While the drama over big-time development plans for Sunset Junction plays out between developers Frost/Chaddock and the community (including Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist/Silverlake Conservatory of Music cofounder Flea), a French artist would like to use the down time to turn the super-seedy and vacant Bates Motel (aka the Sunset Pacific) into a piece of art before it's demolished to make way for a mixed-user. Eastsider LA reports that Vincent Lamouroux plans to turn the derelict building into a "site specific and ephemeral art installation" that will cover the hotel in white powder.
As it's explained in an endorsement letter from the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council to the mayor, the project will entail "a blanket of ecologically safe, white powder covering the entire building and its close surroundings." In 2010, Lamouroux covered some trees in an outdoor art space in France with a white substance that left them looking a lot like flocked Christmas trees. In their letter of support for the installation, a council co-chair called it "an important farewell" for the Sunset Pacific Motel.
Also behind the project, it seems, is Frost/Chaddock, which has been helping Lamouroux with his idea for more than a year, but says he still needs to secure the necessary permits. If approved, the powdering of the hotel would be accompanied by workshops and conferences related to the art piece, known for now as Projection.
The Bates (nicknamed for the Psycho reference and its location at Sunset and Bates Avenue), has been empty for decades and the city finally decided to go ahead with demolition in 2009, before F/C bought the property and came up with plans for three big mixed-users in the neighborhood. The Bates project is the largest of the three, with 122 units, 3,974 square feet of retail, 991 square feet of restaurant space, a 4,519 square foot gym/recreational space for residents, and 165 parking spaces in two subterranean parking levels.
· Will Silver Lake's "Bates Motel" go from eyesore to artwork? [ELA]
· Here's the New Look For Three Sunset Junction Gamechangers [Curbed LA]
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