Children’s Museum Nears Approval for Mall Takeover

The Los Angeles Children’s Museum, which has long enjoyed a reputation of being the little museum that could, is close to winning official blessings for a proposal that its directors say could make it “the best children’s museum in the world.”

Museum officials have unveiled plans for a “Los Angeles Children’s Plaza” that would extend the museum’s educational fun house motif over a full city block. The museum would take over the Los Angeles Mall, a public square now regarded by many as a run-down civic embarrassment, and transform it into a “warm and fuzzy” landmark that museum officials say “would be original in the world.”

Long a political favorite of Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council, the Children’s Museum is expected to obtain administrative approval, perhaps this week, for a six-month exclusive negotiating rights to develop its scheme. It is one of five competitors to take over management of the moribund Los Angeles Mall from the city. The museum’s competitors are four real estate management firms.

Under its plan, the popular museum would more than quintuple its size, redesigning and redefining the two-block mall as a vibrant children-oriented commercial venue. The mall, which caters to civic center workers, would retain restaurants and other retail outlets.

The “Children’s Plaza” concept “is very promising,” said Keith Comrie, the city’s chief administrative officer. “If they can package it, it will be very good for the city.”

Approval by the city would prompt a fund-raising drive that, like the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, would focus on corporate sponsors. Commitments of $20 million to $30 million would be sought.

“That’s not an overwhelming price tag to build the best children’s museum in the world,” said Richard Reinis, president of the museum’s board of trustees. “That’s our goal.” In terms of its scope, museum officials say, “Children’s Plaza” has no precedent and would eclipse such esteemed facilities as the Boston Children’s Museum and the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

“Not to be crass, but it would seem to be somewhat self-serving for corporations to be associating themselves with a population of 800,000 Los Angeles youngsters,” Reinis said, referring to the museum’s projected annual attendance.

One snag remains in negotiations. City officials are discussing a long-term lease of mall space to a bookstore. Museum officials say such a lease at this time would conflict with their planning and fund-raising.

In pitching their proposal at City Hall, museum officials are touting “Children’s Plaza” as a major step in a longstanding civic campaign to establish downtown as a cultural center. The plaza, they say, would complement attractions like the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Olvera Street and Little Tokyo.

“New York has Rockefeller Plaza, a monument to Mammon . . . with its cold, corporate sheen,” said museum director James (Gil) Leaf. “L.A. has that same muscle, but it doesn’t have to play the same game . . . Nobody’s afraid of a children’s museum. It’s warm and fuzzy.”

Unlike some other downtown institutions, “Children’s Plaza” would help to “unify” a city of great socioeconomic diversity, Leaf said. “Children are the one thing we all have in common,” he said. “You know, if you’re an immigrant family with six kids, contemporary art isn’t at the top of your agenda.”

The museum, which celebrates its 10th birthday next month, receives 270,000 visitors a year to its 15,000-square-foot quarters, making it one of the most densely traveled museums in the nation. Inside the facility, children do art and science projects, play with radio and TV, and carouse in such attractions as “Sticky City,” piling Velcro-covered shapes of foam rubber into designs of their own making.

Expansion Long Planned

Directors have been planning an expansion for years. The museum had studied other downtown sites but decided to pursue the “Children’s Plaza” concept when the mall was put up for bid.

The “Children’s Plaza” concept, developed by The Jerde Partnership architectural firm, calls for the museum to grow to 83,000 square feet with the potential to serve 800,000 visitors per year.

To do this, the museum, now located on the street level, would take over two lower floors now occupied by a credit union and restaurants. Nearby, a vacant space in the subterranean mall that is now used for storage would be transformed into a children’s theater.

A row of child-oriented shops purveying toys, clothing and other items would connect the museum block to the south side of the mall. The area would be redesigned to accommodate the lunch spots now located beneath the museum,

Triforium Dominates

The street level also would be revamped. The theme of children, architect Jon Jerde said, would give “a distinct personality” to a decidedly schizophrenic block.

Bordered by Temple, Main, Los Angeles and Aliso streets, signs identify the block that houses the museum both as Fletcher Bowron Square (in honor of the reformist Los Angeles mayor elected in the 1930s) and the Los Angeles Mall. Visually, the block is dominated by the much criticized Triforium, a towering musical synthesizer with a kind of rocket ship shape and a girdle of colorful, lighted speakers. Erected in the 1970s to entertain citizens with musical light shows, the Triforium is now out of use, its reflecting pond dry.

Under the proposed redesign, that pond and surrounding courtyard would be transformed into a playground, possibly dotted with “play sculptures.” A stage for outdoor performances would be nearby.

“Think of the Triforium as the center of a playground,” Leaf said. “Then it has integrity.”