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PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS
AND BEACHES
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I I. HI-: Vic\\ IOl\-arJ thc mOlllltains from thc
p r o p u ~
l .1rb -.1y along Ihe Puentc Hills.
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PARKS, PLA YGROUNDS e-, f
AND BEACHES
FOR THE LOS ANGELES REGION
A Report subl' J ' J.itted to the Cit i zens' COl1tlnittee on Park s , Playgrounds,
and Beaches , by ~ f msted Br ot her s and Bar tholo1' J ' J .ew
and Associates, Consultants
,
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
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List of Plates
Members of CitizensPark s) Playgr ound s
Letter of Tr ansmittal
Committee onand Beaches
PART I.
GE NER AL R EPORTPAGE
Cha pter I. General Consid erations and
Summary of ConclusionsPARK SYSTEM FU NCTIONS AND ALLIED FUNC-
\,.TIONS •
R elated educational f unctions
R elated highway f unctions
R elated commer cial enterprises
Proper limit of park -system f unctions and
facilities
PARK SHORTAGE I N THE Los A NGELES R EGIO"I •
The peculiar economic status as a r eason for
the lack of par k s .
The cr isis that confronts t he people
PARK -SYSTEM FACILITIES -- •
Class 1. Local r ecr eation facil ities, including
playground s, r ecr eation park s, and .. s pecialunits - -.
Ef f icient size and range for a r ecr eation unit
,-\d ministration of local f acilities
Class II. R egional r ecreation facilities
Pu bl ic beaches
Desir able f eatur es of r egional beaches
Conflict of pr i,'ate and pu blic be ach rights
R egional athletic f ield s
Lar ge r eser vations in mountains, canyons,
d eser ts and island s
Pleasur eway par k s or par k ways, and re-
lated large park s .
"Pleasur eway par k s" and par k ways d e-
f ined
Pr esent cost of r ecreation travel
COST OF LA ND FOR A PAR K SYSTEM
PARK S AND THE DR AI NAGE PR OBLEM
SUMMAR Y OF CO NCLUSIO NS .
Cha pter II. Conditions Aff ecting the
Need for Par k and R ecr eation Facil-
ities in the Los Angeles R egion. 19
CHARACTER OF THE R EGIO N 19
THE POPULATIO N 19
Low d ensity of population 20
Eff ect of low density on the park problem 20
PAGE
IX EI-ils of the "friction of distance"
Age grou ps .
Income gr ou ps
HOUSI NG
CLIMATE
SCENIC R ESOUR CES
STR EETS AND HIGHWAYS
CAR LI NES AND R AILWAYS
ZONI NG TO CO NTR OL TliE USE OF THE LA ND
SPECULATIVE LAND SUBDIVISIO N
SHOR TAGE I N EXISTI NG PARK ANI) R ECREATIO N
FACILITIES
DISTR IBUTIO N OF SPACES NEEDED FOR LOCAL
SER VICE .-
CO NCLUSIO N
Cha pter III. Administr ative, Legal and Financial Conditions Aff ecting the
Cr eation of an Ad equate Park and
R ecr eation System f or the Los An-geles RegionLocal authorities and co-operati,-e action
R egiona ) a uthorities and continuing policies
Legislation r ecommend ed .
I':STIMATED COST OF THE PR OPOSED PAR K SYSTE:I'I
Factor s that may modif y costs
Possi ble sour ce of f und s
jUSTIFICATJO"l FOR THE PROPOSED EXPENDI-
TUR ES
Ind ustr ial gr owth
The burdcn of s peculati\-e land values
ESTIMATED COST FOR MAI NTENANCE .
Cost of the plan to the average home owner
Ear ly action need ed to o btain r esults
PART II
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIO NS
PAGE
Cha pter IV. Recommend ations f or Lo-
cal Recreation Facilities; Playgr ound s)
R ecreation Park s, and S pecial Units 4 -7
The school ground s 4-7
Existing public park s and playgr ound s 4-8
PR OPER SIZE A ND DISTR IBUTIO FOR LOCAL R Ec-f RE ATION UNITS . 2
Local r ecr eation d istr icts and r ecr eation center s 3
Standard s for r ecr eation center s . 4-
The pro blcm o f acguiring the nccessar.'· land s. 4-
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PAGE
The example of Palos Verdes 55
Ty pes o f districts in which to acquire land
promptly . 55
SMALL DETACHED LOCAL PAR KS 56
LOCAL PARK S FOR I NDUST)UAL DISTRICTS 56A STUDY OF FOUR TYPICAL NEIGHBOR HOODS 56
ESTIMATE OF TOTAL COSTS BASED O N THE FORE-
GOI NG STUDY 57
Chapter V. Recommendations f or Pub-
lic Beaches . 59Com parison with beaches of other regions 61
Use of beach land s 62
SHOR ES ADAPTED TO PUBLIC USES 6 4 -West f r om Santa Monica 64 -
South f r om Santa Monica 66
SUMMAR Y OF SHOR E FRO NT R ECOMMENDATIO NS 67
Units of the entir e shor e front, classif ied 68
DETAILED R ECOMMENDATIONS BY U NITS 70
ESTIMATE OF COSTS 80
Chapter VI. Recommendations for Re-gional Athletic Fields . 8 I
LIST OF RECOMME NDATIO NS 81
DETAILED R ECOMMENDATIONS BY U NITS 82
ESTIMATE OF COSTS 83
Chapter VII. Recommendations for
Large Reser vations in Mountains,
Canyons, Deserts, and Islands . 85
SUMMAR Y OF PROPOSED OUTLYI NG R ESERVA-
TIONS AND PARKWAYS • 89
List of existing and proposed park r eser vations
and par kways in outlying r egions 89DETAILED R ECOMMENDATIONS BY U NITS 89
ESTIMATE OF COSTS 93
Chapter VIII. Recommendations for
Pleasureway Parks or Parkways, and
Related Large Parks 95THREE EASTERLY AND WESTER LY CHAI NS 97
The mountain chain 97
The coast chain. 97
The hilltop chain . 97
PAGE
SIX NOR THERLY A ND SOUTHERLY CHAINS 97
The San Gabr iel chain 97
The Rio Hond o-Eaton Wash chain. 97
Arroyo Seco an d Palos Ver des Loop chain 98
Tu junga Valley and Ballona Cr eek chain 98
Newhall, Chatsworth and Topanga Canyon
chain . 98
Dume Canyon chain . 98
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 100
List o f pr oposed parkways and r elated large
park s . 100
DETAILED R ECOMMENDATIO 's BY UNITS 103
ESTI MATE OF COSTS I 37
CONCLUUON 138
I. List of schools in the Los Angeles Re-
gion having more than five acres each
of available playground s pace 14-1
II. List of existing public and quasi-
public open spaces, each of one acre
or more, in the Los Angeles R egion
(~ot including school ground s) 14 - 3
III. Copy of letter on Nigger Slough
and other lands lying below possible
drainage levels 14 -9
IV. Table of comparative powers, duties,
and re'sources of various metropolitan
agencies of California and elsewhere 153
VI. Extracts from 1924 Report of Su-
perintendent of -?ark s of Los Angeles
City 167
Index 171
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PLATE P AGE
1. View towaro the mountains fr om the pro posed
par k way along the Puente Hills . Frontis piece
2. Ma p of Los Angeles as it was in 1894- . 2
3. New highway along the ocean front, showing
narrow str ip of pr ivate land s f enced in and
cutting of f all access to the publicly owned
tid eland s 8
Broad, quiet, attractive parkway in Delawar e
Avenue, Buff alo, wher e tr avel is a pleasur e 12
Another parkway in Olmsted Park in Boston 12
Map showing channels and ar eas of inter est to
the flood-control problem 15
Diagr am showing d ensity of po pulation in theLos Angeles R egion in 1922. f ollowing 20
Diagr am showing d ensity of po pulation i~ the
Los Angeles Region in 1928 f ollowing' 20
Diagram showing incr eases and decreases in
d ensity of population in the Los Angeles R e-
gion 1922 to 1928 f ollowi1t g 20
Map showing by dots the distr i bution of
population in the Los Angeles Region in
1928 f ollowing 20
San Fernando Valley, looking toward the city 24-
Signal Hill with its oil wells, showing Long
Beach on the plain to the right . 25
Plan for h ighways in the Los Angeles Region
as pr e pared a f ew year s ago by the R egional
Planning Commission 26
Plan f or highways in the East Si d e as sug-
gested by 'lIe East Sid e Orgariization in con- I
sultation with the R egional Planning Com-
mISSIOn 27
