Ka-Boo ... Oops -- Uh, How About a Do-Over?
Thousands of people gathered Saturday to watch the demolition of the city’s tallest building -- but the Zip Feed Mill tower was no pushover.
The 202-foot-tall concrete structure dropped slightly, leaned a little -- and stopped. Onlookers groaned and gasped.
The building is being demolished to make way for office and retail space.
The property owners turned the event into a fundraiser for the Dakota chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Residents bought T-shirts and $1 raffle tickets for the chance to trigger the blast, and stood outside with temperatures in the teens to view the tower’s demise.
Crews drilled holes into the tower’s supporting columns and stuffed them with explosives, intending to drop the tower like a falling tree.
However, the rear of the tower was so rotten that it wasn’t stiff enough to push over, said James H. Redyke, president of blasting specialist Dykon Explosive Demolition of Tulsa, Okla.
Crews plan to return to knock it down with a crane, said Jeff Hanson, spokesman for the site’s co-owners.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
