LOVE Park

LOVE Park with the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the distant background

Love Park (official name: JFK Plaza) is a plaza located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park is nicknamed Love Park for Robert Indiana's Love sculpture which overlooks the plaza.

History

Love Park is the brainchild of former Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon and architect Vincent G. Kling. The park is across from City Hall and was designed as a terminus for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The park was built in 1965 and covers an underground parking garage. The main features of the plaza are curved granite steps and a single spout fountain which was added in 1969. What was once the city visitor center was closed down for five years, but opened up in May 2006 as The Fairmount Park Welcome Center. The park was dedicated in 1967 as John F. Kennedy Plaza after President John F. Kennedy.

A "Love" sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza in 1976 as part of the United States' Bicentennial celebration. It was removed in 1978, but the sculpture was missed and the chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., bought the sculpture and permanently placed it in the plaza, in 1978.

Skateboarding

The large space, granite surfaces, and curved steps made the plaza attractive to skateboarding and in the 1980s it became a popular location for skateboarders. In the 1990s, LOVE Park's international reputation as a skateboarding locale had been strengthened by the successes of some of its most famous users. Internationally known professional skateboarders like Bam Margera, Stevie Williams, Josh Kalis and Philadelphia native Kerry Getz made their names in the skateboarding industry by being identified with their frequent use of LOVE Park's ledges and stair sets. Additionally, the status of LOVE Park in international skateboarding culture led to Philadelphia being chosen to host the 2001 and 2002 X-Games, viewed by 150 million people in over 18 countries and attracting nearly a half million spectators during its two year stay.

But LOVE Park has been more than the proving ground for professionals or a source of international media interest in Philadelphia, according to Rick Valenzuela, author of City Paper article, "A Eulogy for a Fallen Landmark":

"...LOVE hosted dozens who were content merely to skate there. These were the [skaters] who composed LOVE's core of regulars—kids who rode the El (the Market-Frankford subway) from the Northeast and Frankford, skated downhill on Market Street from West Philly, through the neighborhoods of South Philly, Center City residents who moved specifically to skate nearby LOVE. It's these folks whose daylong sessions generated the murmur that would eventually spread throughout the East Coast and to the [skateboarding] industry."

Love Park's prominence among the great skate locations ended almost simultaneously with the X-Games. In 2002, Mayor John Street engaged in a campaign to enforce a ban on skateboarding at the park. Increased fines for skateboarding and his focus on enforcing an ignored two–year old ban of "skateboarding on all public property unless otherwise authorized" diminished LOVE Park's skating activities. Placing the final nail in LOVE Park's status as a world renowned skate–spot, Mayor Street ordered the park to undergo a $800,000 remodeling which added planters to block ledges, covered other areas with grass and flowers and replaced stone benches with wooden ones.

LOVE Park's skateboarding became a minor issue in Mayor Street's reelection campaign, culminating with an opponent riding a skateboard (and quickly falling off) at the park. Mayor Street countered with a promise to create a city–owned location for skaters. As of 2008, the replacement skate park has not been built.

On June 1, 2004, in hopes of reopening LOVE Park to skateboarders, DC Shoes offered the city of Philadelphia $1 million for the maintenance, security, upkeep and replacement of obstacles to skateboarding in the park.^{[citation needed]} The offer was turned down.

The Love Fountain

The LOVE Park fountain in October 2009

The Love Park fountain is often dyed colors throughout the year to commemorate or celebrate events. Regular colors have included:

• Pink - kickoff for breast cancer awareness month (annually in October)
• Blue - commemoration of police officer fatalities
• Green - in honor of the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series, Phanatic Green (October 29, 2008)
• Red - marketing event for Showtime's Dexter television series

See also

• Edmund Bacon

External links

• Video Documentary about the rise and fall of skateboarding in LOVE Park
• LOVE Park from ushistory.org in Philadelphia.
• Love Park videos and photos from SkateSpotter
• Press Release: DC Shoes Gifts $1 Million