Plan of the Pacif ic Electric R ailway system
showing a r adiating system fr om the heart of
the Region. 28
Map showing ar eas now almost wholly subdi-
vid ed into house lot units 30
Ma p showing existing park ar eas and quasi-
public recr eation ar eas in the Los Angeles
Region f ollowing 30
Diagram showing resid ential ar eas lying be-
yond the range of possible ser vice by exist-
ing park , playground or school r ecr eational
areas f ollowi1tg 34-
Diagram showing economIcs of the West-
chester County park system, New Yor k 39
PLATE PAGE
20. Map of the R egion showing ar eas used for in-
dustries and oil field s and ar eas in agr icultur e 4-1
21. Map of Long Beach showing in black the ex-
isting park ar eas and in outline the water land s
and the air port 4-8
22. Ma p of Santa !'v!onica showing in black the
existing park ar eas and cross-hatched the school
ar eas, and near t h e large park the airpor t 4-9
23. Ma p of Pasad ena showing large park s in the
Ar r oyo Seco near the west bound ar y and
showing smaller park s in other parts of the
city 50
24-. Plan of the De partment of Par k s and R ecr e-ation of Pasadena for d evelopment of play-
ground ser vice . 51
25. Map showing the R egion divided for conven-
ience into classes of use 52
26. Coast highway near Topanga Canyon show-
ing line of cottages cutting off all the view of
the ocean from the highway 59
27. The Harbor from Long Beach showing Long
Beach in the foregr ound, the har bor district
in the center , and the San Pedr o hills in the
distance 60
28. Rugged shor es and high cliff s of Palos Verdes,
attr active to pieasur e tr avel, but not ad a pted
to beach uses 60
29· Public beach at Venice on July 4-th showing
use to ca pacity, too cr owded for comfort . 62
30. Pu blic beach at Atlantic City, New Jer sey,
showing wid e boardwalk and wid e sand y
beach beyond 63
3 I. Possible profile for construction of beach ou
tid eland s. ........: / 64-
32. Yacht har bor suggestion as pr esented by own-
er s of pro per ty . i ust a bove Santa Monic; . . 65
33. Plan f or extensive Pleasur e Harbor opposite
Santa Monica and Venice with a park in the
Del R ey mar shes and a par kway on a chain of
island s around the outsid e of the harbor 66
34-. Sk etch for extensive Pleasure Harbor and
park and park way d evelopment as shown on
Plate 33 . 67
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PL ATE PAGE
35, Diagr am showing pu blic and pr i\"ate beach
f r ontage and key to r ecommendations,
f ollowing
36, Mouth of Topanga Canyon showing ar eas that
should be pu blicly owned to care for the vast
crowd s that gather ther e
37, Beach above Santa Monica that would be in-sid e proposed har bor , showing groins built far
"out on the beach to catcli the drifting sand s .
J .38. Beach at mouth of Santa Monica Canyon
'showi"ng' pu blic beach in the center with pri-
\'ate clu b and parking ar ea in the left fo r e-
ground
Shor es of Venice and the Del R ev mar shes
wher e a large park and harbor can ' be d evel-
oped if the land is soon acquir ed
San Gabr icl mountains from mouth of Tu-
j unga Canyon showing stec p, bar r en hillsid es,
off ering little or no r ecr eation s pace a bove thc
valley Roor .
Top of Lie bre Mountain looking down onto
near by r id ges, showing nati~e gr owth not :'ct
ruined by f ir e or cutting; should be developed
as a public r ecr eation par k
Gcncral plan f or large r escr vations in moun-
tains, canyons, deserts and island s, in extension
of the plan for par k s and park ways in thc
main Los Angeles R egion . f ollo~cing
Map of Angeles National For est showing cam p
sites, ar eas i n pr ivate ownershi p, r eser voir s,
and lar ge ar eas bur ned over i n the last tcn
year s . f ollowing
Map of the Los Angeles R egion with the
V I estchester County park s:f stem superposed in r ed f ollowing
Map of the Los Angeles R egion with the Bos-
ton Metropolitan Park system su pcrposed in
r ed f ollowing
Gcneral plan for a complete s:"stem of Park -
war s and lar ge park s for thc Los Angeles
R egion following
Park way fr om Los Angcles to Palos Ver des
now being planned by thc County as the f ir st
r eal par kway in thc Los Angeles R egion
Ty pical sections for park ways showing how
various slopcs may be treated in a way to pr o-
duce inter esting variety and to protect good views and inter esting scencr y
Airplane \'iew of Dume Can:'on and Dume
Point, showing in dash thc Rancho line and
PLATE PAGE
in outline the ar eas includ ing the beach, the
mesa near the shor e, the hill slopes and thc
7° peak 104-
50. Rugged and picturesque cliff along Lowcr To-
panga Can:'on 1°7
72 51. Up per San Fer nand o Valley with rock s 'of
Chatsworth in the d istance 1°952. San Fcr nando R eser voir and surr ounding hills
73 that should be includ cd in a reser vation to bc
mad e attractive 11O
53·
54-·74-
76,,.
56.
86
57·
87
58.
88 59,
60.
92
96 61.
96 62.
Shor es of Jak e in Pr os pect Park , Brook lyn 1 I 1
Large area in Tujunga Wash that is su bject to
occasional flooding and is lik el:' to be mad e
hidcous bv costly "d e\"elopments" if not ac-
q uir cd :1S an intercsting and useful pu blic open
s pacc 1 12
San Fernando Mi,sion, a point of inter e;t on
proposed line of par kway If 3
Back Bay tidal mar shcs in Boston con'"erted
into an attractive water side park, such as may
be possi ble for the Del R ey mar shes 1 15
Sketch for a broad , d ignified and attr acti\"c
park way 225 f eet in wid th with thr ec road -
ways planned to extend f rom Los Angeles cit:,
to the sea at Palos Verd cs 1 18
Design for Alondra Park, 3 f 5 acres r eccntl)'
acquir ed bY' the Count\' . 1 1 < )
Design for a parkwa\' thr ough Gard ena Val-
ley and Nigger Slough wi th two bord er road s,
a park dr ive and a channel for drainage 121
San Gabriel River near the Narrows showing
area needed for drainage that has park \"alue
es pccially if the bord er ,"egetation can- bc pre-
sen"ed 124-
Riverway in Boston, once a pestilential d r ain-
age channel bur red eemed und er a joint plan
f or drainage and par k uscs . 125
Gor ge in Monte bello Hills not r et in,"ad ed
by d e\'clopment, wher e a parb~'ay can be lo-
cated . f 26
Plan f or par kway thr ough gor ge in Montc-
bello HiUs as pre par ed by R egional Planning
Commission 127
\Vhiting's Wood s, a shad \' s pot in the north
face of Verdugo Hills that should be includ ed
in a public r esclTation 137
Profile of Nigger Slough Dr ainagc Basin
sho~ving assumed f lood prof ile . 150
Plan of Niggcr Slough Drainage Basin show-
ing ar cas likely to be f lood ed · 150
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CITIZENS' COMMI TTEE
ON PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES
ADAMS, CHAR LES G.
ADAMSON, M. H.
ALLISON, DAVID
A NDER SON, STANLEY
AVER ILL, H. O.
B.~I " FER DI NA ND R.
BAKER S' CLUB
BALCH, A. C.
BALLARD, R . H.
BARK ER, C. H.
BAR K ER, CLAR ENCE ,\.
BARNARD, W.K.
BAR TO N, LOR EN C.
BAUER, HARR Y J.
BELL, ALPHO NZO E.
BE NT, AWn-LVR S.
BISHOP, W. T.
BLANKENHOR N, DAVID
BR AU N, F. W.
BR E NT, W. L.
BR OPlI Y, MURRY R .
.......BR YANT, MR S. E. A.
CALLENDER , HARR Y R .*
CHAMBER S, GEO. D.
- ClIANDLER , JEFFER SON P.
CHRISTOPHER, 1.J .CLAR K , ELI P.
CLI NE, \VALTER B.
COCHR A N, GEO. 1.
COLLI NS, JAMES F.
COLOD NY,1.
CO N NELL, lV1. J .COPP, A NDR EW J., JR.
CR A NDALL,SHA NNO N
DARLI NGTO N, N. D.
DEMILLE, CECI L
DICKI NSO N, GEO. W.
DICKI NSON & GILLESPIE
(F. B. BUR NS, Represmt at ive)
DILLO N, R . J.
DOCK WEILER , 1. B.
DOHE NY, E. 1.
