The Parks of Los Angeles 



By Laurie Davidson Cox'''. 



The student nf [lark development will tind amidst the to the area 

 wealth of park interest on the Pacific Coast not the least 

 of his surprises in southern California. 



Los Angeles is better known, perhaps, in the East than 

 any of the coast cities because of her equitable climate, 

 and although she is far behind her sister cities — Seattle 

 and Portland — in the development of a comjirehensive 

 park system, she has much of interest for the park en- 

 thusiast in her individual park areas. Especially is this 

 true as regards the wealth of horticultural e.ft'ects. 

 Probably nowhere in America will such a variety of 

 tro])ical. semi-tropical ;niil tcmiierate plants be foimd 



number of parks for many years; the 

 existing neighborhood parks, which had largely been 

 developed when Los Angeles was a comparatively small 

 city, had not kept pace with the growth of the city in the 

 dignity or metropolitan quality of their design and de- 

 velopment; while (Iriftith Park, the city's mountain 

 reservation of 3,000 acres and the greatest of her park 

 treasures, was totally neglected. 



With the advent of the present park coiumission, 



some four or five years ago, a vigorous campaign for 



Ijark improvement was inaugurated and the results, in 



spite of the small funds available, are already apparent, 



and some six months or more ago 



comprehensive plans for a numicipal 



and metropolitan park system were 



prepared by the author. 



The city of Los Angeles contains 

 some twenty-five parks, the total areas 

 of which is approximately 4,090 acres, 

 three quarters of which lie in Griffith 

 Park, a mountain reservation. The 

 most recent inventory of the depart- 

 ment shows real estate, buildings, 

 eciuipment and supplies valued at more 



CEXTR.\r, SijUARE, ONE OF THE MOST 

 BE.\UT1FUL FORMED SQUARES IN 

 AMERICA. 



growing side by side in a public park 



This very wealth of horticultura 

 detail i^ to blame for the slowness 

 with which the people of Los Angeles 

 have come to appreciate good land- 

 scape design and the need for a model 

 and comprehensive system of parks. 

 The city has. however, awakened to 

 this need at last and is today in the 

 ])rocess of securing a thoroughly 

 model system of park development. 



The city of Los Angeles is particularly fortunate in 

 possessing a large number of widely distributed park 

 areas, all of diverse topograph) and scenic possibilities, 

 instead of having her main park development concen- 

 trated in a single large area as is the case of her neighbor- 

 ing cities of San Francisco and San Diego. This dis- 

 tribution of the park areas makes them verv accessible 

 to the public and it is doubtful if there is a citv in America 

 wdiere the parks are so generally and constantly used as 

 in Los Angeles. This constant use is an inevitable result 

 of a climate which causes the parks to be attractive and 

 habitable nearly every day in the vear. 



It is only in the last few years that the present con- 

 ception of a comprehensive park system for Los Angeles 

 has taken form. Previously there had been little addition 



"Landscape .Assistant of tlie Los Angeles Park Department, 1911-1914. 



THE AL^TOM-ATIC SPRIXKLIXG SYSTEJI. ORIGINATING IX CENTRAL SOLWRIC. 

 HAS BEEN INSTALLED IN HUNDREDS OF PLACES .-^VLL OVER THE COUNTRY. 



than $9,000,000. During five years of the regime of 

 the present park administration the annual expenditures 

 for parks has nearly doubled. During the jiresent fiscal 

 year the city spent $313,168, approximately $1,000 per 

 day for each working day of the year. 



Maintenance is continuous throughout the year in the 

 climate of southern California and the park department 

 employs 250 men and 100 head of stock and owns mucli 

 rolling stock and machinery. The department also owns 

 and operates two fertilizer plants, which manufacture 

 \ early 8,000 tons of fertilizer from refuse which the de- 

 partment receives free. It also operates a nursery which 

 propagates about 500.000 plants and trees annually ; it 

 maintains a permanent, well organized construction force 

 of skilled mechanics and artisans, and all building and 

 construction work of every kind formerly done by j)rivate 

 contract, is performed l.iy this force. So great is the 



