In Silver Lake, even the anti-development posters are cool

If "Cultural Annihilation" sounds a little intense to be the name of a band from Silver Lake, that’s because this rad-looking poster is not advertising the latest too-cool indie band, but instead opposing a development project. Man, everything really is cooler in Silver Lake.

The artwork appears on the website for Save Sunset Junction, a group that’s organizing against the proposed Junction Gateway project—a trio of mixed-use buildings from developer Frost/Chaddock, planned for a section of Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. One of the project sites happens to be right next to the Sunset Junction sign. (More recently, plans for a hotel have been floated at this site in lieu of one of the three mixed-users.)

pic.twitter.com/DsDiMu8HA7

— savesunsetjunction (@savethejunction) July 18, 2016

The Junction Gateway project doesn’t actually call for a bulldozer to break the famous sign in half on a dystopian red-sky day; the poster is just a fantastically illustrated metaphor for what the group believes the Junction Gateway development will do to the neighborhood. How exactly will these three buildings destroy the Silver Lake of "writers, artists, 5-dollar-guys, coffee lovers, musicians and people from all walks of life"? From the group's site:

Today, the character of our beloved neighborhood is threatened by "the Junction Gateway Project," a development far too dense for our current infrastructure to handle. These modern, 5-story buildings will loom over our homes, restaurants and shops, taking our sunlight while adding almost 300 units and 2, 947 vehicle trips a day!

Save Sunset Junction’s opposition to the project is not new. Back when there was talk of one of the three Junction Gateway sites, 4000 Sunset, possibly becoming the future site of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, Save Sunset Junction was supportive of the school buying the site. The conservatory’s new home would have been much smaller than the mixed-user proposed for the site, but the school, cofounded by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, ended up moving to Los Feliz.

• Save Sunset Junction [Official site]
• Flea's Music School Trying to Stop Sunset Junction Mixed-Users [Curbed LA]
• First Look at the Hotel That Could be Built at Sunset Junction [Curbed LA]