DOHE NY, F.. 1., JR .*
DOR SEY, MR S. SUSAN M.
DUDLEXT, SAMUEL M.
DUDLEY, HOWARD S.
EASTMAN, GEO. 1.
ELSASSER , M.
EVANS, HUGH
FAIRBANK S, DOUGLAS
FITZGER ALD, C. G.
FLEMI NG, MR s. T. J .FORD, MR. & MR s. FLETCHER
,Foy, MISS MARY
FR A:-IK , ALVI N H.
FR A NK EL, CECIL
" FR ICK, l\1R S. MAR GAR ET
J .FR ICK , R OBERT N.
FRY, D. H.
GAGE, JOHN H.
GARLAND, WM. MAY
GETTY, GEO. F.
GETZ, MILTO N
GIANNI NI, A. P.
GOLDWY N, SAMUEL
GR EVE, FRA NK H.
GUESS, F. M.
GORHAM, H. M.
HA NCOCK , G. ALLAN
HARR IS, J:'OR DW.
HAR R ISO N, W. H.
HAY, W. H.
HELLMAN, IR VI NG H.
HELLMA N, MARCO H.
HER VEY, WM. R .
HOLLOWAY, B. R.
HOOK , JR ., WM. S.
HOWAR D, W. F.*
HUESMAN, R ALPH R.
HUT, MYR ON
I NMA N, CHAS. F.
].t \NSS, EDvVIN AND HAROLD
JOANNES, HARRY
1.JOH NSON, F. O.
K AUFMANN, GOR DON B .
K EMP,A. N.
KR ESS, SAMUEL
K UHR TS, G. J.
LAEMMLE, CAR L
LAWYER , JAY
LEIMERT, WALTER H.
LESSER, SOL
LEVY, 1. O.
LIPPI NCOTT, J. B.
LLEWELLY N, R EESE
LLOYD, R ALPH B.
LOEB, JOS. P.
LYiVIAN,E. D.
MCCAIlILL, J. A.
MCCARTHY, E. r \VEltY
MCGARR Y, D. F.
MCNAGHTEN, l\tI.~LCOLM
MAY, WILBUR
l\1EAD, WM.*
MESMER, JOSEPH
METZLER , IRVI NG
l\1EYER, BEN
l\1EYER, ME NDEL
MILBANK , MR s. ISAAC
MILLAR , J. D.
MILLER , JOH N B.
MILLIRO N, C. J.
MO NTGOMERY, FR A NCIS S.
MUDD, HAR VEY S.
MUDD, MR S. SEELEY W.
MUELLER , OSCAR C.
MULLEN, A NDREW*
_ MURPHY, THos. J.
NAFTZ(;ER , MR S. Ro y E.
NAGEL, G. E.
NIELO, FR ED
O'l\1ELVENY, JOH N
O'Tv1ELVE NY, STUAR T
O' NEIL, P. H.
PARKINSON, JOHN
PELLISSIER , F. F.PEPPEROI NE, MR S. LE NA R.
PFAFFI NGER , FRA NK X .
PHILLIPS, LEE A.
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PHILP, HARR Y
PICK FORD, MISS MAR Y
PI NK HAM, J. R.
POWELL, F. H.
PRIDHAM, R . W.
QUI NN, MR. AND MR S. CHARLES H.
R ACHAL, C. E.
R AY, MR S. WALTER SELDE N
RIVER S, E. B.
ROBI NSO N, HENRY M.
ROWLEY, E. S .
R UDDOCK , A. B.
R USH, F. N.
SALE, L. D.
SCHENCK, JOS. M.
SEAVER , F . E.
SHER MAN, M. H.
SIEGEL, MYER
STANTO N, LOUIS B.
STER N, HA R OLD M.
STETSON, F. F.
STOR Y, F . Q.
TOBER MAN, C. E.
TREANOR , JOHN
UNDERHILL, E. F.
VANDER LIP, FR ANK A.
VAN NUYS, J. B.
WAR DMA , A.
WARR EN, J. G.
WHOLESALE GROCER S' r lSSN.
WIGHTMA N, E. J.
VVILCOX, FRED M.
WOODS, JAMES
WR EN, CHAS. F.
YOUNG, MR S. MA RY C.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
C I T I ZEN S ' COM M I T TEE 0 N PAR KS, P LAY G R 0 U N D SA N D B E A C H E S
BARNARD, W. K ., Pasadena
BENT, ARTHUR S., Los Angeles
BRENT, W. L., Los Angeles
COCHR AN, GEOR GE I ., Los A1tgeles
COLLINS, JAMES F., Long Beach
DARLI NGTON, N. D., Los Angeles
DUDLEXT, S. M. , S out h Gate
GORHAM, H. M., Pacif ic Palisad es
HELLMAN, IR VI NG H. , Los Angeles
HOLLOWAY, B. R., V an N u ys
LEIMERT, WALTER H., Los Angeles
LESSER , SOL, H ollywood
LIPPI NCOTT, J. B., Los Angeles
LYMAN, E. D., Los Angeles
MILLAR, J. D., Los Angeles
MUELLER , OSCAR C., Beverly H ills
O'MELVE NY, JOH N, Los Angeles
O'NEIL, P. H., Los Angeles
PICK FORD, MAR Y, Beverly H ills
UNDERHILL, E. F., Glend ora
W ARDMAN, A., Whittier
WIGHTMAN, E. J., Long Beach
BE NT, ARTHUR S.
BAR NARD, W. K.
LEIMERT, W. H.
U NDERHILL, E. F.
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To the M ,embers oj the
Citizens' Committee on Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches:
The Citizens' Committee on Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches was organized during
1927 at the instance of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. It was charged with
res ponsibility f or the following task s:
(a) To mak e a survey of existing conditions as to publicly owned park s, playground s
and beaches throughout the County;
( b) To pr e pare a report as to needed amplification of these facilities;(c) To submit recommendations as to ways and means of carrying out the for egoing
program.
In fulfillment of these task s the report herewith transmitted has been pr e pared by .
Olmsted Brother s and Bartholomew & Associates, Land scape Architects and City
Planner s, entitled Par ks , Pla yground s and Beaches f or the Los Angeles Region. It has
been pr inted f or distribution to the members of the Citizens' Committee.
The re port contains a survey of the present park s and other ground s giving r ecr ea-
tion service in the part of Los Angeles County chiefly lying south of the mountains and
compr ising a bout 1,500 squar e miles. It compares this ser vice with that of other
American regions of similar size and circumstances. It then describes the unique ch'ar-acteristics of the Los Angeles Region, in- regard to which there can be no profitable
comparison with other regions. Recommendations are made as to needed enlargement
of r ecreation facilities, and asto ways and means of carrying out plans for enlargement.
The report find s the Los Angeles Region far short not only of the minimum
r ecr eation facilities of the average American city, but also of those that are es pecially
need ed here. Its recommend ations for remedying this condition are made in detail;
they ar e supported throughout by analogies from the ex perience of other great cities
in this countr y; and the detailed recommendations are clearly summarized in each
instance. The report contains an array Qf facts, statistics, and maps to illustrate the
r ecommendations; and a much larger accumulation of these, too voluminous to printhere, will be deposited with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in further sup-
port of the policy advocated.
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The situation r evealed by the r e port is so d isquieting as to mak e it highly ex ped ient
to impress upon the public as soon as possible the pr esent crisis in the welfar e of Los
Angeles and the surrounding r egion. It shows that the par k q uestion is closely r elated
to the community's health, and that the policy followed in the past is by no means a
safe one f r om now on, since there is a radical difference between the needs of a small
.city and a great one in the matter of park and r ecreation facilities. The r equir ementsof a gr eat city of the motor-vehicle age ar e shown by the r e port to be sharply dis-
tinguished from those of the age in which older cities develo ped, and the distinction
of the Los Angeles Region in this regar d is clear ly br ought out in the r e port.
Your executiv~ -~ommittee believes that the acq uisition of lands s pecified in the
r eport, the general policy it r ecommends, and the form of ad ministr atio~ it pro poses,
are the best o btaina ble s pecifications and recommendations. And the committee is es-
pecially impr essed with the need for pr oceeding immed iately with an end eavor to
arouse the public to the same sense of ur gency that is f elt by the ex perts and this
committee.
The eventual req uirements of the Region will be evid ent to those who seriously
examine the situation, and no pr econce ptions should stand in the way of that examina-
tion. The fact that the Los Angeles Region is committed to other great outlays
should not close our minds against a study of the outlay here proposed . The fact that
it is a lar ge outlay should not discourage action, f or the need is large. Nor is the abso-
lute amount for which the R egion is alr eady bonded the sole test of our ca pacity to
satisf y this need . It is important to consider the q uestion also f rom the stand point of the
relative or per ca pita cost and of the pro ba ble ef fect upon the tax rate.
