L.A. Children’s Museum May Find New Home Under Pershing Square

The city is considering relocating the popular Los Angeles Children’s Museum from the Civic Center Mall, where it has outgrown its quarters, to the parking garage beneath problem-plagued Pershing Square, officials disclosed Wednesday.

The museum, which would be expanded to more than five times its present size, would be constructed on the first level of the four-floor underground garage, preserving most of the five-acre park’s open space.

“The museum should have a very humanizing effect on the square, which has been looking for, and is need of, a new identity,” said Maureen Kindel, president of the city’s Board of Public Works.

It was Kindel, a close adviser to Mayor Tom Bradley, who initiated the idea in response to a plea by the museum for more space. She also has been reviewing various public and private efforts to improve Pershing Square.

As for any problems that might arise between museum attendees, particularly the children, and the vagrants who inhabit the park, Jack Armstrong, the museum’s director, said he was confident that the positive effect of the museum would overcome what problems might occur.

He also noted that, to a lesser degree, a similar situation now exists in the mall, and was not deemed a problem. “The real problem is lack of space,” he said.

At 17,000 square feet, 13,000 of which is used for exhibits, the present museum has had to turn away people on many weekends and holidays. Visits by school groups also have had to be limited because of the lack of space.

Nevertheless, 265,000 people visited the museum last year, a figure, Armstrong added, that could easily top 1 million if the museum expands.

“I believe that with the creative resources of this community we could create the best children’s museum in the world,” Armstrong said.

Noting that the museum has worked with Disney and other studios in the area developing exhibits, he added that “there is no limit to creativity here, only space.”

Initial discussions have projected a new facility of about 100,000 square feet, most of it underground but with light wells, courts and an entry open to the sky, and costing up to $20 million. Similiar design concepts have worked well for museums in Oakland, Washington, Williamburg, Va., and Brooklyn, N.Y.

Kindel and other city officials involved with planning for Pershing Square noted that a variety of legal, financial and planning implications presented by the proposal will have to be explored and could take at least three or four years to resolve. But, like Kindell, all expressed enthusiasm.

Meets Two Objectives

The concept was described as “very exciting” by both Mary Nichols, vice president of the city’s Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners, and Edward Helfeld, administrator of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

“Locating the museum under the square could meet two prime city objectives,” explained the redevelopment agency’s Patricia Sterne, who has been involved in reviews of the square.

“One is to provide new and expanded innovative facilities for the museum, and the other is to give new life to the square by attracting more people downtown,” she said.

Kindel also noted that the park is well served by public transportation, and a museum there would be very accessible. “And it would add a whole dimension to downtown, and to the experiences of children.”

Both the redevelopment agency and the parks department are overseeing studies of the square that are being carried out by the nonprofit, private Pershing Square Management Assn. under a $1.6-million loan from the redevelopment agency. The association also is managing the park under a one-year lease as part of a “public-private partnership experiment.”

The studies are the latest in a long series of public and private efforts to rid the square of the indigents, derelicts and delinquents who use it at an outdoor living room, bedroom and toilet--without infringing on their rights and forcefully evicting them.

New Attractions

Generally, the recommendations have urged that the square, bounded by Hill, Olive, 5th and 6th streets, be better maintained and policed, while such activities as concerts and food and flower vendors--which would attract a more genteel citizenry--be encouraged.

“The children’s museum certainly will attract a new user to the square,” observed David Martin, chairman of the design committee of the management association’s board of directors. “There are problems, but it is fabulous idea.”

The association’s executive director, Janet Marie Smith, was less enthusiastic. “It’s only one of a number of activities, such as performing arts and food facilities, that we are exploring to activate the park.”

Smith also raised as potential problems the 12-foot height of ceilings in the garage, the 15 years remaining on the lease to City Park Garage Co., a private firm, to operate the 1,800-space facility, and that the square “may not be a place for kids.”

James Hadaway, general manager of the Recreation and Parks Department, said the parking garage lease is under review, as is the city’s lease of the park to the Pershing Square Management Assn.