City Christmas Tree Gets Lit
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined Councilmembers Jan Perry and Eric Garcetti, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and a host of children this evening to light the City's official Christmas tree. After a program featuring entertainment by several local youth choirs, the Mayor stepped to the stage and welcomed the gathered crowd before turning to the television cameras to check when the live lighting shot would be going on the air. A fake switch flip brought to life the fifty foot tree on City Hall's Spring street side.
CBS2 has a video up on their site, but the shot doesn't feature the live lighting -- perhaps all that timing went for naught?
Though the event may have lacked the spectacle of the lighting at the Grove, tonight's festivities did include a special appearance by Robert Patrick, star of "The Unit."
After the jump, a shot of the lit tree.
Above, left, Mayor Villaraigosa asks the crowd for carol help as he waits for TV. Right, one of the performing youth choirs.
Dan in LA on December 07, 2007, at 09:59AM – #1
Last night was the first time I saw the beacon turning. Is that just for the holidays? i'd love to see this as a permanent feature...
Dennis Smith on December 07, 2007, at 10:35AM – #2
Dan,
That rotating light atop City Hall is the Lindbergh Beacon, originally set in place in 1928. It sat forgotten in a warehouse for many years after it was extinguished as part of the wartime blackout regulations. It was discovered and restored as part of the City Hall renovations that concluded in 2001. It has been activated every year during the holiday season since then. I believe there have been previous blog posts on blogdowntown concerning this subject.
p.s. Does it seem like the light has been dimmed in intensity since its debut in 2001?
David Kennedy on December 07, 2007, at 10:39AM – #3
Dennis, I have not detected any dimming of the beacon. Possibly, there has been some wear and tear over the years.
Ginny on December 07, 2007, at 10:50AM – #4
Do you think the tree uses LED lights? Do you think the City is using their Green Power for that monster of a tree?
Not to dampen the holiday season - but we've spent most of our year turning off the lights, using less water...let's not give up on our new habits just because it's December.
SarahGrl on December 07, 2007, at 11:26AM – #5
^ Downtown Los Angeles, compared with the City of Lights (Paris), Chicago or New York City, which over the past 20 years has been among the most ambitious of US cities in illuminating skyscrapers, originally was beholden to a string-saving, cheapskate type of mentality. It's a major reason the area previously was a perfect example of a do-nothing, do-little, "it can't be helped" way of thinking. And it's a big factor behind the center of Los Angeles rapidly going down the drain to begin with, starting over 30 to 50 years ago.
David Kennedy on December 07, 2007, at 12:13PM – #6
I'm with SarahGrl here. Fire up those generators! Celebrate the season with gusto. I don't like going to parties where the host is trying to cut corners and save money. Thrift is a virtue when sensibly applied.
I recall vividly 7-8 years ago coming home on the 101 and seeing City Hall illuminated for the first time. It was awesome. Downtown needs more, way more, effort and ambition to celebrate itself. Let's ditch the party-pooping instinct.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on December 07, 2007, at 12:32PM – #7
Hear hear. Let's get that same thinking into the DWP building, and get the lights and fountains on regularly. That's a stunning building when it's up and running. Life's too short to leave it dull in the name of conservation.
RobertA on December 07, 2007, at 05:24PM – #8
Why doesn't the DWP have a holiday light celebration downtown like they do in Griffith Park. Hey DWP, next year why don't you light up the trees on some of the main streets Downtown?
Metro Local on December 07, 2007, at 05:48PM – #9
DWP wants to increase your electric rates 9% over the next three years and water rates 6% over the next two years thanks, in large part, to a multi-million judgement that DWP over-billed LAUSD.
That means no DWP surplus into the City's General Fund for the next few budgets.
Hence, the one-two to the Mayor with the TUT issue especially after raising the City's trash collection fee to put more cops on the streets that has yet to be delivered.
Metro Local on December 07, 2007, at 05:52PM – #10
In sum, DWP putting holiday lights anywhere next season will be like having the deck hands on the Titanic sprinkle tinsel about the ship after the iceberg's been struck.
Ginny on December 07, 2007, at 11:01PM – #11
I'm not trying to be the holiday grinch - I'm just saying - why not use LED lights - which still have light, but won't use the same amount of energy.
I'm okay with the raise in energy rates - as long as it is at the expense of using more earth friendly (or forgiving) power generation.
Alex and I did the LADWP holiday light walk - and there a couple of displays with LED lights.
Our Christmas Tree is all LED this year, and it's beautiful.
All I'm saying is that if we want to really green our city, we should continue to expand our mass transit system, find better ways to deal with our garbage, use less water, and use less energy.
Metro Rapid on December 08, 2007, at 01:24PM – #12
Micro solutions pale when compared to finding solutions to Industry like the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.
It's all warm and cuddly to think our collective existence can carve of X pollution while giants continue to contribute 10X. In the meantime, as US industries face conforming with environmental regulations, neighboring countries are building ports with little or no environment standards and moving cargo into the US on trucks that might never pass native standards.
You want to do something for the environment buy America if for no other reason than the cargo might likely move less (creating less pollution) than goods shipped from somewhere like China.
Look at the pollution our consumption lifestyles generate and focus there rather than buying green goods still sent through a gross-polluting supply chain...