The dramatic new Walt Disney Hall opened with fireworks and fanfare during an inaugural concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Frank Gehry's astonishing design has been stirring tremendous excitement over the past few weeks. The Washington Post called Disney Hall a "Rhapsody in Steel." The San Francisco Chronicle called it a "sensuous spectacle." Copley News Service said, "Over time, it will be to Los Angeles what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris."

Of course, not everyone is so laudatory. One reviewer for the Los Angeles Downtown News concluded that "Gehry's forte was sculpture, not urban design." The LA Alternative Press said that Disney Hall "exhudes callous indifference towards the very city that spawned it."

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