The Santa Monica Pier will light up in purple and gold Thursday night in honor of late Lakers Legend Kobe Bryant.
Pacific Park’s 90-foot-tall Ferris wheel will light up with ‘LA + heart + 24’ and ‘LA + heart + 8’ along with displays of gold and purple colors in a variety of patterns and transitions.
Kobe Bryant Day (also known as Black Mamba Day or Mamba Day), 8/24, honors the two jersey numbers Bryant wore during his 20-year NBA career, as well as it being the day after his birthday, August 23. In 2017, he became the first player in NBA history to have two jersey numbers retired by the same team.
The Pacific Wheel’s 174,000 LED lights are mounted on the Ferris wheel’s structure including the 40 spokes and two hubs. The world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel’s lighting system features 16.7 million color value combinations while the programming and display software presents imaging up to 24 frames per second to display dynamic, custom, computer-generated lighting entertainment. The eco-friendly, enhanced LED lighting provides 81 percent greater energy savings than most Ferris wheel’s traditional incandescent bulbs.
The Ferris wheel will be lit up in honor of Kobe from sunset Thursday night until midnight.
Below you’ll find a list of ways to honor Mamba on his special day.
Take a walk around Staples Center
Staples Center is known as”The House that Kobe Built,” as Bryant won 5 NBA championships in 20 seasons donning purple and gold.
The Lakers and Clippers moved to Staples Center in 1999, which marked Mr. Bryant’s fourth season in the league.
The restaurants surrounding Staples Center are open for dine-in and takeout. This includes LA staple, The Original Pantry Café, along with Yard House, Fleming’s, El Cholo, Broken Spanish, Levy, and Rock N Fish Restaurant.
Last August, Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson announced there is a plan in the works to rename a portion of Figueroa Street after the Lakers legend near the arena.
Visit a Kobe Bryant mural
Murals honoring Kobe and Gianna Bryant can be found worldwide, with more than 300 in the Los Angeles area.
KobeMural.com details where you can find mural locations in Southern California, throughout the US, and across the globe.
“Kobe Bryant to me was just an absolute hero. His worth ethic and who he was as a person, his Mamba Mentality I really applied throughout my whole process of being here for so long,” muralist Ladie One said.
She’s in the process of unveiling a Kobe Bryant mural in downtown Los Angeles that has taken 150 days to complete.
