Los Angeles Revisited: GARY LEONARD's View of the 6th Street Bridge, Los Angeles, Cal.

Saturday, July 9, 2022

GARY LEONARD's View of the 6th Street Bridge, Los Angeles, Cal.

Steel toe boots are stowed in Gary Leonard's Honda FIT. They're necessary articles of the outfit to keep safe while photographing around a construction site, he said.

July 1, 2022
All photographs courtesy of G. Leonard

He has maintained a visual record of L.A. since the early 1980s and has been a part of high-profile construction assignments including the Disney Concert Hall (2003) and the Wilshire Grand Center (2017).

When the Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project was announced, it became Gary's personal project. He has been following the work since its groundbreaking in early 2015 and visits the site on a regular basis sometimes several days and nights each week. Aerials were photographed by helicopter prior to 2020 and then by drone.

The human factor has not bypassed Gary's attention to the built environment, and his archive includes the men and women who constructed the bridge.

Demolition 2016