'The Bay Lights' Go On Temporary Hiatus After Becoming Major Bay Area Attraction
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – It's been a little over two years now since The Bay Lights went up on the Western Span of the Bay Bridge. On Friday, they're going to come down, but just for a little while after the art display became famous around the globe.
"For the next eleven months, The Bay Lights will be dark, and it's going to feel like something is missing," Ben Davis of Illuminate the Arts told KPIX 5.
Shimmering over a waterfront that has sparked decades of angry debate - this is one addition people seem to love.
"The moment it came up, even the moment Leo (Villareal) began testing them, it just felt like it was always meant to be there," Davis said.
Originally booked for a two year run, the lights will now take an 11-month intermission as Caltrans performs maintenance on the Bay Bridge, before coming back permanently.
VIDEO: Interview With Bay Bridge Lights Artist
"Yeah, this is kind of the way it should be. You cannot appreciate that which you don't miss," Davis said.
It's hardly the first time art has managed to outlive its initial life expectancy. In 1899, the Eiffel Tower was built as a temporary structure, and the eye-popping light show designed for the millennium was also supposed to be temporary. Now you can see it for five minutes, every single night, every hour, on the hour.
"It's nice when things are actually temporary and we have to actively fight on their behalf," Davis said.
Something else to consider: Some San Francisco landmarks that we now think of as beloved were initially despised, such as Coit Tower.
So now we have a new landmark, one so instantly beloved that private citizens lined up to pay the bill and keep the lights shining for years to come.
"The Bay Lights is just an extraordinary work of art, a community came together to make this artwork possible, and that's what shines out of it, and that's why it has such an amazing attractive quality," Davis said.
