Valentine / Grass Room

Downtown Los Angeles Nelson's most ambitious architectural and sculptural environment to that point, developed from three buildings with distinct histories: a turn-of-the-century brothel, the former Central Fish and Oyster Company, and a mid-century cold-storage structure later used for marijuana production. Selective demolition and salvage were combined with new greenhouse roofs, custom wall treatments, carved beams, murals, plant life, ceramic relief and invented layers of history. Tony Brown and Nelson developed TONYCOTTA, a clay and joint-compound wall surface capable of cracking, holding pigment and accepting inscription. Josh Beckman, Stacey Lynn Smith, Ivan Lee Mora and Umar Rashid contributed major sculptural and painted elements, often through ideas developed collectively rather than conventional commissions. The exterior became an abstract seascape and mural ecosystem, allowing the interior project to spill into the surrounding seafood district and helping generate The North Sea as a larger neighborhood work. Collaborators / contributors: Tony Brown; Sherry Walsh; Josh Beckman; Ivan Lee Mora; Umar Rashid / Frohawk Two Feathers; Stacey Lynn Smith; Jose Alvarado; Holly Vesecky; Design, Bitches; Parker Resnick Structural Engineering; additional builders and fabricators.