The 340-ton rock arrives safely at LACMA, at last

After 11 grueling, and especially cold, nights on the road navigating tight corners, “crabbing” across bridges and narrowly avoiding collision with towering utility poles, LACMA’s monolith has finally arrived.

That is, it arrived at the museum. It “arrived,” in the most general sense, as soon as it left its Riverside quarry and the media hype began to swell.

The 340-ton boulder –- still shrink-wrapped, lighted with string lights and resting in a steel sling on its custom transporter –- pulled up to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art at exactly 4:25 a.m., as planned. Its eventual resting place will be as the centerpiece of the museum’s permanent art installation, “Leviated Mass,” by Nevada artist Michael Heizer.

PHOTOS: Giant rock rolling toward LACMA

At LACMA, the piece of granite stopped opposite Chris Burden’s “Urban Light” sculpture -– a yin of sorts to Burden’s enormous outdoor installation’s yang. The rock was greeted by more than 500 cheering and clapping members of the “levitated masses,” who’d been waiting hours for it to arrive.

After a short photo opp -- during which onlookers streamed into the street, some reaching out and touching the boulder -- the transporter rounded the corner onto Fairfax Avenue at 5 a.m., and pulled into the construction site that will be the rock’s final home.

The last leg of the boulder’s 105-mile journey began on Figueroa Street between 64th and 65th streets in South L.A. That stretch of more than 11 miles went mostly smoothly. But there were a few bumps.
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-- Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times

Twitter: @debvankin