The dilemma con "r onting us is the lar ge ex penditur e involved in action, on the one
hand, and the heavy penalty of d elay, on the other . The way to r econcile our need s
with our means is to assign the task to a c ompetent bod y, char ged with power and
r es ponsibility. The great progr am of park d evelopment contained in this report can be
carried out in measured steps und er firm and wise management without increasing
taxes beyond IS cents on the $ 100of assessed valuation as a maximum in any year; nor -
mally a lower r ate can be maintained, aver aging a bout 10 cents.' This is eq uivalent to
the cost of o per ating each pleasur e automo bile in the County a ppr oximately eight
miles per month. A city destined to be one of the great cities of the earth is justified in
assuming such a bur den for the well-being of its inha bitants and for its renown thr ough-
out the world .
Your executive committee tak es this o ppor tunity to thank the men who have pr e- pared this r e port for their unwearied devotion to their task, which has been of a
magnitude that f ew can a ppreciate who have not accomplished similar studies. The
services of Mr. Geor ge Gibbs, assistant to the consultants, d eser ve es pecial mention, as
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do also the excellent co-operation and assistance rendered by Mr . Hugh Pomeroy,
Executive Secretary of the Citizens' Committee on Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches.
Acknowledgment is hereby made of the important services furnished to the com-
mittee without charge by O'Melveny, Tuller & Myers; Eberle Economic Service;
Price, Waterhouse & Company; Rogers Aircraft, Inc. and others; and the invaluable
aid rendered by the Automobile Club of Southern California; the Park Departments
and Playground Departments and other officials of the County and its various cities.
At an early date a meeting of the Citizens' Committee on Parks, Playgrounds and
Beaches will be called to discuss the program set forth here, and determine what steps
shall be taken toward making it public.
Rqpectfully yours,
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
Citizens' Committee on Parks,
Playgrounds and Beaches.
JOHN TREANOR, Chairman ..
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PART ONE
GENERALREPORT
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,
THE metr opolitan par t of Los Angeles
County, which may be called "the Los
Angeles R egion," is the site of mor e than forty
prosper ous cities; in addition to the City of
Los Angeles. Her e are over two million people
in an ar ea of fifteen hund red squar e miles. The
R egion is noted for its many natural charms
and its varied human interests. The popula-
tion is incr easing ver y rapidly and changing
somewhat in char acter . As it does so the Re-
gion is losing some of its most valued charms,
f or lack o f a methodical plan for preserving
them. Among the things that make ·it most
attr act,ive are the ver y ones that are the fir st
to suf f er from changes and d eteriorate thr ough
neglect. Es pecially attr active, and es peciallysubject to destruction, are the o pportunities
offered in the R egion f or enjoyment of out-
of-door life.
But these invaluable assets, now on the
ver ge of disappear ing, can easily be preserved
by concer ted action. They can, indeed, be
gr eatly increased by systematic car e on a scale
large enough to match the rapid growth of
population. ,
C ontinued prosperity will de pend on pro-
viding needed park s, because , with the growth
of a great metropolis her e , the absence o f parkswill 111akeliving cond it ions less and less attrac-
t ive , less and less wholesome , though parks
have been easily dis pensed with under the con-
ditions of t he past . In so f ar, t her e f ore , as the
people f ail t o show the und erstand ing , COU1'-
age , and or ganizing ability necessar y at this
crisis , t he growt h o f the Region will tend to
strangle it self.
The pr esent cha pter deals with general con-
sid er ations which should d eter mine public pol-
icy concerning r ecr eation f acilities in the Los
Angeles R egion. These general consid erations
are based on a stud y of experience in other
cities, a stud y of conditions peculiar to this
Region, and on general principles derived
from both stud ies. The cha pter end s, with a
summar y of conclusions dr awn fr om these
studies, the d etails of which will be set for th
in later chapters. The immed iate pur pose is to
show why more park s and other means of r ec-r eation ar E !now urgentl y , needed i. to suggest
the most effective ways of meeting this need ;
and to point out the evils that will f ollow fur -
ther d elay in adopting and executing a sound
and comprehensive policy.
PARK -SYSTEM FUNCTIO NS AND
ALLIED FU NCTIO NS
Private enterprise on private land off er s,
in ever y city, a limited oppor tunity f or recr ea-
tion; and it is good as far as it goes. But in the
most populous r egions the need for r ecreationis not normally met in such a manner and can-
not be ad equately pr ovid ed for in that way.
The problem must be faced as a public r espon-
sibility.
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PLATE 2. Los Angeles as it was in 1894-, f r om United States Geological Slln-e:r , showing a relatively
smallllr ban region at that time.
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Gener al C onsid erations ani Summar y of C onclltJions
In a large city or group of cities this respon-
sibility attaches to the functions of a park sys-
tem, and these functions ar e found to be re-
lated to certain other administrative fUIlCtions,
performed by various agencies. In the per -
formance or administration of one group of functions, another group, or several other
gr oups, will be f ound not mer ely to r elate to
it but to overlap iL,Thus the gr oup of park
functions, ministering to the need for r ecr ea-
tion, may be found to overla p the functions of
the schools, the highways, or commercial en-
terprises, which also help to serve the same
need. Whether the park agencies, or these
other s, furnish the o pportunity f or r ecr eation
is solely a matter of ex pediency, pr ovided the
ser vices do not f all between two stools and f all
altogether .Ther e is not and cannot be a shar p bound ary
line between the various responsibilities of
public agencies. Practical ex perience und er
var ying conditions is the only valua ble guid e
as to how f ar a park system ought to ignor e
such bound ar ies. In some small communities,
f ortunately circumstanced, there may be no
need for public parks at all. But in gr eat urban
ar eas bitter ex perience pr oves that, without
adequat e par k s , t he bulk o f t he peo ple are pro-
gressivel y cut o f f f rom many kinds of 1" ecrea-
tion of the utmost im portance to their health,
ha ppiness , and moral welf are. Public agen-
cies, ther efore, must progr essively fill the more
and mor e numer ous gaps left by commercial
and other private agencies.
Relat ed Ed ucat ional F unctions.
Any ed ucational und ertaking f or develo p-
ing physical, mental, or s piritual ca pacities has
also a r ecr eational function, whether its agent
is the school, playground, museum, park, pri-
vate home, or what you will. The recreational
function may be ser ved by any such agency, in
so far as emphasis is laid on the pleasure thataccompanies and d irectly ar ises from the
healthful exercise of such ca pacities.
Thus the schools, taking a br oad view of
their problem, reach beyond the tr ad itional
function of book-teaching and includ e play in
their pr ogram. They provid e f or it b oth in-
door s and out, and even extend the service of
their facilities to parents and other older peo-
ple. Just in pro portion as they d o this will theymeet recreational needs which might otherwise
be met by agencies d evoted s pecifically to park
and r ecreation functions.
Related H ighway Functions.
The prime f unction of the highway system
is to facilitate the movement of peo ple and
goods, irr es pective of the reasons f or their
movement. The pr ime use of the highways is
economic, but in add ition to the economic use
.ther e is an enor mous use for r ecreation, espe-
cially f or the pleasur e of simply ridingthr ough more or less pleasant surr oundings.
Pr o ba bly nowhere else in the world d oes high-
way r ecreation f orm so lar ge an element in the
lives of the peo ple as in Southern Califor nia.
Now, in pro por tion as the highways and
their surr ound ings are adapted to r ecr eational
uses, and r emain so, the need f or other recrea-
tional areas will be reduced . On t he other
hand , in pr oportion as the highway system is
ill adapted to r ecr e;:l1ion, or tends to become so,
the d emadd for s pecif ically recreational ar eas
is increased. Long str etches of congested str eets, thr ough mile after mile of monotonous
urban surr oundings must be offset s~mehow.
The functions of the high~ay department ar e
thus seen to overla p somewhat the f unctions
of other agencies not chiefly interested in high-
ways.
Relat ed CO?J7 mercial E nt er prises.
Another important overlap ping field is that
of recreation f urnished on a commer cial basis,
or by pr ivate clu bs. This plainly overla ps some
of the recreation fur nished by the pu blic park systems, either f ree or f or pay, of kinds in-
tended es pecially for those una ble to secur e
such r ecr eation elsewhere.
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Proper Limit of Park-System
Functions and Facilities.
