MacArthur Park
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Coordinates: 34°03′31″N 118°16′39″W / 34.05861°N 118.2775°W
MacArthur Park (formerly Westlake Park) is a park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.[1]
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[edit] Geography
The park is divided in two by Wilshire Boulevard. The southern portion primarily consists of a lake, while the northern half includes an amphitheatre, bandshell, soccer fields, and a children's playground along with a recreation center operated by the city of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The bandshell, recently renovated as the Levitt Pavilion - MacArthur Park, is once again the host of jazz, big band, salsa music, and world music concerts. Since reopening it hosts at least 50 free concerts each summer between June and September.
The lake in MacArthur Park is fed by natural springs (although an artificial bottom to the lake was laid during the construction of the L.A. Metro Red Line, opened in 1993). In the past, a fountain with a reflecting pool on the northern end was also fed by the springs.
The Metro Red Line runs beneath MacArthur Park, and the train line can be accessed through the adjacent Westlake/MacArthur Park station.[2]
[edit] History
The park, originally named Westlake Park, was built in the 1880s, along with a similar Eastlake Park, whose lake is artificial, in Los Angeles. Westlake Park was re-named May 7, 1942; Eastlake Park was re-named Lincoln Park. Both Westlake and Eastlake (as well as Echo Park) were built as drinking water reservoirs connected to the city's systems of zanjas (small conveyance channels). When the city abandoned the non-pressurized zanja system for a pressurized pipe system, these smaller, shallow reservoirs located at low points no longer provided much benefit. They were then converted into parks[3].
In the mid-1800s the area was a swampland; by the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. In the early part of the twentieth century, the MacArthur park area became known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles.
Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street (which ran from Alvarado to Figueroa) into downtown Los Angeles. Orange Street was renamed Wilshire and extended east of Figueroa to Grand Ave. This divided the lake into two halves; the northern one was subsequently drained.
According to a Los Angeles Times news story from 1956, two swans named Rudie and Susie hatched their five new cygnets on the island in MacArthur Park Lake, and according to the park superintendent, these were the first swans born in the park in over a decade.[4]
For many years, Filipino World War II veterans protested in the park named after their former commander regarding promises made when they enlisted that the United States had reneged on. [5] In 2009 as part of the stimulus package the Congress awarded lump-sum payments of $15,000 to Filipino veterans who are American citizens and $9,000 to those who are noncitizens. [6]
[edit] Decline
Despite the rather poetic homage paid to it in the 1968 song, the real MacArthur Park became known for violence after 1985 when drug-dealing, shoot-outs and the occasional rumored drowning became commonplace, with as many as 30 murders in 1990.[7] The Westlake area also became infamous for the sale of fake identification cards. When the lake was drained in 1973 and 1978 hundreds of handguns and other firearms were found to have been disposed of in the lake.[8]
In 2001, a couple members of the notorious 18 Street gang had a shootout with their rivals, the MS 13. A 18 Street clique known as MacArthur Park clique got into an argument with members of MS 13 which eventually led to a shootout. There were three deaths and two injuries.
[edit] Popular culture
- MacArthur Park is famous for the song named after it, written by Jimmy Webb and first performed by Richard Harris in 1968.
- MacArthur Park is featured in the 2008 video game, Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
- In the Simpsons episode "A Fish Called Selma," Troy McClure's agent, voiced by Jeff Goldblum, is named "MacArthur Parker."[9]
- The MacArthur Park bandshell was painted by local artists and graffiti artists under the direction of Otis Parsons. Some of the artists involved were: Robert Williams, Skill, John "Zender" Estrada, Hector "Hex" Rios, Geo, Exit, Trip, Hate Prime, Relic, Galo "MAKE" Canote, RickOne and others. Various Dates. [10][11] Some of the artwork was featured in the book Spray Can Art by Henry Chalfant and Jim Prigoff
- The park was the setting for Joseph Wambaugh's novel, The Choirboys.
