Officially Junk, Not Art

Trying their best to be artful about it, city officials refused Wednesday to designate a gigantic Echo Park junk “sculpture” a cultural monument as a way of keeping it from being demolished by a real estate investor.

The intricate, front-yard assembly of discarded household goods, garden tools and rusty auto parts is an interesting reflection of Los Angeles--but it falls short of landmark quality, the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission told self-styled artist Gary Leonard.

Leonard has spent six years collecting castoffs and assembling them into fanciful walls and designs outside his home at 2446 Echo Park Ave. When he fell behind in payments, however, the property was purchased by investor William Little at a foreclosure sale earlier this year.

Little said he wants to immediately begin removing Leonard’s creation so he can remodel the house and sell it. “Sure, it’s an interesting thing,” Little said of the front yard. “But you could take the position that the city dump is art.”

Several Echo Park residents also complained that Leonard’s handiwork is unsightly. And city Building and Safety Inspector Albert Romero told commissioners that the towering junk is a potential health and safety hazard.

But other artists praised the creation. Neighbor Mark Hornish testified that the castoffs are something that “neatly fits in with the environment around it . . . I was thrilled to have the opportunity to move next door to it.”

As the evidence piled up, commissioners tried to be consolatory. The crowded front yard is unique, they said, but it doesn’t meet the city’s monument criteria.

Commissioner Helen Madrid-Worthen was Leonard’s only supporter when the 3-1 rejection vote was taken. The sculpture, she said, “speaks of how many people feel about Los Angeles.”