The sensible limit of park-system functions
is not a matter for theorizing or bias, either
for or against their extension. On the con-trary, it is a matter of expediency, that should
be determined by common sense, applied to
local present and prospective circumstances.
Past experience, here in California and else-
where under comparable conditions, is the best
guide as to the proper scope of park functions.
So also as to park facilities. No orie knows
any scientifically correct ratio of facilities to
population, or to land area. It is known, how-
ever, that under such and such circumstances
certain cities have provided themselves with
such and such park facilities; and that they
appear satisfied with them, or have found them
too costly for their value, or worth their cost
but not extensive enough. Such experience is
probably the best available guide for this Re-
glOn.
PARK SHORTAGE IN THE Los ANGELES
REGION
The facts are so complicated that condensed
statistical comparisons, without personal know l-
edge of local conditions, can be very mis-
. leading. But when the situation in the Los
Angeles Region is measured carefully and pa-tiently by the crude but common-sense method
of comparison with experience elsewhere, four
conclusions become unmistakably clear:
I. There is a serious shortage of park sys-
tem facilities in this Region, even for the pres-
ent population.
2. There has been a serious lack of increase
of such facilities in comparison with the rapid
increase of population.
3. These shortages seem quite unreasonable
considering the agreeable climate, the econom-
ic prosperity, and the exceptionally favorablesocial conditions here.
4. They appear not only unreasonable but
positively reprehensible, because of the very
close and direct influence of agreeable living
conditions on the continued health of the peo-
ple and the prosperity of the community.
All this has been realized for years, as in-
dicated in the interesting report of the Los
Angeles Park Superintendent in 1924. (SeeAppendix No. VI.) The bad conditions shown
to exist at that time are more acute today, of
course, owing to the lack of increase in park
facilities pointed out above in paragraph 2.
The nature of existing park shortage and its
alarming character will be considered at length below.
The Peculiar Economic Status as
a Reason for the Lack of Par ks.
The most disconcerting fact about it all is
that the rapid growth of population, which
makes the rapid expansion of park-system fa-
cilities so urgent, also makes its financing pe-
culiarly difficult. The rapid influx creates an
exceptionally insistent need for capital to in-
v~st in thostloo private and public improvements
which are always the first requirements of a
new population, such as buildings, streets,
sewers, and water supply. The annual absorp-
tion of capital in these primar y improvements
is ther efore exceptionally high-high in pro-
portion to present popu~ation, high in propor -
tion to the value ••of existing improvements,
and high in proportion to the current rentalvalue of all real estate.
. In short, the demand for capital investment
in other things than parks is far more urgent
here than in slower-growing communities of
comparable size. This makes it just so much
more difficult here to obtain money for parks.
Furthermore, the rapid growth of popula-
tion leads inevitably to a high speculative capi-
talization of future rental values, in the form
of high present speculative market prices for
land. Of course, this makes the cost of park
land far greater than in slower-growing com-munities of comparable size.
The situation is in many respects like that
of the swiftly expanding pioneer communities
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[ 6] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
Most of the local functions above outlined
clearly lie in that borderland belonging to both
recreation and education. This is a fact which
is everywher e finding ex pr ession in the ex-
tending community use of school facilities.But the school authorities generally find them-
selves unable to meet the want when it r elates
more distinctly to adult recreation than to edu-
cation of the young, except in co-operation with
well-financed agencies frankly and squar ely
addressing themselves to r ecr eational r ather
than to specifically educational problems. This
is es pecially true when the d emand is f or am ple
outdoor s pace amid agr eeable and r ef reshing
surroundings. And here arises the question:
How many and how lar ge should the recr ea-
tion center s or units be;
Including Pla ygr ounds, Recreation Par ks,
and S pecial U nit s
The most typical local recreation facilities
are: childr en's playgrounds, in conj unction
with schools or separately; and provision f or
certain kinds of adult recreation. Both of these
must be r eadily accessible if they ar e to be of
daily use. The value of such local facilities in-
creases very rapidly as scattered suburban com-
munities gr ow into a continuous metr o polis of
gr eat extent and considerable density.
,Facilities that should be provided in such
localities var y gr eatly with local conditions,
and should includ e provision for active exer -cise and games, alternating with rest, for all
ages; for example, bask et- ball, tennis, hand -
ball, quoits, swimming, or mere walking and
sitting in pleasant and r efreshing outdoor sur -
r oundings. They may include o pportunities
for both outdoor and indoor meetings, d ances,
concerts, and many other neighborhood activi-
ties of social importance, if these ar e not satis-
factorily provided, for the masses of the peo-
ple, on a commer cial basis or on 'a private club
~ basis. One of the most important purposes of
a park, and yet one of the most difficult to d e-
scr ibe, is that of providing the peculiarly r e-freshing quality which has such a r estful and
beneficent effect on the ner vous system. This
is a subtle and complex thing, which brings,
along with a sense of beauty, a sense of spa-
ciousness, of freedom, and of contrast with
urban conditions.
The importance of the diff erent kinds of
local f acilities varies gr eatly with the time and
place. And the necessar y land area per thou-
sand of population varies far more. In the
change from rural or suburban to urban con-
ditions, the first need to emer ge as seriouslyurgent is public provision for children's play.
With increasing congestion and incr easing met-
r o politan size, the other need s become incr eas-
ingly insistent.
Efficient S ize and Range
f or a Recreat ion Unit.
The effective r adius of service f or a r eCl,"ea-
tion unit varies wid ely with the function of
the unit. It may var y fr om a radius of a quar -
ter of a mile for little children's play, to sev-
er al miles for some s pecialized-ser vices a ppeal-
ing mainly to adults. The efficient size of a
unit depend s chiefly on the number and kinds
of func.tions to be included, and the pros pec-
tive d ensity of p'o pulation within the effective
service-radius. ~ut it is also affected by thedifferentials in cost per acr e of acquiring tr acts
of different sizes.
A single large and diver si f ied unit gives bet -
t er service and involves less overhead cost
than several d et ached smaller units. For meet-
ing the local r ecreation needs in a large metro p-
olis, experience seems to emphasize the prac-
tical ad vantages of neighborhood recr eation
park s of a bout twenty acr es, ser ving mainly the
people in all ar ea of about one square mile, as-
sociated wher e practicable with a school center
but including many functions not normally as-sumed by school boards.
These major local units usually need to be
supplemented by mor e closely s paced and
much smaller playground s f or little child r en
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who can not go so far, on or adjoining school
grounds where practicable, but detached where
necessary because of inadeq uate school- grounds
and the impracticability of enlargement.
So far as these two kinds of units fall short
of meeting the reasonable demands of the peo- ple, they should be supplemented by certain
other types, such as ornamental squares and
triangles, and local parks of scenic interest, the
value of which is dissociated from the activi-
ties of a well-rounded neighborhood recrea-
tion park.
ildministration of Local Facilities.All such local recreation facilities should be
closely adapted to local conditions and needs.
There are disadvantages in centralizing the ad-
ministration in a single organization which,
since it covers so many units, tends to become
unresponsive to local peculiarities. Such cen-
tralization is likely to hold back progressive
and prosperous neighborhoods by standardiz-
ing at levels which are merely the best that can
be attained by unprogressive or impoverished
neighborhoods. On the other hand, as in the
case of the schools, 'efficiency demands that
management be centralized for districts very
much larger than the territory served by a
single neighborhood unit, as otherwise good
management can be secured only at an exces-
sive overhead cost. Roughly speaking, a good sized administrative unit for local recreation
facilities is that of the ordinary municipality
or school district.
CLASS II: REGIONAL RECREATION
FACILITIES
The second, or primarily regional, class of
recreation facilities involves very different
problems from the local, even though no hard
and fast line can be drawn between the two
classes. Regional facilities include beaches,
mountains, and such other recreation areas as
it is impossible to provide by reduplication in
small units in every part of a metropolis.
,,vhile such facilities may, it is true, be made
availa ble by ]oc<tlenterprise, primarily for the
use of those who live near them, and at local
expense, experience shows that local enterprise
will not alone provide in any adequate way for
the great mass of people in a metropolitan
community. For them there is needed a public
agency specifically charged with this duty, sup- ported by taxation falling upon a correspond-
ingly large area, operating on a large scale, and
consistently pursuing plans which involve very
large expenditures and require many years to
come to fruition.
The four types of regional recreation facili-
ties needed by the Los Angeles Region are
these:
I. ,Public beaches.
2. Regional athletic fields.
3. Large reservations in mountains, can-
yons, deserts, and islands. .4. Pleasureway parks or parkways, and re-
lated large parks.
