on its snail’s-pace journey you can follow via Twitter for immedate updates: @LACMA. Twitter makes it possible to stay in the comfort of your cozy bed until the very last minute. Wilshire will be closed, so drive (or better yet – ride a bike) on side streets.
LACMA released a guide to the Miracle Mile arrival logistics that we’ll share here:
- The museum itself will be closed, but the action will be on Wilshire Boulevard.
- Parking will be available in LACMA’s lot at the corner of Wilshire and Spaulding Avenue (free). Underground Sixth Street parking lot will be closed.
- Parking at the Petersen Museum, located on Wilshire and Fairfax, will also be available ($10, enter from Fairfax). You can try to find street parking too, but please read all signs in the area before parking.
- There will be bathrooms available at Ogden and Wilshire, directly across the street from Urban Light.
- Note that Stark Bar will be open regular hours—closing at 11 pm. There will be a coffee cart next to Urban Light starting at 11 pm.
- Food trucks will be parked at Ogden and Wilshire.
After passing in front of the Museum for its photo opp, the transporter will retreat, via Fairfax, to the back side of the museum where the rock will eventually hover above the ‘slot’ behind the Resnick Pavillion.
For Saturday and Sunday only, LACMA will remove portions of the construction fencing so that day-viewers can get a good look at the transporter. By Monday it’ll all be under wraps until the formal christening of the art piece in early summer.
They say a stone this large hasn’t been moved since ancient times (and we still don’t know how they did it) so it may be something you don’t want to miss. After all, it’s all happening just down the street in our neighborhood.
Read LACMA’s Gawker’s Guide to see videos and photos.
