Project Description

More than 650 residents of the cities of Downey, Bellflower and Paramount contributed to artist Erika Rothenberg’s Wall of (Un)Fame. Chosen by lottery, and ranging from two weeks to 85-years in age, these individuals were given the opportunity to create their own non-celebrity version of Mann’s Chinese Theater. Terra-cotta-colored concrete panels, embedded with local residents’ footprints, hand prints and signatures, are mounted on a variety of surfaces throughout the station and also form the gateways to the station itself.

Rothenberg also designed color tile bands for the stairwells and tile patterns for the walls at the entrance level.

The cities of Downey, Bellflower and Paramount contributed funds to the enhancements at this station. The project was also in collaboration with Caltrans, Architects.

Erika Rothenberg, “Wall of (Un)Fame” (platform view)

About the Artist

Erika Rothenberg Artist Portrait

ERIKA ROTHENBERG was born and raised in New York City, studied at the University of Chicago, and now lives and maintains a studio in the Los Angeles area. Well known for her provocative works about social issues that often juxtapose words and images, Rothenberg has had exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Newport Harbor Art Museum, and at other museums and galleries in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Vienna, Berlin, Glasgow, and London. In 1992, she participated in Documenta IX in Kassel, Germany. Her public art commissions include several billboard projects as well as an installation at the Los Angeles Public Library Robertson Branch.