Shake Shack WeHo Adds #HappyWall in Anticipation of Spring Debut

In case you’d forgotten, Shake Shack is coming to West Hollywood in a big way next year. Since the initial announcement last April, the groundbreaking burger outfit has been quietly, well, breaking ground on the former Koo Koo Roo site right on Santa Monica Boulevard.

The most recent development involves the addition of a brand new art installation on the temporary construction wall out front. Dubbed the Happy Wall, the dynamic piece lets anyone and everyone flip tiles between a particular color and basic black, drawing binary images or spelling out things at will. Yes, anything.

For now at least, the wall simply shows off a Shake Shack logo and the words 'We [Heart] WeHo', splayed out in a rainbow of colors. The installation is the work of Danish artist Thomas Dambo, who has put in similar pieces previously in Europe.

As for the building itself, Shake Shack WeHo is still very much in progress. The place is mostly down to the studs, though construction crews are blazing through with the remodel. Corporate folks on site today say it could be as early as spring before the city sees its first true LA-made Shake Shack burger. That’s a fast turnaround by most standards when you consider how slow the city and county can be with permitting, but word is Danny Meyer’s beloved burger chain is being well looked after at the local government level.

In the meantime, Shake Shack will be teaming up with various restaurants and chefs around town for some anticipation-building pop-ups between now and their spring opening. No official word on those yet, except to say that the first will take place in January, and Jon & Vinny will be involved. And if you want to see who writes what on the wall over the coming months, you’ll have to follow along at their #HappyWall hashtag.