West Hollywood AIDS Monument under construction with opening scheduled

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- Thousands turned out to West Hollywood Park on Sunday for the 40th AIDS Walk Los Angeles.

Before the walk, ABC7's Karl Schmid talked to Irwin Rappaport, the chairperson of The Foundation for The AIDS Monument. You can watch the interview in the video player above.

West Hollywood Park will be the home of the new Stories: The AIDS Monument.

The monument will be made of 147 bronze pillars called "Traces" which will be 13 feet tall and measure approximately 4x4 inches at the base,

The Traces start with a very informal layout. As you move through them, the grid in which the Traces are located becomes more defined.

Thirty of the Traces have words engraved on them, representing what people were feeling and experiencing in the early days of the epidemic.

Visitors will be able to hear audio stories from the 1980s and early 1990s on their mobile devices when visiting the monument.

The monument is scheduled to open to the public in August 2025.

For more information, visit the foundation website at aidsmonument.org.