The Pacific Wheel at Santa Monica Pier will glow purple and gold Monday night, running custom light patterns from sunset around 7:30 p.m. until midnight in tribute to Kobe Bryant on the day Los Angeles has set aside to remember him. The 90-foot Ferris wheel, powered entirely by solar energy according to Pacific Park, will flash Bryant's retired jersey numbers 24 and 8, along with the phrases LA (heart) 24 and LA (heart) 8, according to organizers.
The display is built on serious hardware: the wheel's lighting system is mounted across 40 spokes and two hubs, carries 174,000 LED lights, and can produce 16.7 million color combinations as well as computer-generated images at up to 24 frames per second, according to Pacific Park. As reported by MyNewsLA.com, the wheel will run custom patterns and transitions celebrating Bryant's career and his Los Angeles legacy throughout the night.
Why August 24 Matters
The date itself is the tribute. August 24 represents Bryant's two Lakers jersey numbers, 8 and 24, and falls just a day after what would have been his birthday, since Bryant was born August 23. The Los Angeles City Council made it official first, declaring August 24 as Kobe Bryant Day in 2016 following his retirement, honoring both his 20-season career with the Lakers and his work with the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, according to LAist.
Orange County followed in 2020, with its Board of Supervisors designating its own Kobe Bryant Day that explicitly named all nine victims of the helicopter crash that killed Bryant, per the Los Angeles Times. A year later, U.S. Representative Michelle Steel introduced a resolution in Congress seeking national recognition of the date, according to Wikipedia, though that effort has not resulted in a federal holiday. The observance's popular framing around August 24 actually eclipsed an earlier corporate branding attempt: Nike had declared April 13, 2016, as Mamba Day to coincide with Bryant's farewell game against the Utah Jazz, but the date shifted in public consciousness to the jersey-number anniversary instead, per Sports Illustrated.
The Crash That Made the Date Somber
Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas on January 26, 2020, at age 41. His 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died in the same crash along with seven other people. Bryant spent his entire NBA career with the Lakers, from 1996 to 2016, retiring as the franchise's all-time leader in games played and regular-season points, with 33,643 career points, five NBA championships, two Finals MVP awards, 18 All-Star selections, and the league's Most Valuable Player honor in 2008.
The Lakers retired both of his jersey numbers in December 2017, making him the first Lakers player to have two numbers retired by the franchise. He closed out his career on April 13, 2016, scoring 60 points against the Jazz.
Statues Outside the Arena Tell the Same Story
The pier's light show is one piece of a broader physical memorial effort across Los Angeles. A 19-foot bronze statue outside Crypto.com Arena, unveiled in February 2024, recreates the moment after Bryant's 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, depicting him in his No. 8 uniform with his right index finger raised. That statue drew unwanted attention that spring when, as Hoodline reported on the viral typo backlash, the marble base's box score contained misspelled player names and a misspelled word. The Lakers corrected four errors on the plaque, including the names José Calderón and Von Wafer, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
A second statue, unveiled outside the arena on August 2, 2024, depicts Bryant and Gianna sitting courtside together, incorporating his numbers 8 and 24 alongside her No. 2 youth basketball jersey. A third statue depicting Bryant in his No. 24 jersey is planned to complete the three-part monument series, according to FOX 11. Separately, Los Angeles City Council members introduced a motion in 2020 to rename a three-mile stretch of Figueroa Street outside the arena as Kobe Bryant Boulevard, a route that historically carried Lakers championship parades, per CBS Los Angeles.
A Pier Tradition Under New Ownership
Pacific Park has periodically lit the Pacific Wheel for Bryant since 2020, including a 2023 show that spotlighted his 81-point game, his 2000 NBA Finals Game 4 performance, and his 60-point retirement game, according to the Santa Monica Mirror. The park itself changed hands in March 2024, when New York private equity firm SC Holdings acquired it and committed $10 million in capital investments over five years toward park operations and entertainment programs, per the Santa Monica Lookout. Pacific Park draws roughly 10 million visitors annually and remains Southern California's only pier-based amusement park and Los Angeles County's only admission-free one.
The Pacific Wheel sits at 380 Santa Monica Pier and is billed by Pacific Park as the world's only solar-powered Ferris wheel. Monday's display adds to a stretch of high-profile pier programming that has included a casino-themed fundraiser inside the historic carousel and a World Cup fan activation hosted by Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg earlier this year, underscoring how central the pier has become to the region's public gatherings.
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