- YouTuber Ben Schneider Climbed the Abandoned Oceanwide Plaza Buildings
- He admitted to using an unorthodox tactic to distract security guards.
- Footage captured the daredevil walking 675 feet in the air.
This is the stomach-churning moment where a daredevil walks a tightrope between two abandoned 49-story skyscrapers in Los Angeles.
YouTuber Ben Schneider shared footage of himself balancing between the Oceanwide Plaza apartment buildings, which are known as ‘graffiti towers’ after vandals turned them into an eyesore in the city centre.
Schneider said he was able to get past the police perimeter after his friends distracted guards by posing as a religious sect.
Speaking about his death-defying trick, Schneider said KTLA: ‘I call it moral graffiti… I’m a moral graffiti artist. I destroy buildings without causing any damage.’
Stunning footage captured the moment YouTuber Ben Schneider climbed through the abandoned buildings of Oceanwide Plaza in Los Angeles.
The Oceanwide Plaza apartment buildings are known as the ‘graffiti towers’ after vandals turned them into an eyesore in the city centre.
Schneider and his team pulled off the daring stunt by climbing more than 500 feet up both towers multiple times, tying an inch-thick nylon strap between their roofs.
The Oceanwide Plaza condominiums were intended to be a billion-dollar luxury apartment building and commercial space, but they have fallen into disrepair and sat empty for years.
With no occupants, the towers have become a popular graffiti spot, which Scheider said attracted him to try the trick.
To get past the guards, he said he and his team “pretended we were a religious sect and got 20 people holding signs that said, ‘Jesus saves.'”
“The signs blocked the police’s view, so we jumped over the fence,” he added.
Once on top of the buildings, Schneider, wearing a safety harness, climbed the tightrope between the buildings, which are 49 stories high, or 675 feet.
Schneider held a selfie stick above his head as he walked down the line, capturing the panoramic viewpoint and inducing vertigo for millions of viewers.
The Oceanwide Plaza condominiums were intended to be a billion-dollar luxury apartment building and commercial space, but they have fallen into disrepair as they have been vacant for years.
Lydia Ren, Schneider’s lookout (pictured together) during the stunt, said she was “pretty sure Ben could pull it off while attempting the death-defying act.”
Lydia Ren, Schneider’s lookout during the stunt, said she was “pretty sure Ben could pull it off,” as he traversed the line for more than two minutes.
‘I’m just doing this for fun. This is not a job. “I actually work at a virtual reality startup, so this is kind of what I do on the weekend,” he added.
When security officers realized the daredevil was in the building, he was forced to hide in a bathtub and cover himself with plywood to evade the officers.
KTLA reported that he remained hidden for hours before walking away without being arrested.
Schneider has amassed more than 350,000 followers on YouTube and said the risks of his hobby don’t faze him because “everything is dangerous.”
“Driving a car is dangerous, but we still drive,” he said.
‘The stunt I did was dangerous, but I think the reward outweighed the risk because I think we inspired a lot of people. I have to get out of my comfort zone. “We have to do something scary and inspire the world to live their best life.”
After completing the stunt, Schneider said, “the reward outweighed the risk because I think we inspired a lot of people… We got to do something scary and inspire the world to live their best life.”
The site of his daring stunt has become known as the ‘graffiti towers’ in recent years after a developer’s dream condos fell into disrepair as he ran out of funds to finish the buildings.
As well as being a common spot for artists and an opportunity to walk a tightrope, the towers have also seen graffiti artists scale the facades, while one person even jumped from the roof.
As city leaders struggle to decide what to do about the eyesores, the Los Angeles City Council voted in March to spend $3.8 million cleaning up the site.
