It will pass through Leimert Park, a leafy, historic neighborhood that for decades has been the heart of the city's African-American arts scene. The shuttle's route takes it through the neighboring city of Inglewood, then up Crenshaw Boulevard through South Los Angeles, a major Latino and black urban core. "There definitely is some talk about how they're bringing the space shuttle through the ghetto,'' says Heather Presha, a real state agent. That support has not been universal among residents along the shuttle's path. "We have had tremendous community support.'' "The taxpayers are not paying for it,'' Rudolph says. All of it is being financed by donations to the center, he said, part of a $200 million fundraising campaign to develop and highlight the museum's new main attraction and sustain the museum's operations. Rudolph estimates the cost of moving Endeavour from airport to museum at $10 million, including replanting trees, restoring streetlights and making amends to affected neighborhoods. Once it has crossed the bridge, Endeavour will be moved back onto its original transporter for the rest of the journey. He said the automaker has contributed "a significant amount'' of money to the science center for the shuttle move but declined to say how much. "We're always trying to show Tundra's capabilities,'' says Russ Koble, Toyota advertising and planning manager. Toyota has been promoting its role on a website and a billboard along I-405. To cross the Manchester Boulevard bridge over the I-405 freeway, the shuttle will be moved onto a smaller, lighter set of wheels and towed behind a stock Tundra V-8 pickup. Seeing a marketing opportunity, Toyota has gotten in on the spectacle. "It is an incredibly complex move,'' says Jeffrey Rudolph, chief executive of the museum. The center was awarded the last craft in NASA's fleet to orbit Earth before the shuttle program ended. Its destination is the California Science Center, an education-focused museum run jointly by the state and a not-for-profit foundation. Starting before dawn Friday morning, crews are to roll Endeavour on wheels from a hangar at Los Angeles International Airport, where it landed last month on the back of a Boeing 747 jet. There are designated viewing areas and plans for a Hollywood-style dance performance along the route to the shuttle's new home. The two-day crawl through cross-town traffic is being treated as a once-in-a-lifetime celebration. LOS ANGELES - Retired space shuttle Endeavour is completing its final journey with a 12-mile ride through busy city streets, its way cleared by sacrificing hundreds of trees, raising utility poles and removing traffic signals and other obstacles. the shuttle is the largest object ever routed through Los Angeles streets.Its destination is the California Science Center.Retired space shuttle Endeavour is completing its final journey.
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