Anaheim OKs $300,000 Art Plan for Center

A $300,000 public art plan, designed to evoke the city’s blue-collar, industrious history, won City Council approval Tuesday for inclusion in the downtown Koll Anaheim Center retail and office complex.

Major elements of the art display include a 28-foot-high “hammer clock,” giant water wall and sculpted canoe, reminiscent of an early mode of transportation along the Santa Ana River.

The artworks, to be interspersed throughout the $200-million development, are expected to be built within six months, city officials said.

Private funding will account for about 70% of the art costs, while the Anaheim Redevelopment Agency will supply the public portion of the contribution.

One of the most unusual pieces, the hammer clock, is designed with the timepiece resting on top of a giant hammer. Within the same public area, art consultant Marc Pally said, pedestrians will be able to sit on chairs made in the shape of nails. The seat portions are formed from the flat heads of the nails.

Pally said the designs came from accounts of early Anaheim settlers, many of whom made their livings as blacksmiths.

Plans also call for some early city plotting maps to be sandblasted into the sidewalks.

“It’s a dose of fun and history and character,” Councilman Tom Daly said Tuesday. “It’s something that the downtown area needs. If you look at the successful business and retail complexes, they are likely to devote a lot of attention to art in public places.”

Tenants for the massive downtown development will include Pacific Bell and the city of Anaheim, with room for a number of retailers and businesses.