Taggers have graffitied what appears to be more than 25 stories of a downtown Los Angeles skyscraper that’s been sitting dormant for several years.
Construction on Oceanwide Plaza, a $1 billion mixed-use retail and luxury apartments project with three towering unfinished structures, stalled in January 2019 after the Beijing-based developer lacked the funds to complete it, the Los Angeles Times reported.
It is unclear exactly how those responsible for the graffiti covering much of the building’s exterior gained entry to the site, or when they began their daring and illegal project.
One witness, Daron Burgundy, said the taggers had been blasting the building with spray paint for the last three nights.
“I could see people up on the balcony were tagging and everything,” Burgundy, who is a street photographer, told KTLA’s John Fenoglio. “Last night there was a crew on one of the floors and people were coming out and getting detained by LAPD and getting cited and released. People were still in there tagging while the cops were down here.”
Video posted to the Citizen App on Jan. 30 just before midnight shows what appears to be a person on the balcony of one of the buildings working on the graffiti.
Aerial footage of the buildings captured by Sky5 shows phrases like, “set the pace” and “amen” spray painted on the outside, as well as other tags like, “SINKOE,” “XN28,” “ROSEK” and “AMI.”
Burgundy said that he’s surprised it’s taken this long for taggers to hit the buildings because the construction site has been vacant for years, adding that he heard people were coming from out of state to tag the structures.
“Last night I heard that people have been coming from out of state to paint here,” he said. “LAPD mentioned that there might be an Instagram post floating around and apparently it was inviting people to come. It’s been wild to watch. It’s kind of interesting. It’s not so luxury around here anymore.”
More than 27 stories of the dormant Oceanwide Plaza were covered in graffiti in Jan. 2024. (Carolynn Yao) 
More than 27 stories of the dormant Oceanwide Plaza were covered in graffiti in Jan. 2024. (Carolynn Yao) 
More than 27 stories of the dormant Oceanwide Plaza were covered in graffiti in Jan. 2024. (Carolynn Yao) 
Image from video posted to the Citizen App of a person that appears to be tagging Oceanwide Plaza on Jan. 30, 2024. (Citizen app) 
Image from video posted to the Citizen App of a person that appears to be tagging Oceanwide Plaza on Jan. 30, 2024. (Citizen app)
So far, the Los Angeles Police Department has announced only two arrests in connection with the massive illegal art installment. Both L.A. residents, a 35-year-old man and a 25-year-old man, were cited for trespassing and released.
LAPD’s Central Division, however, did say that personnel had met with a representative of Council District 14, which is run by Kevin de León, to discuss securing the sprawling development and adding additional security measures.
“The measures will be implemented immediately and the graffiti will be removed,” LAPD said on X, formerly Twitter.
KTLA has reached out to Councilmember de León’s office about what those security measures might entail and whether there is an estimate on the cost of removing some 27 stories of graffiti from the construction site and is waiting to hear back.
