2 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
LOS ANGELES PLANS A GREAT PARK SYSTEM 
Of the many important projects Los 
Angeles now has under way to be com- 
pleted by 1913, the date of the opening 
of the Panama Canal, her park and 
boulevard system is one of the most 
important. Los Angeles is not sparing 
money or effort in her sweeping pre- 
parations to entertain the exposition vis- 
tors. Not least among the attractions 
she will have to offer them will be the 
scenic rides over what is planned to 
be one of the finest boulevard and park- 
way system in the country, and delight- 
ful days’ outings, winter and summer, 
in her 4,000 acres of parks. The city 
is planning a park and boulevard sys- 
tem that will bind together in one great 
chain twenty-three parks embraced in 
an area of rich land already planted 
to trees and flowers, watered by ample 
lakes and streams. The total length of 
the boulevards will be about 100 miles 
of paved, oiled and graveled drives 
branching off in every direction from 
the Plaza or center of the city, wind- 
ing through canyons, arroyo beds, 
sweeps of rural landscape slashed with 
brilliant swathes of wild flowers, dot- 
ted with orange, lemon, walnut and 
olive trees. At present Los Angeles has 
nearly 4,000 acres of parks. The prin- 
cipal tracts and their areas are : St. 
James, 1.6 acres; San Pedro, 3.2 acres; 
South Park, 18.5 acres; Sunset Park, 
10.3 acres; Sycamore Grove, 19.8 acres; 
Terrace Park, 1.1 acres; Vermont 
Square Park, 1.7 acres; Westlake Park, 
32 acres; Silver Lake Parkway, (pro- 
posed); Agricultural Park. 117 acres; 
Central Park, 5 acres ; Dixson Park, 0.3 
acre ; Eastlake Park, 43 acres ; Echo 
Park, 30 acres ; Ela Park, 0.8 acre ; Ely- 
sian Park, 532 acres; Everett Park, 0.6 
acres ; Griffith Park, 3,015 acres ; Hazard 
Park, 14 acres; Vienna Park, 0.1 acre; 
Occidental Boulevard, 1.1 acre; The 
Plaza, 1.1 acres and Prospect Park, 2.8 
acres. 
radius of the 101 square miles which 
make up greater Los Angeles. 
In working out the system it is pro- 
posed to take as a base or beginning of 
operations the Plaza, which in the old 
Spanish days when this city was born 
served as the center of the Pueblo de 
Nuestra Senora de los Angeles. The 
plans contemplate buildings to be erected 
here such as the City Hall, Public Li- 
brary, Southwestern Museum, Custom 
House, Sub-treasury and possibly hotels 
and theaters besides the all-important 
Union depot. These would conform in 
their architecture to the ideals of Span- 
ish colonial architecture. 
The beauty of Los Angeles parks is 
proverbial. Visitors from all part have 
bestowed unstinted praise upon the var- 
ied topography in the larger parks and 
the still more varied plant life to be 
seen on every hand. In altitude the 
municipal lands range from the level of 
the business section in the smaller parks, 
to more than 2,500 feet above this plane, 
on the higher peaks of Griffith Park. 
In Griffith Park, Los Angeles claims 
to have the largest municipal park in 
the world, and one with a grandly diver- 
sified natural scenery. It contains ap- 
proximately 3,015 acres. Here one may 
roam over hill and dale, across mea- 
dows and through woods, always amid 
natural surroundings, for hours, with- 
out twice following the same route. In- 
deed, in some parts it is hard, as yet, 
to find a “route.” One may come again 
and again without becoming familiar 
with all its interesting localities and na- 
tural features. The wisdom of securing 
and improving that valuable tract of 
ground — valuable because of its proxim- 
ity to a great and growing city — no one 
questions now, but there were many 
who thought such improvements un- 
warrantable extravagance at the time, 
although the land itself was donated. 
Griffith Park has been improved along 
the natural scenic lines, with roads and 
trails which serve the double purpose of 
forming fine scenic drives and rides and 
acting as fire breaks. A planting map 
of this park was made by the Bureau 
of Forestry at Washington, indicating 
what species of trees should be selected 
as preferable for the reforestation of 
The land surrounding the city is wide- 
ly diversified, totally different in its char- 
acter, mile for mile. There are valley 
stretches, green meadows, arroyo beds, 
rolling hills, steep hills, cliffs and pla- 
teaus and finally the low level sweep of 
the ocean shore, all lying within theNATURAL HILLS AND CANONS OF GRIFFITH PARK, LOS ANGELES. 
