A plaque has sat in the shade of a big ficus at Washington and National boulevards since 1980. One on-site transcription gives its wording as "Site of the Hal Roach Studios – Laugh Factory to the World – 1919 – 1963." The Culver City Historical Society dates the plaque to 1980. The Los Angeles Times brought up that dedication and a Sons of the Desert parade in its 1992 obituary for Roach.
Most of what was around that tree is gone now. Ivy Station, 8777 Washington, Access Culver City and Platform fill the four sides of the intersection, and the E Line station sits right there. This fall the tree and the plaque become the center of a new artwork, "A Frame for a Tree," by conceptual artist Charles Gaines. The city calls it "a signature visual gateway" for Culver City.
The piece is a steel grid built around the two things that made it through the redevelopment of this corner, and the new buildings are paying for a large share of it.
What is going up on the triangle
According to the City Council staff report, the frame is a metal rectangle of about 56 by 98 feet. It also includes landscaping by Land Fabrics and a lighting design, and it keeps the Hal Roach Studios plaque. The city's project spotlight calls the structure a "viewfinder." It frames the ficus for people at street level, for people in the nearby buildings and for riders on passing Expo Line trains. Low-voltage accent lighting will light the grid and the canopy after dark.
Gaines has been making work about trees since the mid-1970s. It started with Walnut Tree Orchard and continues in the Numbers and Trees series, which turns tree shapes into numbered grids. His work is in the collections of MoMA, the Whitney and the Tate Modern. For a piece you can see nearby, Urbanize LA points to his public artwork outside the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. The architecture firm drawing the Culver City frame, TOLO Architecture, also worked with him on Moving Chains. That was a 110-foot kinetic structure of steel and Sapele wood with nine moving chains, shown on Governors Island in New York starting in October 2022.
The 2019 decision that made the tree the client
In 2019, early in the project, the City Council told the team that the "mature and healthy Ficus tree" on the city-owned triangle had to stay as part of whatever artwork came next. That one direction shaped the engineering that followed.
According to the city:
- The footings were engineered to stay out of the tree's Root Protection Zone.
- The team used 3D spatial modeling to size the frame so it clears the canopy without hurting major branches.
- The grid leaves extra room inside so the trunk and canopy can keep growing for decades.
- Arborist reviews twice a year are part of the city's maintenance plan.
- Certified arborist Peter Ashley has been on the project team since Phase 1. He will be on site during structural lifts and foundation work.
Arborists, geotechnical firms and LA Metro all worked on the design during Phase II. Metro's involvement is a reminder of how tight the site is: a protected root zone on one side, a rail line on the other, and two busy boulevards around it. A 2020 planning document put the ficus at 56 years old. None of the records give a planting date.
Who paid: the buildings around the tree
The money mostly came from the corner itself. Culver City requires developers to set aside an allocation for public art. Two of the projects facing the intersection put theirs into this artwork instead of commissioning separate pieces.
| Source or phase | Amount | What it covered |
|---|---|---|
| Lowe, developer of Ivy Station | $300,000 | Public art contribution, made in 2018 |
| CLPF / Lincoln Property Company, 8777 Washington | $580,000 | Public art contribution |
| City Cultural Trust Fund | $300,000 | Initial city appropriation |
| Original allocation | $1,180,000 | |
| Phase I | $87,000 | Art plan and artist selection |
| Phase II | $423,000 | Final design, artist fee, architecture |
| Phase III | $1,491,472 | Fabrication and installation, including contingencies |
The three phases add up to about $2 million, so the project ran well past the original $1.18 million allocation. Most of Phase III is a $1,103,884 contract with Ennis Steel, which was picked from three bids. The rest is $252,000 for project management by the art consultants, Dyson & Womack, plus a 10 percent contingency on each contract. The staff report says Phase III is "fully funded by the Cultural Arts Fund." On its project page, the city describes that fund as developer art impact fees that by law can only be spent on public art. It also says no General Fund money is going into the project.
The developers also had a say in the selection. The non-voting art committee included representatives from Platform, Access Culver City, Ivy Station, 8777 Washington and the Helms Bakery District. It also had members from the Culver City Arts District, the Culver City Historical Society and the Cultural Affairs Commission.
Why ten years passed between the plan and the crane
The gateway artwork first appears in the Washington/National Transit Oriented Development Streetscape Plan, which the City Council approved in February 2016. That plan described a single art piece that would tie the four corners of the intersection together. Here's what happened after that:
- September 2018. The city puts out a request for proposals for an art consultant.
- February 2019. Dyson & Womack are selected after interviews.
- December 2019. The formal process starts with a public art plan. COVID-19 then slows the project significantly through 2020.
- December 2020. The open call for artists brings in 147 submissions.
- April 2021. Sixteen artists or teams make the shortlist. Six finalists move on: Blane de St. Croix, Charles Gaines, Iris Hu, Susan Narduli, Matthew Mazzotta and Paul Cocksedge Studio.
- August 26, 2021. The art panel picks Gaines.
- September 20, 2022. The Cultural Affairs Commission reviews the selection.
- October 24, 2022. The City Council approves the design.
- May 27, 2025. The Council considers the Phase III fabrication contract.
The consultant's contract was amended five times along the way, for more scope, geotechnical studies and administrative oversight. It grew from $50,000 to $368,000 before the Phase III work was added. Some of that time went to the 2020 pandemic slowdown. Some went to fitting a 98-foot steel structure around a living tree beside a light rail line.
What the corner looks like this fall
Culver City Crossroads first reported a start date of Tuesday, September 8, 2026. On September 24, Culver City News reported that the city had moved the start back several weeks, to mid-October. No reason was given. The city's own pages don't line up yet. The spotlight page says installation begins mid-October and takes about eight weeks. A city statement quoted in the news gives about six weeks. The project tracker lists the work as in progress and expects to finish in December 2026. It promises a public ribbon-cutting but gives no date.
Here's what the city says to expect if you drive, walk or ride through the intersection during the work:
- Lanes: All main lanes on Washington and National stay open. No major road closures are planned.
- Morning slowdowns: You may see brief shoulder shifts or flaggers between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m., when the heavy crane equipment is moved into place.
- School drop-off: The city sent advisories to nearby private schools. It suggests parents driving through the corridor at that time allow 5 to 10 extra minutes or take another route.
- Questions: The Cultural Affairs Division can be reached at [email protected] or (310) 253-6003.
The installation also starts just as the Arts District's big fall weekend arrives. The free 8th Annual Culver City Arts Festival runs Saturday, October 10, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Washington Boulevard, with art, music, vendors, food trucks and beer gardens. The ficus will still be visible from the street that day. Once the work finishes, a train ride past the corner or a walk across the triangle will show the tree framed in steel, lit at night, with the 1980 plaque still at its base.
At Zacha Homes, we pay attention to projects like this one because a finished landmark becomes part of how a street is known. If you live near the Washington and National corridor and want to understand what the changes around you mean for your property, I'm glad to talk it through. Find out what your home is worth.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
