With days to go until the 2024 Grammy Awards, one nominee in the running for Album of the Year contains an unexpected architectural overture.
Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, nominated in three categories, contains a song of the same name that dwells on an abandoned piece of infrastructure in Long Beach, California.
In the song “Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Del Rey draws on themes of being forgotten and underappreciated in the future despite current fame. The lyrics draw a parallel between Long Beach's Jergins Tunnel under Ocean Boulevard which was closed to the public in 1967 and has since been largely forgotten, a historical fact Del Rey entwines with her own foreboding of one day being unappreciated and overlooked.
Constructed in 1927, the subterranean tunnel was named after the Jergins Trust Building, which the tunnel connected to the Ocean Boulevard sidewalk, facilitating pedestrian access to the beachfront and the Pike amusement zone. The tunnel's creation symbolized the innovative urban planning of the era, designed to enhance the pedestrian experience in a rapidly growing city.
Decorated with ornate tiles and equipped with skylights that allowed daylight to illuminate its path, the Jergins Tunnel was an architectural experience in its own right, with various shops and services along its length. Del Rey dwells on the beauty of the tunnel in the opening verse of the song, asking: “Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard? Mosaic ceilings, painted tiles on the wall.”
Decades later, changes in the cityscape, including the demolition of the Jergins Trust Building in 1988, led to the tunnel's closure and abandonment, a condition Del Rey describes as “Handmade beauty sealed up by two man-made walls.” Seeing the tunnel as a metaphor for the passing of time, and how all people and things ultimately fade to obscurity, Del Rey wonders: “When’s it gonna be my turn?”
While the tunnel remains abandoned for now, plans are afoot for a Hard Rock Hotel on the site of the former Jergins Trust Building, which may add a new chapter to the piece of forgotten infrastructure. Due to open in the second half of 2027, the project will see Jergins Tunnel converted into a speakeasy with music that “ties into our local vibe,” according to Long Beach’s mayor.
There may yet be a Grammy Award-winning album to add to the playlist.
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