340 Ton Megalith Rock Will Travel Thru Long Beach On Its Way To Art Exhibit (As "Levitated Mass") At L.A. County Museum of Art; Will Be Visible Day-Long In Bixby Knolls; BKBIA Planning Related Events; Coverage Coming on LBReport.com

(Feb. 28, 2012) -- A 340-ton granite rock will roll through Long Beach on its journey from a quarry in Riverside to the L.A. County Museum of Art where it will become artist Michael Heizer's "Levitated Mass"...and LBReport.com plans special event coverage including LIVE webcasts.

Image via LAObserved.com

The "megalith" will be moved during the overnight hours -- between 11:00 p.m. and 5 a.m. -- at about 8 mph. It's scheduled to arrive in Lakewood and then Long Beach on a route passing through NLB, Bixby Knolls, Central LB, a tour of downtown, then back up to PCH and into the westside and out of town. [Comment: We hope the brakes on the transporting vehicle are prepared for the downgrade between the 405 freeway, Spring St. and Memorial Hospital. Whee!]

The best time for LBC'ers to view the massive boulder during civilized hours will be on Wednesday March 7, when it arrives in Bixby Knolls by 5 a.m. and spends the day on display on Atlantic Ave. between 36th and 37th Streets. At about 11 p.m., it will start moving again, heading south on Atlantic Ave. through Central LB, downtown, into WLB and out of town.

[Caveat: We presume the schedule is subject to change, since anything can happen on something like this. Check with LBReport.com for updated information.]

Plans are being formulated for its LB arrival and day-long display. Blair Cohn, Exec. Dir. of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Ass'n tells LBReport.com: "We're in the laboratory right now finalizing plans. We'll have news for the neighborhood and the city soon."

The LA County Museum of Art offers what it calls a "Gawkers Guide" on its website:

[LACMA text] Tuesday, March 6: The transporter pulls into the city of Lakewood, near Cerritos, on South Street at Palo Verde Avenue. Tips for gawkers: There are strip malls on either side of the street with ample parking and a few fast food places to eat (and more food options at the nearby intersection of South Street and Woodruff Avenue).

Wednesday, March 7: The rock will spend the day in Bixby Knolls, a strip of small restaurants and other businesses in Long Beach. [Who wrote that text?!?] The transporter will be parked on Atlantic Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets. Tip for gawkers: If you live in the Long Beach area, this is probably your best chance to see the transporter. If you’re coming around lunch or dinner, try Patricia’s Restaurant! It’ll have prime viewing of the rock, and the Mexican food is affordable and delicious. Of all the weekday stops, Bixby Knolls is the most densely populated, meaning there are a few more lunch or dinner options and other nearby things to do beyond a quick drive-by. For instance, continue south on Atlantic for about fifteen minutes and you’ll run into the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Thursday, March 8: After touring Long Beach in the middle of the night, the transporter will come to rest at Vermont Avenue just north of Carson Street, in the city of Carson (not far from UCLA Harbor Medical Center)...

Image via Zevweb.com

The "megalith" is scheduled to arrive in central LA on Friday night, heading up Figueroa (past Exposition Park and USC), then through West Adams, up Western Ave, then west on Wilshire Blvd. through the Miracle Mile to the museum.

LACMA describes the "Levitated Mass" artwork as "comprised of a 456-foot-long concrete-lined slot constructed on LACMA’s campus, upon and at the center of which is placed a 340-ton granite megalith. As visitors walk along the slot, it gradually descends to fifteen feet deep, running underneath the megalith before ascending back up."

LACMA says "this is possibly the largest megalithic stone moved since ancient times [but] not the first time heavy transport has occurred in Southern California. Just last year Southern California Edison shipped a 350-ton steam generator from the San Onofre nuclear plant to a nuclear-waste disposal site in Utah. A similar transporter was used -- 400 feet long! -- traveling slowly at night over the course of nineteen days, without incident.)

The "megalith" is scheduled to become part of artist Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass, displayed above a 456 foot long trench...in which people can walk and see the 340 ton mass "floating" above them. (Don't try this at home"). Public viewing is expected to start in the late spring/early summer.

Who's paying for this? LACMA says:

Emmert International, a company that specializes in transporting large-scale objects such as buildings, nuclear reactor components, and missiles [is transporting the rock.]

...Levitated Mass was made possible by private gifts to Transformation: The LACMA Campaign from Jane and Terry Semel, Bobby Kotick, Carole Bayer Sager and Bob Daly, Beth and Joshua Friedman, Steve Tisch Family Foundation, Elaine Wynn, Linda, Bobby, and Brian Daly, Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd., Richard Merkin, MD, and the Mohn Family Foundation, and has been dedicated by LACMA to the memory of Nancy Daly. Transportation is made possible by Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd.