'Skyslide' off the side of the tallest skyscraper in the West - CNET

"Absolutely," Gamboa said. "Not everyone was on the same page when we came up with the idea for the slide...They said, 'Excuse me?'"

But the disbelief soon tued into reality. Now, the Skyslide is ready to open to the public this weekend [June 25].

The process started back in March when a Sikorsky helicopter -- usually used for fighting wildfires -- hoisted the 5-ton slide onto the building's rooftop.

This week, the chopper's overhead captured images of the final test runs before the big grand opening. The slide is just one part of an estimated $100 million top-to-bottom renovation of the building.

"When we bought it, [it] was tired, it was old, so we've done a lot to make sure the iconic is still iconic," said OUE America President and CEO Lucy Rumantir.

It's not the only skyscraper in L.A. reaching new heights. Just blocks away, the $1.2 billion Wilshire Grand Tower is less than a year away from completion.

Chris Martin's architecture firm designed the Wilshire Grand, which, when finished, will soar 1,100 feet in the sky, taking the title of tallest on the West Coast.

"Really what it gets us in the end is the opportunity for the public to come down here and say, 'I want to go to the top!'" Martin said.

San Francisco is also in on the race to the top, building the 1,070-foot-tall Salesforce Tower to cap its new mass transit hub.

Further north, developers in Seattle have submitted plans for a structure called Four-C, estimated at 100 stories or 1,029 feet.

"I think the economy's very good for construction right now and you're seeing a lot of foreign investment coming into areas like Los Angeles and Seattle and northe Califoia," said Brendan Murphy, vice president of Tuer Construction. "And it's just creating a lot of great opportunities to build really iconic buildings like Wilshire Grand."

Back at the Skyslide, they admit they will soon lose the tallest-in-the-West designation, but they're letting that slide.

"You can only achieve something different if you dare to do something big," Rumantir said.