Elizabeth Olsen, Andy Garcia attend Banksy mural auction party in LA

Hollywood actors Elizabeth Olsen, Andy Garcia and Nestor Carbonell were among the A-list guests Thursday at a star-studded party in Los Angeles to promote the auction of a Banksy mural — with a seven-story building attached.

The famous artwork is the city’s only native Banksy piece, which was painted in secret one evening in 2010 while the owners of the property were away.

Jewelry designer Tarina Tarantino and her husband Alfonso Campos have been forced to sell their mid-rise Art Deco building after going bankrupt during the pandemic.

In court files, they estimate the commercial real estate in downtown LA is worth $16 million — but they hope to get at least $30 million at auction next month, suggesting the real draw to investors is the painting, not the building. .

“Is it a building with a Banksy or a Banksy with a building?” Tarantino said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

“We’re trying to do something that hasn’t been done before, which is to sell the building as art,” Campos added. “Most people want to cut it into pieces.”

The artsy couple’s Hollywood friends at the event included Godfather and Oceans 11 star Garcia and Bates Motel actor Carbonell, who both joked with DailyMail.com that they would compete to place the first bid on the building.

WandaVision star Olsen was also in attendance with musician Robbie Arnett.

The actress revealed to DailyMail.com that evening that she would not star in season two of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon, despite rumors of her involvement.

The mural, Girl on a Swing, shows a large red ‘Parking’ sign with the last three letters whitewashed and a child swinging from the letter ‘A’.

Tarantino and Campos said Banksy painted the mural in 2010 while visiting LA for the premiere of his documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop.

They told DailyMail.com how they nearly turned down the multi-million dollar addition to their building.

‘We were both in New York during the fashion fair. We got a call from a friend of ours,’ said Campos.

“He said, listen, I’m with this really great artist who wants to do something on the side of your building. I can’t tell you, but I promise you’ll thank me.’

The couple had bought the property in 2007 for $4 million just before the crash, and struggled while plowing $1.8 million into the renovation — so were hesitant to allow some unknown graffiti on the historic building.

But after reluctantly agreeing, they returned from the East Coast to find a crowd surrounding the new Banksy mural.

“It was almost like those Virgo apparitions in Latin America, there were 100-200 people standing around this wall.

“We didn’t realize at the time the incredible gift, the impact that mural would have, not only in our building, but also in the city of LA. It has become this destination for the locals.’

Campos said that when he and his wife saw the girl on the swing, they decided they should keep it and even turned down offers of more than $1 million from Facebook for a cut-out of the wall.

‘We immediately got offers from people in Silicon Valley, from Facebook. They were offering pretty high prices at the time,” he said.

“As tempting as that was, we looked at the crowd and we both thought not.”

Located at 908-910 South Broadway, the building was built in 1914 to a design by Meyer & Holler, the architects behind the iconic Egyptian theatre, and became an iconic landmark for movie buffs as the location where Harold Lloyd clocked a clock in the 1923 dangled. silent film Safety Last.

The property also used to house LL Burns’ Western Costume Company, which had a near monopoly on movie costumes during Hollywood’s silent film era.

The Thursday night party was held on the ground floor of the 26,500-square-foot South Broadway building.

A guest at the party was Banksy’s producer Daniel Salin, who has been working with the artist since 2006.

“With Banksy’s success, many incredible works have disappeared from the public eye,” he told DailyMail.com.

“It’s nice to have one left in Los Angeles. It’s a beautiful piece, I hope it stays together.’

“It’s always been difficult to value outdoor street objects, but if you’ve watched the Banksy market in the last two or three years, it’s quadrupled.

‘I have seen him go from the embryonic stage of his ideas to full completion. And there is no one like him.’

A smaller mural of Banksy painted on an English electrics shop, Crowbar Girl, was cut out last year and sold for a rumored $2.4 million.

His famous shredded artwork titled Love Is in the Bin sold for a record $25.4 million at Sotheby’s in October 2021.

Holly Dunlap, former head of the Private Client Group at Sotheby’s in London, has told the New York Times that the mural may be worth at least $10 million on its own, but Sotheby’s has refused to sell hackneyed Banksy murals.

Garcia told DailyMail.com that he thinks the piece should stand.

‘Why would you cut it? That would be ridiculous to do. I think it would be foolish. It’s iconic, the fact that it’s there. It’s not just a piece of graffiti.’

The actor and director added that he would have the first chance to buy the building, but he would hit his friends with a low-ball.

‘I am very good friends with Tarina and Alfonso. I want the opening bid – $24.97,” he said.