Walt Disney Concert Hall

* Michael Webb’s article (Opinion, April 16) relative to the Disney Concert Hall should be required reading for all citizens of greater Los Angeles. He pleads the case convincingly and as a very busy architect in this great city for over 35 years, I read the need we have for this genuine landmark to put us on the globe with a 21st-Century trademark. Damn the budget, full speed ahead with this cutting-edge monument. Architects are always criticized for their need to build monuments, but here is a genuine one that this city needs.

To add to Webb’s article, permit me to point out that the Sydney Opera House cost over five times the original budget and Australia had a national lottery to raise the $400-million shortfall (in the days, some 25 years ago, when the U.S. dollar was worth a U.S. dollar). The Opera House had many of the same problems we now experience. But the building accomplished all objectives and today is a great financial success, a great tourist attraction and a benchmark monument in the history of architecture and the world.

MAXWELL STARKMAN

Los Angeles

* Perhaps the reason people are not willing to fund the Disney Hall, as designed by Frank Gehry, is because it is so ugly. While our “landmark” freeway system often swoops and soars, this design could be entitled “Six-Car Collision on Interstate 5.”

BESSIE GILLIS

Los Angeles

* Yes, what Los Angeles really needs is “an arresting work of art,” something to remind us of our glorious architectural past that included the Brown Derby hat on Wilshire, the oversized hot dog on La Cienega, the giant doughnut in Inglewood, the Big Orange juice stands, Curries’ swirling ice cream cones and Norm’s flying wing restaurants everywhere.

The Disney Hall is certainly a fitting successor to these “arresting works of art.” Looking like a creation of the Mad Hatter, it does have a Disney look. By the way, have you seen the House of Blues on Sunset? there’s an “arresting work of art.”

DOUGLAS C. TUBBS

Fullerton