Each of these will be considered separately.
PUBLIC BEACHES
Public control of the ocean shore, especially
where there are broad and satisfactory beaches,
is one of the prime needs of the Region, chief-
ly for the. use of throngs of people coming
from inland, but also for those living near by.
Private control of a portion of the ocean
shore is, it is true, a legitim~e and fruitful wayfor enjoying the recreational possibilities of
the shore, and the value people attach to such
property is evidenced by the prices they will
pay. But the great problem is to get from the
beaches the maximum possible recreation val-
ues of all legitimate kinds, both local and re-
gional, whether public or private, in reasonable
proportion one to the other .
Desirable Features of
Regional Beaches.
The two things most to be desired in a re-
gional public beach are:
First, to meet the demand for bathing,
strolling, and sitting down near the shore, and
for occupation <tndamusement associated with
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PLATE 3. New highway along the ocean f r ont, showing narrow strip of pr ivate hnd s fenced in and
cutting ofr all access to the publicly owned tid eland s.
the coolness and ref r eshment of the sea
breezes, the sur f, and the view of the ocean,together with convenient and reasona bly
agr eea ble access, park ing s pace for cars, toilet
facilities, bathhouse f acilities, and the like.
This demand is very strong, and bids f air to
increase indefinitely with the increase in popu-
lation, and pr oba bly at a rate f aster than the
po pulation because of the" gr ad ual cutting off
of certain other oppor tunities f or recreation.
The d emand is already ver y large at its peak s,
although extremely fluctuating with weather
conditions and the incid ence of holid ays.
Second , to meet a demand , also great and
incr easing, but consider a bly less fluctuating
with weather conditions, f or motoring along
pleasantly while over looking the ocean, the
sur f, the beach activities, and the pictur esq ue
coastwise views, with opportunity to stop and
take part in beach activities as well.What per centage of the limited availabk
ocean f ronta~ ,of the r egion could most ad -
vantageously be used f or these purposes, as
against other valua ble uses (such as beach
clu bs, exclusive private use, and other non-
r egional uses), only the ex per ience of years to
come can d efinitely prove. But in t he mean-
time the pu blic holdings should be very ma-
ter ially incr eased .
The present difficulty, and a very cr itical
as pect of the situation, is that the demand f or
private uses of the shore is pr omptly eff ective,
and is leading to the investment of millions of
dollars per annum in acquiring property r ights
a bove mean high water and in the installation
of im provements which largely d eter mine the
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use of the beaches in perpetuity; while the de-
mand f or public control of beaches has no cor-
responding effective means of making its r eal
str ength f elt now, while the situation still r e-
mains lar gely flexible.
Con flict o f Privat e and
Public Beach Rights.
The public owns all tid eland s and sub-
mer ged land s, and has an unquestionable right
to use that part of all beaches lying below mean
high tide. The law i s clear on this point, as
will be seen by consulting the exhaustive o pin-
ion given in A ppendix No. V. But this use is
largely d e pendent on reasonably frequent and
ad eq uate access to the beach from the landwar d
sid e. It is also d e pendent on the occurrence of
sufficient lengths of uno bstructed public beachabove mean high tid e, f or use when the tide is
up.
All this is coming to be wid ely und erstood ;
but what is not so clear , either to the gener al
public or to those pur chasing lots with what
they suppose to be " private beach" rights, is
that the value of shor e sites is very lar gely d e-
pend ent on the manner in which public con-
trol of all beaches below mean high water may
be exer cised .
The present tendency is towar d a condition
in which pr ivate and public ownershi p will be
r anged against each other on o pposite sid es of
mean high water on an ind efinite line which
cuts the beach in two longitudinally near its
upper edge, d ividing it so that neither f action
can secur e what it wants exce pt by suff er ance
of the other . Each, in that conditon, will be
hostile and aggressive, and a ble to retaliate by
d evelo pments greatly injurious to the values
possessed by the other . This will r esult in low-
er total values of all kind s than the physical
situation is perfectly ca pa ble of rendering.
In the long run the'r epresentatives of the
gener al public will hold the whip-hand unlessthey f orf eit their rights, because, since the
public alr ead y owns the tid eland s, it is only a
question of construction cost (when the d e-
mand becomes gr eat enough) to r eclaim ad d i-
tionalland s from the sea and pr oceed to their
d evelopment for use by the public. But a do-
nothing polic y at t he present time is cer tain t o
result in great er total ex pend itures and in poorer total results t han ' W ould ot her wise be
invol~()ed . Furthermor e, the evil r esults of de-
lay will d amage the private owner s as well as
the public.
Ever yone agrees that o pportunities f or ad e-
quate r egional beach r eser vations are sli pping
away ver y f ast. And ther e is a g ener al and
well-found ed . belief that pr ompt action 011 a
bold financial scale is need ful to seize these
op portunities. That belief is o pposed mainly
by two sor ts of people: those who are moved
by self ish consid erations, and those who are so
f earful of the mistak es and extr avaganceswhich might be committed by any public agen-
cy ca pa ble of acting pr omptly and boldly, that
they would rather risk the loss of the; beaches,
by d elay and d e bate and insistence on unwork -
ably complicated check s and balances and red
ta pe, than grant to any agency the power to
act pr omptly and on a lar ge scale. The pr o per
view to tak e of the question is that, while the
power to get r esults is inse parable f r om the
power to mak e some mistak es, the need f or
r esults far outweighs the r isk involved .
R EGIO NAL ATHLETIC FIELDSJa
The highly important' social need f or
healthful outlets for the ener gies of youths of
"the dangerous age" instead of f or cing them
into pernicious channels, mak es it compar ative-
ly economical and immensely important to
supply a few lar ge athletic field s or "s por ts
parks" ser ving large areas of po pulation.
These youths cannot d istri bute their recr ea-
tion thr oughout the week so unif or mly as the
younger boys and gir ls; and they can go long
distances to get to athletic field s when the oc-
casion ar r ives. But to secure local recr eationground s lar ge enough f or field s ports and the
gathering of lar ge crowds is d ifficult, and few
local districts ~an compass it. ~There they can-
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not, it is clearly a regional function to pr ovide
such field s.
The most efficient unit for economical ad-
ministr ation appear s to be one hund r ed acres
or mor e of near ly levelland, large enough to
provid e space f or base ball games, foot ball,
tr ack events, tennis, swimming, and var ious
other games and s ports, with f ield houses,
lockers, and other necessary con veniences.
LARGE R ESER VATIONS IN MOUNTAI NS)
CANYO NS, DESERTS) AND ISLANDS
Fr om a recr eational standpoint the peo ple
of the Los Angeles Region ar e f ortunate in
having com par atively near at hand many hun-
dreds of sq uare miles of country so mountain-
ous, or so ar id and d ifficult to ir r igate, or so
intr acta ble in other ways, that it has r emained
com par atively unsubdued by man. It is not
so intractable, however, but that the pr essure
of po pulation and of land s peculation is con-
stantly encroaching u pon it and impairing itsnatural recreational value f or city peo ple.
The natur al resistance of some of the moun-
tain la(lds to uses d estr uctive of their recrea-
tional value has been r einfor ced by the far -
sighted action of the Fed er al Government in
setting a part large areas as national f or ests f or
protection of water shed vegetation and r elated
public purposes. These ar eas are in the main
permanently o pen to use for public recreation.
The Angeles National For est embraces
about 640,000 acres of such land in the County,
r eaching to within twelve miles of the heart of
Los Angeles. As a matter of bald statistics this
mak es the im pr essive showing of one acre of
mountain r eser vation for each 3;:; peo ple. On
that basis a careless st,tistician might claim
that the people of this Region ar e mor e amply
pr ovid ed with pu blic r ecr eational ar eas than
those of any other metr o polis in the United States. One could mak e an even more striking
statistical showing of a s peciously gr eat per
capita extent of open s paces adjacent to Los
Angeles by r eckoning as such a few miLlion
acr es of the Pacific Ocean, which certainly has
recreational value.
Per manent r eser vation of thousands of acres
of steep, brush-cover ed mountain slopes such
as char acterize the Angeles National Forest
(and most of Griffith Park ) isof unq uestionable
r ecreational value to the Los Angeles people.
It would be so, mer ely for the scenic eff ect of
those mountains as viewed from elsewher e in
the R egion, even if they were ad ministered
exclusively f or pr otection of water shed values
and if the public were f enced off f r om setting
f oot upon them. But it would be utterly mis-
lead ing to reck on them acre for acre as an ade-
q uate su bstitute for areas ad apted to mor e in-
tensive recreational uses.
