Although New Year's Eve can sometimes be a pricey, hassle-filled proposition, Grand Park is one of the best options in Los Angeles for an affordable, family-friendly way to ring in the new year.

Crews have been setting the stage for Grand Park's New Year's Eve bash, where some 50,000 people are estimated to come to enjoy a bevy of music acts, food trucks, and some cutting-edge 3D projections that will light up L.A.'s iconic City Hall.

“We are using 30K laser projectors, ten of them, to fill the entire front face of City Hall. We go in and the content's built for it and outlines basically the entire architecture of the building allows the content to change and morph and creates different architectural shapes across the building,” said Colin Feeney of VER Equipment Rentals. 

On New Year's Eve eve, organizers gave a sneak preview of L.A. Dreams, a five-minute presentation that showcases the artwork of 5th and 6th graders from the L.A. area, many of whom showed up the night before the big event to see their work projected 30 stories tall. It's all part of fostering community spirit.

“We are big city that really is full of love for each other and pride about being Angelenos,” said Julia Diamond, interim director of Grand Park at the Music Center.

“And we didn't have a moment for ourselves. It started in 2013, we didn't quite know who would come out and we had 25,000 people in the first year. So we were clearly onto something, and it's grown every year.”

Students were given free reign to express how they feel about the future of Los Angeles, from fighting homelessness and pollution to how they see transportation and architecture evolving.

“Wow!” said Garson Yu, artistic director of L.A. Dreams.

“They are just so imaginative. We give them the assignment and they come back with this such really wonderful, imaginative work that inspires us.”

“I'm overwhelmed,” said Vigga Keller, one of the young artists whose work is part of the presentation. “I never knew this was going to happen. It was about a year ago, and I didn't really expect anything. So this is super cool.”

So, for these young LA dreamers, and for the rest of us, the future is now.