Builders See Writing on Wall, Give Graffiti Artists Space

Welcomed by developers who hope to keep gang-style scribblings off the walls of the derelict Pan Pacific Auditorium, teen-agers have covered much of the building with graffiti art.

The spray-can illustrations include self-portraits, movie themes and expressions of thanks to Somerset Hotels, which intends to cover it all up when renovation of the building begins in October.

Plans call for a hotel and cinematheque inside the 50-year-old structure, which was the site of political conventions, ice shows and the West Coast debut of Elvis Presley before it closed in 1972.

Somerset employees said the building had become a haunt of homeless people and gang members.

“The head of our security group decided the best thing to do was to co-opt these gangs and say, ‘If you agree to work in a controlled fashion, we’ll let you go ahead, because basically it’s going to be totally redone anyway,’ ” said Tom Childers, a partner in the development firm.

The graffiti artists call the Pan Pacific their “wall of fame” because they were allowed to work on it without interference and because it is visible from Beverly Boulevard.

The 40 or so youths involved in the project go by nicknames such as Scooby, Daze, Eaze and Soon.

They include whites, blacks and Latinos, and come from as far away as the San Fernando Valley.

Their style is not indigenous to Los Angeles, according to Holley Barnet, a UCLA graduate student whose research includes Chicano mural art.

Instead, she said, it reflects the influence of East Coast graffiti painters.

“I know that people think it’s a crime, that it’s ignorance and stuff,” said one of the Pan Pacific teen-agers, known only as Design. “People don’t see it as an art form, but I hope after a while they’ll see this is something different.”