A couple weeks ago we had a very silly party here in our corner of Long Beach. They called it "A Rock Party" because there was a very, very large rock in town for the day. Yes, I said that right.
You see, an artist was doing an installation at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) called "Levitated Mass" that involved a trench people would walk through, some supports that couldn't be seen from underneath, and a 340-ton rock.
LACMA's official material suggested this was the largest megalith moved since ancient times. Since the pyramids, people. I'm telling you, this rock was big.
So big it couldn't be moved on the freeway, over metro rail tracks, under overpasses, etc. Word was, it took a year simply to secure the permits to move the rock in a very wide loop through a couple counties, from Riverside in the east to the Wilshire District of Los Angeles in the west. Crazy enough, it came through my little corner of town on its way.
The rock only moved at night, when roads could be closed, traffic lights moved, wires cut, and so forth. During the day, it sat still, at the side or in the middle of a road, and waited for night. Except in my town, where residents decided to throw a party. A rock party, of course.
There were artists painting the rock and its transportation, DJs playing songs with "rock" in the title, vendors selling tee-shirts ("Bixby Knolls rocks!"), LACMA representatives handing out information, hundreds (maybe thousands) of local residents and workers. It was lots of fun, to be honest.
And it was hilarious that everyone came out to celebrate a lump of granite visiting town. I mean, really? Sure, it was the biggest lump of granite we'd ever seen, let alone seen on the move. But still. A rock! Maybe it's just any excuse for a party. And I guess I like a community that feels that way. I even made LACMA's highlights reel video!
