Star Search

Once, before office towers grew beyond all human proportion and L.A.’s 150-foot height ordinance held sway, a commercial real-estate venture was crowned by an obligatory show of patriotism: an American flag snapping from a rooftop flagpole. Now, above the decay of downtown streets, atop buildings half or wholly empty, the flagpoles soar slender and graceful, but flagless--standard bearers of civic futility. Stripped of hoisting ropes and hardware, the shafts look as thin and tragic as a ‘20s flapper. With one exception. This year, Old Glory began again to flutter above the 1927 Title Insurance & Trust Company Building at 4th and Spring streets. “I’m a pretty patriotic individual,” says Steven Shupp, the building’s manager. “It looked nice to have a flag fly up there.” The expenses are not trifling. The flag retails for $300, floodlighting it makes a dent in the water and power bill, and every few months it is hauled down and washed--though smog, sun and wind have frayed the fabric and faded the blue to a faint purple. Still, it’s oddly stirring to be able to gaze above the deserted street and glimpse a ghostly smear of Stars and Stripes flapping in the evening breeze.