Vandals painted graffiti on at least 25 floors of an abandoned Los Angeles luxury complex that will be visible from the Grammy Awards’ red carpet Sunday.
Graffiti painters over three days “tagged” balcony walls and windows on Oceanwide Plaza, which was planned as part of a multi-use group of buildings before construction stalled in 2019.
Oceanwide Plaza is in downtown Los Angeles near Crypto.com Arena where the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and NHL’s Los Angeles Kings play. The Grammys are being held in the LA Live development that features the arena, and Oceanwide Plaza will be visible from the red carpet.
Police have arrested two Los Angeles residents accused of participating in the vandalism: Victor Ramirez, 35, and Roberto Perez, 25. More than a dozen people were spraying graffiti on the building before 1 a.m. Tuesday, but only Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Perez were still there when police units arrived, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
The police department wrote on X Wednesday that they “met with the property management and [Council District 14] representatives to collaborate on better securing the property … The measures will be implemented immediately and the graffiti will be removed.”
Witnesses said the police presence has not deterred vandals.
“I could see people up on the balcony were tagging and everything. 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,” Daron Burgundy told KTLA-TV.
Mr. Burgundy also said some graffiti painters were coming to the building from out of state.
On Thursday, police received word that graffiti had been sprayed on the 30th floor of one of the complex’s buildings. Site security told officers when they arrived that the accused vandals had fled.
The fleeing driver, unnamed by police, did not initially stop for officers but was stopped soon after and cited on traffic charges. The passenger was cleared after questioning.
Police detectives are still working to find out who was responsible.