Lar ge continuous mountain areas, preserved
substantially in a natur al condition, have allimportant scenic value as viewed either fr om
within or without, and in many cases a lar ge
economic value as a par tial sour ce of water
su p ply.
\Vithin the mountains occur occasional par -
cels of nota ble value per acre f or d irect recrea-
tional use but of limited extent. And there,
also, occasional o pportunities exist for d elight-
ful r oad s and tr ails, the value of which de-
pends chiefly on the extent and scenic beG\.uty
of the pr actically untr aver sable mountain
slo pes ar ound them.It costs so much ill the long run to ad a pt
rough mountain land s satisfactorily to or di-
nary intensive private uses that their real net
value as r aw mater ial f or such use is gener ally
f ar less than~eir value f or watershed pr otec-
tion and for pu blic r ecr eation. Unfortunately
in the local s peculative land mark et this f act
is often ignor ed and subdivision sales are mad e
which commit the community to extravagant-
ly wastef ul private and public ex penditur es
for converting a good thing of one kind into a
poor thing of another kind.The simple f act is that the raw land value
of such intr acta ble areas is relatively low, be-
cause it costs a dis pr o por tionately large amount
per acr e in im pr ovements and in the carr ying
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charges to get any very large return from the
land. And the most significant fact about many
large intractable areas is that, where recrea-
tional value can be obtained from them with
so small an investment for altering their nat-
ural condition, recreational use will bring alarger return than private urban or suburban
uses.
In such a large area all that is necessary for
recreational use is the improvement of a few
wid ely spaced roads, trails, and gathering
places. These can be exceptionally valuable
per man-hour of use simply because they are
surrounded by protected landscapes, on land
that may remain practically unimproved and
un penetrated by the public at all. .
Considering the numbers of people of the
Los Angeles Region who, under increasing dif -ficulties' seek the kind of recreation to be ob-
tained from trips into these wild districts, and
considering the price per trip that people show
themselves willing to pay for this recreation in
terms of automobile mileage alone, it is clear
that there is a very large and strong demand
for such recreation. The permanent mainte-
nance of an area of this kind which would en-
able an average of, say, 2,000 automobile-loads
of people a week to reach what they want of
this sort of thing, twenty miles nearer home
than they would otherwise have to go for it,would show a saving of 2,000,000 car-miles a
year, which at eight cents a car-mile is $ 160,-000 a year , or interest on $3,000,000. Returns
of such magnitude, obtainable from a small
investment in improvements, would be better
business than to convert an intractable area
to intensive suburban lises at a far greater cost.
If the market value of raw land were based
solely on the ultimate possible returns, and
on a well-informed and honest comparison of
the total cost of impl:ovements both public and
private necessary to adapt it to various uses,
the intractable lands best adapted to large scen-
ic reservations would be more 01' less auto-
matically assigned to that purpose. Unfortu-
nately the decision to commit a given piece of
intractable land irretrievably to subdivision
and intensive development at large cost for
improvements, as against leaving it in sub-
stantially its natural condition for recreation,
is normally based on the judgment of the pro-
moter simply as to whether possible purchas-ers in a speculative market can be persuaded to
take the project off his hands at a satisfactory
profit to him above the costs which he will
have to meet before he is able to get out from
. under, leaving a large amount of costs to be
borne by the purchasers or the public. Until
promoters are required to provide for the full
development <?fthe property, it will be only
in extreme cases that large reservations of in-
tractable lands, intrinsically best suited to pub-
lic rt;:creation, can be reserved for the public
without paying excessive and fictitious pricesfor the raw land.
Because land-market conditions are so un-
favorable, recommendations for additional
public reservations of the type here discussed
must be made much more conservatively than
the physical conditions and the strictly econom-
ic conditions of this Region would warrant.
Yet, because of such conditions, the develop-
ment Of this great metropolis must unneces-
sarily suffer. Its people will have to travel
much farther from their homes to get the en-
joyment of large areasoJ>fwild land than they
would under better planning and public con-trol of such lands. -
PLEASUREWAY PARKS OR PARKWAYS AND
RELATED LARGE PARKS
Under this heading are a series of problems
which are peculiarly associated with great
modern cities. The seriousness of these prob-
lems here no one can possibly realize who ap-
proaches the subject from the point of view of
past conditions, or without a broad and alert
understanding of what is occurring. in other
great urban areas of the world.
The experience of other metropolitan areas
in respect to their park systems points certain
lessons, which are emphasized by analysis of
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[ 12] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
conditions and tr end s that ar e s pecially marked
in the Los Angeles R egion and are s pecially
associated with the motor-vehicle age as d is-
tinguished fr om the age in which the old er
metr o politan regions gr ew.
So f ar as we can see, these conditions and
pr o blems ar e her e to stay. Due mainly to im-
proved tr ans portation, es pecially to the wid e
use of the automo bile, the population living in
continuous metro politan urban and suburban
conditions spr ead s over an area much gr eater
than was formerly possible. Due to the auto-
mobile, there exists an enormously increased
r ange of average d aily and holiday tr avel, lim-
ited not by the time and private means avail-
a ble, as in the past, but by the ca pacity and
char acter of the public ways o pen to suchtr avel. By means of automobile tr avel a lar ge
por tion of the population theref or e seek s out-
PLATE 4. Broad, q uiet, attractive par k way in Dela-
war e Avenue, Buf falQ, wher e travel is a pleasur e.
Such ways are almost unk nown in the Los An-
geles R egion.
d oor recreation to an enormous aggr egate
amount, and over long distances both within
the metro politan ar ea and by passing through
it to the country beyond.
As a result of the gr eat spr ead of continu-
ously occu pied ter r itor y, this new, po pular ,
PLATE 5. Another park way in Olmsted Park in
Boston where adjacent houses have a pleasant
outlook and where passing tr avel is surr ounded by park cond itions.
and valuable f orm of r ecreation is losing its
value in the a bsence of a means for preser ving
it; and tr aveling on congested road s, thr ough
long, tedious str etches of unr efreshing, monot-
onously urbanized territor y, is proving too
gr eat a waste of time and effort in pro portion
to the mileage of attr active countr y tr aver sed .
The d esirability ther efore of a f ew s pecially
agr eea ble routes of pleasure travel within cit-
ies has long been recognized, and ex periments
in great variet~ have be;:n tried in the older,larger, and wealthier cities of the world. But
most of those 'ex periments were designed to
meet the req uir ements of horse-drawn ve-
hicles, low speed, and a short radius of tr avel.
Ther ef ore, they fall f ar short of meeting the
need s of the automo bile. More recently some
pr ogressive communities have been cr eating
routes d eliber ately d esigned upon a r egional
scale and of a char acter intended to meet the
metropolitan conditions of the automobile age.
Under mod ern conditions, with endless ex-
pedients f or combining the regional pleasuretravel functions with those of ordinar y r esi-
dential and business thoroughfares, e x perience
elsewhere points clear l y to one o f the most
urgent park needs of the Los Angeles Region
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General Consid erations andS tt mmary of C onclt t sions'\
-the need for a system of interconnected
pletisur eway parks, r egional in scope.
Such a system should be so distributed that
no home will be more thall a few miles from
some part of it; and should be so designed that,
having reached any part of it, one may drivewithin the system for pleasure, and with
pleasure, for many miles under thoroughly
agr eeable conditions and in pleasant surround-
ings. Fr ee from intexruption of ordinary urban
and suburban conditions, driving there may be
either wholly for the pleasure of such driving
or, more generally, it may be over the pleas-
antest if not· always the shortest route to some
other r ecreational objective.
"Pleasure'Lvay Par ks" and
Park"LOaysDe fined.In ord er to provide for travel amid pleasant
sur r oundings, parkways necessarily should be
gr eatly elongated real par ks. Except that they
include roadways for automobile travel, they
have almost nothing in common with ((boule-
var ds" as that term is generally used in Amer-
ica. Varying in width, and having few cross-
tr af f ic intersections, they sh.ould provide for
traveling long distances by automobile, and
should be well screened from the urban and
subur ban sur roundings through which they
pass. They should be wid e enough and have
trees enough to produce, along with the topo-
graphic conditions, some sense of spaciousness
and seclusion, and a variety of scenic effects.
Especially in the broader park enlargements
that may be secured where land is cheaper or
otherwise more available, much of the land
may be used incidentally for many other park
purposes.
