Attempts by NBC Los Angeles to reach the parent company, Oceanwide Holdings, at addresses listed in corporate filings, by phone and by email, were unsuccessful.
In a recent 2020 news release on its website, the company distanced itself from disgraced former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, who was recently sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for public corruption.
After the graffiti was seen and the crowd was seen, the police had to intervene without a company to provide security for the site.
There is work stressed the police officers That cost 3,000 hours of staff time, Chief Michelle Moore told reporters this week. Since February 1, 18 people have been arrested there on suspicion of various crimes, including trespassing and aggravated vandalism.
The police department said it had to call in officers overtime and add more patrols to the area. Police cars were parked at every corner of the abandoned project Wednesday afternoon as several officers on horseback roamed the sidewalks and nearby parking lots.
The City Council next week will consider a proposal to spend $3 million to build fences around buildings, clean up debris and hire private security guards to take the burden off the police department.
Meanwhile, graffiti towers continue to attract visitors.
“I think it’s drugs,” said Sacramento resident Latasha Cooper, who was in Los Angeles with her fiance to visit family.
The couple recently returned from a trip to Baja California, Mexico, where they passed many abandoned real estate projects along Highway 1.
He said the unfinished Oceanview Plaza reminded Cooper of those buildings.
“I think it’s almost a metaphor,” he said. “We start things, we don’t finish them, and then we get angry. People lose money, and then people lose their jobs because they don’t work.”
Her fiancé, Mike Quintana, smiled as he looked out over the colorful buildings.
“It’s an LA thing,” he said with a shrug.
“But when you think about it, this is America,” he said, gesturing to the bustling Crypto.com Arena.
“And this is America in the future,” he said of the graffiti towers. “One day you’ll run out of money.”
Across the street, a tattered Oceanview Plaza banner flapped in the wind.