Fancy going down a glass slide the next time you’re in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles — There is a new tourist attraction in downtown Los Angeles. Nearly 305 meters above the streets, a glass slide on the outside of the city’s tallest building is preparing to welcome the brave.

The Skyslide, on the 73rd floor of the US Bank Tower, opened to the public on Saturday and allows thrill seekers to slide 14 m to an outdoor platform on the 69th floor. The US$3.5 million (S$4.7 million) slide is part of a US$50-million renovation of the top floor of the building, which, at 810m, is currently the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

You need to sit on a grey mat and pull it over your feet to ride. After that, you hurtle yourself over the precipice. Only one person can go at a time. Fourteen meters sounds long, but the ride takes just a few seconds. Before you can get a really proper scream going, you’re launched out onto a safety mat on an outdoor deck on the 69th floor.

According to the building’s owner, Singapore-based OUE Ltd, the glass on the fully-enclosed slide can withstand hurricane-force winds and even a powerful earthquake. Lucy Rumantir, the president and chief executive of OUE for the Americas, said the company began having meetings about six months after the acquisition to discuss what new elements could be added to attract more than just office workers.

The answer was an observation deck. It was a no-brainer: On a clear day, you can see all the way out to the ocean. But lots of tall buildings in big cities have observation decks. They needed something special.

A lot of ideas were thrown around: Bungee jumping from the roof. Cable cars going around the outside of the building. A zip line to the ground. “We have to do something that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” Rumantir said. Ultimately, they went with an external glass slide. It’s incredibly safe: The slide is strong enough to hang a school bus filled with people off of it, she added. AGENCIES