- MacArthur Park was featured in the 1997 film, Volcano, as well as the 2005 film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
- MacArthur Park was also featured in the 2001 Sundance film MacArthur Park.[12]
- In one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Carlton Banks decides to take a trip to MacArthur Park after dark in an attempt to win a bet and prove to Will that he can "make it" in Compton, California.
- In the horror novel, World War Z, it is said that MacArthur Park is being used as a potato farm.
- Jimmy Webb's song, MacArthur Park, is referenced in the Michelle Shocked song "Come a Long Way": "I heard the screams of the dying dark / Through the sweet green icing of MacArthur Park."
- The song "Leave It" by the pop group Yes (band), from the album 90125, includes the line "MacArthur Park in the driving snow".
- In the Gym Class Heroes music video for Cupid's Chokehold (the As Cruel as School Children version) directed by Alan Ferguson, Travis McCoy and factitious girlfriend Katy Perry meet in MacArthur Park along with dancing cupids
- In the movie Training Day, Jake stops two drug addicts from raping a 14 year old girl near MacArthur Park.
- Rob Dyrdek's MTV show Rob & Big featured MacArthur park in an episode where Rob broke two skateboarding world records bringing his total that day to a total of 21 separate skateboarding world records. (305 - Guinness)
- The song "Lazy Days" by the pop group Shwayze, from the album Shwayze, mentions "walkin' through MacArthur Park."
- In the film Havoc, Allison meets Hector in MacArthur Park the afternoon before she is arrested.
- In the film Money Talks, Chris Tucker's character named Franklin Hatchet goes to a nightspot looking for someone named Aaron. A doorman opens and Franklin proceeds to explain how he knows Aaron."Tell him I was there when he shot Baby Bro at MacArthur Park."
- On the television show The Shield, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) instructs a Salvadoran gangster Guardo Lima (Luis Antonio Ramos) to place $50,000 in a trash can by the lake.
- MacArthur Park also appeared in the Numb3rs episode Hangman (6x01).
[edit] Emergency services
[edit] Fire service
Fire protection and emergency medical services are provided by the Los Angeles Fire Department fire station #11 at 1819 West 7th Street in the area of MacArthur Park. This station is in the 1st Battalion.
[edit] Police service
The Los Angeles Police Department operates the Rampart Community Police Station at 1401 W. 6th Street, serving the neighborhoods around the park [1]. The station had its grand opening September 6, 2008 after many years of effort being made to secure a new facility to replace the outdated station which had served the area since 1966.[2]
[edit] Other MacArthur Parks
There is also a MacArthur Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, where MacArthur was born in 1880.[13] It is built around the former Little Rock Arsenal and contains MacArthur's birthplace, which now serves as the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ "HISTORIC-CULTURAL MONUMENT (HCM) REPORT". Los Angeles Department of City Planning. November 10, 2004. http://cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/HCM/dsp_hcm_result.cfm?community=Westlake. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
- ^ "Metro Red Line". Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/red_line.htm. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
- ^ "The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth", Blake Glumprecht, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999,
- ^ MacArthur Park Swans Welcome Two Cygnets: Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.:Apr 26, 1958. p. 3 (1 pp.)
- ^ Filipino Veterans Chain Selves to Statue in Protest
- ^ Filipino Veterans Benefit in Stimulus Bill
- ^ http://www.mediamatic.net/article-6147-en.html
- ^ MacArthur Park Lake's muddy bottom yields raw materials for free-form sculptures that are also time capsules
- ^ "Jeff Goldblum". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000156. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
- ^ http://www.publicartinla.com/sculptures/MacArthur_Park/underpass_murals.html
- ^ http://www.publicartinla.com/sculptures/MacArthur_Park/
- ^ "MacArthur Park (2001/I)". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0270487/. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
- ^ "Little Rock City Parks". About.com. http://littlerock.about.com/cs/outdoorrecreatio1/tp/aacityparks.htm. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
- ^ "MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History". City of Little Rock Department of Parks and Recreation. http://www.arkmilitaryheritage.com/. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
"It's General MacArthur Not Westlake Park From Now On," Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1942, 1. 54gyg700=dfgrfjhiku8bfgvf
[edit] External links
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