Early on Tuesday, work crews began removing the Pulse Nightclub’s iconic sign. The club beacon has towered beside Orange Avenue for more than 20 years, and by the end of Wednesday, it will be gone, marking the city of Orlando’s first physical step toward building a permanent memorial.
Nearly 10 years ago, a gunman entered the club, killed 49 people and injured 53 others who were there for a Latin-themed dance night.
Last week, the city unveiled 30% of its design for the memorial. It includes a reflection pool, a new stylized Pulse tower, a healing garden, a fountain wall, a survivor's wall honoring those who were injured, and a row of columns – all with a tribute to the 49 on each column face.
Not everyone is excited about the new plans.
“I would like to hear less from a board of directors and people who are being paid to care about this, and more from the families and the communities that are affected,” said Maryjane East, 26, of Longwood.
In August, East was arrested after applying colored chalk to a crosswalk on the corner of East Esther Street and Orange Avenue outside the club. The crosswalk was previously painted in rainbow colors to honor the victims.
East was one of three protesters arrested in August after the Florida Department of Transportation removed the rainbow-colored crosswalk. The erasure kicked off a cycle of protesters re-coloring the crosswalk with rainbow chalk, and FDOT washing the chalk away.
East and other protesters were arrested on a charge of interference with a traffic device, but a judge released them with no pending charges.
East said she spent Sunday night there ahead of the Pulse sign’s removal to make sure no one defaced the sidewalk with offensive comments and even swastikas or snapped the small Puerto Rican flags lining the swale in front of the building.
“It happens every day, if not, every other day,” she said.
As crews removed the white paneling around the bottom of the sign, East watched from across the street. Between her and the crew was a crosswalk, colored in rainbow chalk.
“I like the sign,” she said. “I think it brings a completeness to the space. Here it is where (the 49) felt safe. It is what they saw when they came to dance that night.”
Regarding the plans, she feels the current design makes it feel like another Orlando attraction, and that the memorial should be left up to the victims’ families.
“They're the ones that show up here. They bring the flowers. They're actively trying to preserve the space and not just build it into something tourists feel comfortable coming to because, at the moment, their families don't feel comfortable coming here,” she said.
In 2024, the City began speaking with victims’ families and survivors about their opinions regarding a memorial. Informed by those conversations, the city created the Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee, consisting of members representing the victims’ families, survivors, and other community leaders, according to a web page devoted to the effort. Later that year, the committee was formed and met for about six months.
The Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee finalized a conceptual design for the future permanent memorial on Feb. 4,” according to a city press release. “The conceptual design incorporated elements and feedback from the victims’ families and survivors.”
Last week, during the design unveiling, two members of the public spoke out against the designs and argued that the concept does not properly honor the wishes of the victims’ families.
The top portion of the sign is scheduled to be removed on Wednesday. Demolition of the building will begin next week, with a watering of the building to reduce any airborne dust. Then crews will begin dismantling the exterior structure.
Construction of the memorial is slated to begin in September, with completion estimated in the fall of 2027.
