JULIE WALMSLEY

The city council today advanced the possibility of permanently closing the pedestrian tunnel on Sunset Boulevard by authorizing cost analysis, with a report due back in city council on an undecided date. The analysis is moving forward against the hopes of a group of local art enthusiasts who want it converted to an outdoor gallery modeled on the one in Cypress Village . I first learned about issues with the tunnel, and plans to close it, from one of Silver Lake city council member Mitch O'Farrell's field deputies. Then O'Farrell's press rep said no plans exist, weeks before O'Farrell filed the motion that today became a city council order to look at costs and find budget to get it done.

The Cypress Village Art Tunnel was open to the public tonight, providing a model for what Silver Lake hopes to create out of the now-closed pedestrian tunnel next to Micheltorena Elementary School on Sunset Boulevard.

Silver Lake art enthusiasts want their own version of the Cypress Village pedestrian tunnel-turned-outdoor-gallery, as I wrote for the Los Feliz Ledger . The article is short and I was limited to one photo. Unfortunate, as the photos tell the story of how the Sunset tunnel in Silver Lake now sits, and what Yancey Quiñones created in Cypress Park. Another untold element of the story is why people believe that it will be closed permanently. I first heard it from Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's deputy in a Silver Lake Neighborhood Council meeting. But on follow up with that office, O'Farrell's press rep Tony Arranaga told me he didn't know where that came from. A rep for public works also said no projects were in queue. The view into the tunnel on the south side of Sunset Boulevard at Golden Gate Avenue, across the street from Micheltorena Elementary School.  Photo courtesy: Matthew Mooney The view into the tunnel on the north side of Sunset Boulevard jus...