Beethoven’s back at Pershing Square

April 28, 1952: The 10-ton statue of Ludwig van Beethoven was moved back to its Pershing Square home from Griffith Park, where it had been in storage for more than a year during construction of a parking lot beneath the square. “Beethoven’s second movement was performed here yesterday,” The Times reported, noting that the statue had made its temporary move to Griffith Park on Feb. 14, 1951. “And don’t look now, but he hasn’t had a bath since,” the article said.

“It seems there’s a lot more to washing a statue than just turning a hose on it. There’s scraping and all sorts of things to be done. It costs about $300 and there was no one who volunteered to pay for it.” The statue of the German composer was “originally erected by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, who dedicated it to the orchestra’s founder, William Andrew Clark Jr.,” The Times said. The memorial had faced the Philharmonic Auditorium on 5th Street, the newspaper reported, but was moved with a big crane to a new location, facing the intersection of 5th and Olive streets.