The surge and splurge of South Central Los Angeles.

What is that?

“Our excess and our maximalism, our fantasies, our myths; surge, as in constant motion, movement, energetically, spiritually, who we are, that's just a Black thing,” artist Lauren Halsey told me via video interview. “Doing the most, our material culture, our esthetics… our expression, our genius that can sometimes be idiosyncratic and might go unnoticed… our pageantry… the everyday, our palette.”

On March 14, 2026, Halsey (b. 1987) opened her sculpture park and garden, sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles. The space, located on the corner of Western Avenue and 76th Street in South Central Los Angeles, will serve as a living shrine and tribute to the neighborhood that Halsey and her family have called home for several generations.

She grew up right near the park. Rode her bike as a girl all around here.

Halsey is known for creating vibrant large-scale works and immersive installations as well as mixed-media assemblages and hand-carved pieces bridging sculpture and architecture, drawing on the histories, social contexts, and everyday ingenuity seen throughout South Central L.A.

The idea for something like the park began taking shape in community college architecture classes.

“In a community that's been so devalued from an infrastructure level, where there's a lack of green space, lack of pocket parks, lack of access to chill, ponder, be, feel free… it wouldn't make sense to me to compose or dream up spaces outside of my context,” Halsey explained. “It's always been the goal, to present these public spaces, whether it be a park, a garden, a pavilion, a grotto, for the rest of my life.”

sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles is all of those things and more.

A multi-generational gathering and events haven for academic programs, reading clubs, game nights, wellness, yoga, sound bathing, art, music, food, fashion shows, dancing. Eight Sphinxes and eight Hathoric columns at two entrances feature the artist’s personal heroes, family friends, community activists and organizers. A dedicated programming space on-site hosts film screenings, community-centric celebrations, jazz nights, sports, lectures, tutoring, youth programs.

And garden oasis. Don’t forget that.

“It's truly contextualized by nature in the middle of an urban center which is incredible for me. We have hundreds and hundreds of native plants that are specific to that parcel,” Halsey explained. “We also have wonderful (vegetable gardens). Peaches, pomegranate, the guava, the blood orange, the passion fruit. We have grapes right now. We just put in a cherry tree. We have pollinators to bring in bees. We have milkweeds for the butterflies and honeysuckle for the hummingbirds. When you come in, it's like that movie ‘A Bug's Life.’”

South Central has been desperate for something like this. Waiting for something like this.

“It's already happening. (The community) feels so much a part of it that they want to use it. I'm getting hit up constantly, ‘Can I do this here? Can I do that? That's been really beautiful,” Halsey said. “I hope it energizes folks to go for their thing, whatever their thing is, and go for their funk. At the highest level, I hope that it functions as a sculpture park that offers this portrait of us, and that creates esteem and empowerment.”

Location, Location, Location

The parcel of land sister dreamer calls home has a famous history in the neighborhood.

“It was Gwen's ice cream that I would go to as a little girl,” Halsey explained.

A kitchen fire claimed the restaurant over a decade ago. It was never rebuilt. The vacant lot sat tidily by waiting for its next life.

“Throughout my life, many buildings were burned down, abandoned, left empty,” Halsey said in a press release announcing the park’s opening. “Yet what always stood out to me were the people who informally activated these open spaces: selling Christmas trees, running ad-hoc barbecue pop ups, holding church services, or using it as an ephemeral space to sell hundreds of mix CDs. The community understood that these empty lots could be used for different functions and needs. And it is this same ingenuity, imaginative capacity, and everyday brilliance that sister dreamer celebrates and is focused on activating for others in my community.”

Halsey reached out to Gwen and asked to take over the lease. No problem. Halsey even recreated the ice cream shop for the opening.

“I've heard all of these contexts for what that lot was and all of it seems to amount this chronology of it being this super beautiful site–joy and fun and ease and play and happiness and community care and support–so when I was looking for a space to produce and present the sculpture park, I wanted to be a part of that chronology to present a space of love and joy and esteem and fun and ease and freedom.”

Halsey completed the project with financial backing from some of the most prominent philanthropic foundations, celebrities, and artists in the country. Lead support came from the Mellon Foundation. The Ford Foundation and Agnes Gund were also involved. So was Maverick Carter, Will Ferrell and Viveca Paulin Ferrell, Harrison Barnes and Brittany Barnes, Julie Mehretu, Mickalene Thomas, Charles Gaines, and Roxana Landaverde.

Art Across L.A.

Los Angeles boasts spectacular art museums, but the city’s size and sprawl can make getting to them difficult. Instead of people coming to the art, like Halsey, Hyper SoCal wants to bring art to the people. It’s new initiative has activated more than 40 nontraditional venues across Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. Exemplary of this was Phoenix Rising bringing A. Laura Brody’s transformation of discarded clothing left after the Los Angeles wildfires into a monumental robe symbolizing rebirth and recovery displayed at the Adam Square Mini Gas Station through April 10, 2026.

Presented by Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale, Hyper SoCal brings contemporary and experimental art directly into neighborhoods, including storefront windows, libraries, schools, and pop-up public spaces. Most programming is free.

The initiative is coordinated by artist and curator Stephanie Sherwood, who describes Hyper SoCal as a way to surface hidden creative spaces and make art accessible to people who may never visit a traditional museum.

As arts funding tightens and audiences seek authentic local experiences, Hyper SoCal offers a compelling example of culture being built at the community level.

Catch a ride for another example.

Art On The Metro

On May 8, LA Metro opens Section 1 of the D Line extension. Three new stations at Wilshire/La Cienega, Wilshire/La Brea, and Wilshire/Fairfax will open, improving mobility along busy Wilshire Boulevard with the added benefit of introducing new public art installations. Wilshire/Fairfax is home to the Miracle Mile and “Museum Row,” a corridor including The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Motion Picture Academy Museum, The Petersen Automotive Museum, Craft Contemporary, and the La Brea Tar Pits.

Each station will feature major, site-specific works from acclaimed artists. Developed over several years in collaboration with Metro’s Art team, these installations transform high-traffic transit spaces into accessible galleries encountered by thousands of riders every day.

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