Pershing Square, Los Angeles

The oldest public park in downtown Los Angeles, this square was set aside in the mid-nineteenth century and later renamed for General John Pershing after the First World War. Over the decades it has been redesigned many times, its current form marked by bold colored walls, a purple bell tower and an open plaza used for concerts and a seasonal ice rink. Surrounded by historic hotels and office towers, it offers a rare pocket of gathering space in the dense grid. War memorials and public art dot its paved terraces.