The branches of such a system of pleasure-
way parks may be few, and many miles apart,
but they must be ample and far teaching. In·
the old days only a small percentage of the
people could enjoy park scenery from movingvehicles, and even they would not often travel
many miles through city streets for that pleas-
ure. As to the mass of the people, an isolated
park that gave opportunity to drive or walk a
mile or two in pleasant park scener y by going
only a short distance through the streets satis-
fied them well. Today, almost ever y bod y can,
and frequently d oes without hesitation, get
into a car and go five or ten miles through un-interesting streets to get to what he consider s a
really pleasant route of pleasur~ travel, per -
haps in a park or public forest, but more lik ely
just a region that isn't yet all built up. But the
ma jority, when they get out of town, want to
drive fifty or a hundred miles in pleasant sur-
roundings, coming home by a different route.
All this is more true of the Los Angeles
Region than of any other great metropolis.
The people here can and do get an immense
amount of outdoor r ecreation in just this man-
ner , and voluntarily spend an amount of time
and money in getting it (in car -mile costs, for
example) which gives a rough indication of
what they find it wor th. It is certainly worth
much more to them than the price in car -mile
costs or they would not keep on doing it.
Present Cost of Recreation Travel.
There is no reliable basis for com· puting the
aggregate car-mile costs which are thus volun-
tarily and gladly paid; but if anyone will fig-
ure for himself, on any reasonable car-mile
basis, about how many dol~rs a year his own
family and those of his acquaintances spend
in pursuit of this kind ot recreation, and then
consider that 7 I4,804 pleasure ·c~r s wer e regis~
tered in Los Angeles County up to June 30,1929, he will get some real notion of how
much the people thin~ it is worth to them to
ride long distances in pleasant surroundings.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
T he people are voluntar ily spend ing millions
of dollar s every year for such r ecreation under
cond it ions which ar e gr owing more and more
imper fect and unsatisfactor y.
Unless the opportunity is preserved to new-
comers and future generations in a system of
continuous park s and parkways, inter-pene-
tr ating the Region and connecting it with the
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countrysid e, the immense valu~ to the people
of this kind of recr eation is absolutely d oomed .
to disa ppear. Ur ban growth will fill in one
after another of the open s paces, and extend
continuously f or score af ter scor e of miles.
To peo ple of tod ay, how gr eat would be the
value of a home only a few miles fr om a park -
way of ample road capacity and agr eea ble
scener y, wher e one might drive through a
chain of similar parkways to distant par ts and
enjoy the open countr y of Southern Califor-
niaL Contrast this with the far inf erior wor th
of a home shut off fr 0m any considerable area
of open land by twenty to fifty miles of pr ac-
tically uninter r upted cities and subur bs.
COST OF LAND FOR APARK SYSTEM
\V'hat would be the cost in land withdr awnfrom private occupancy? In a given r egion
parkways, averaging a quarter mile in width,
if s paced eight miles apart in each dir ection,
would occupy six and a q uarter per cent of the
area. To compensate f or this withdr awal, the
community could be extended an equal amount
into the sur r ounding unoccupied land s. In a
region thirty miles in r adius, an equal ar ea
added ar olll1d the outside, to accommod ate
the peo ple dis placed by the park s, would mak e
a band a little less than a mile in width. Tr avel
to the center of the region would, at the f ar -thest, ther ef ore, be lengthened only thr ee per
cent, and f or such extensions, her e, plenty of
land is available.
vVhat would be the cost in taxes to pay f or
such 'r eservations? It has been estimated that
an incr ease in the annual tax rate of ten or
fifteen cents should suffice to acquir e and d e-
velo p a com plet e park syst em , including park-
wa y reser vations. Land withdr awn f rom pr i-
vate use to f orm such par k s should have less
value than land for other uses because the
park s should be located mainly in those inter-stices of the metro politan district that have
been left vacant pr ecisely because they ar e f or
various reasons least valua ble or least avail-
a ble f or intensive private uses.
PARK S AND THE DRAI NAGE PROBLEM
To the ex per ienced eye, the slopes of the
land show a ppr oximately wher e water must
concentr ate in times of heavy rainf all. No mat-
ter how innocent it may look i n d ry weather,
low land must always be f ar less valuable for
building purposes than other land. But the
lowland s may be just as good as any other f or
pr oviding s paciousness of open scener y f or
parks and parkways; and it ought to be r ela-
tively cheap to acquir e. Because of t he inno-
cent look it has in d ry weather, it is not as
cheap as it ought to be. Between flobd s it look s
pretty good f or building purposes to those who
never saw what stor m water can d o in this
countr y. Unsus pecting purchaser s, victims of
their own ignor ance, will fall into the tr apslaid for them by the sharp pr actice of ruthless
pr omoters, and such lands will be cut u p, sold,
alld occu pied. Unfortunately, the burden of
such a wr ong development does n ot fall on
the pur chaser alone, and scarcely ever on the
vendor, hut most heavily on the community
at lar ge. There is, of course, a remedy, but it
r equires vision and vigor to a p ply it. R emedial
legislation might prevent fur ther mistak es and
corr ect those of the past.
To sum u p this vexatious matter : The com-
munity is conf r onted with four possi blecourses:
First, and best, police regulation can be
adopted to pr event costly impr ovements in
flood ways unless and until ad equate spaces
have been set apart f or handling the maximum
flood s and the flood s have , been confined to
them by permanent channels, r eser voirs, and
reser ved areas f or percolation into the gr ound.
The cost would thus be f airly divid ed between
the community at large and the owner s of
land more or less subject to flood ing. Such a
policy would not only be a d irect financial bene-fit to the community, but would ind irectly pr e-
vent the sharp pr actIce a bove mentioned and
sto p the ill-dir ected s pread of the population.
It would also o pen the way to an economical
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purchase of park land s in the very areas where
nothing else is so clear ly practicable.
Second , the community can purchase such
lands for par k and flood-control purposes,
while still vacant, but at s peculative prices, that
are high because based on the cupidity of s pec-ulators unrestr ained by police regulations.
Third, the community can permit the land s
to become built up, and period ically s pend
large sums to re pair recurrent flood damage.
Fourth, af ter long d elay, the community
can, through heavy expenditure, permanently
remove the f lood menace by the purchase and
destr uction of costly improvements.
These ar e, of course, pr imarily flood -con-trol and water -conser vation pro ble m s; but
there ar e many oppor tunities for com bining
with them, at little extra cost, par ks along nat-
THE
Ml'lpShowingGENERAL LOCATION OF
OIANNI';I,S f ; ; ; ! 1 ) WonKS
FLOOD REGUL ATIONto a< ;company r epo rt
or
J.W.REACAN
E~ d Lo s A ng e l l's Co1~y
Flood Cofltroi Dislf 'idJANllllY t, l"~
~.:.-.. :::;;..
PLATE 6. M'ap showing ch annels and ar eas of interest to the f lood-contr ol pro blem th~t 1ll~Y hal'e joint
I'alue for park and park way uses. From 1917 r e por t, with add itiona l ar eas indicated.
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ural d rainage lines on land s r elatively chea p,
and extensive enough for recreation pur poses.
Such land would have to be acq uir ed only once,
yet would serve a dou ble pur pose-flood-con-
tr ol use and park use-not conflicting but posi-
tively benef icial to each other . Especially
would this be tr ue of the land acquir ed as a
margin of saf ety; the o pen land sk ir ting the
chief flood -contr ol area which pr ud ence would
includ e in the pur chase.
Where flood control alone is d ealt with in
com puting the size of antici pated flood s, there
is a natural tend ency to curtail the ar ea of land
to be acq uired in this s peculative mar k et. Such
cur tailment is lik ely to reduce the factor of
safety beyond the d anger point. Such a policy
d efeats itself. It com pels lar ge outlays f or
costly construction on nar r ow rights of waywhich would not be necessar y on wid er rights
of way. The combination of par k s with flood-
control necessities is frequently possible, and .
wherever practiced it n ot only will yield a
dou ble return on the investment in land but
also may lead to an am pler and bett e~ solution
o f both pr oblems at a much lower cost o f con-
struction t han either would se para ,tel y pay. Anexample of such a problem is d iscussed in d e-
tail in a letter on Nigger Slough and other
land s. (See A p pendix No. III.)
SUMMAR Y OF CO NCLUSIO NS( As S et For t h in Greater Detail
in Succeeding Chapt ers)
Most of the po pulation, of over two mil-
lions, now lives within a region of a bout 1,500
square miles. Population is incr easing at a
ra pid rate. It is thinly s pr ead over a lar ge part
of the centr al por tion of this ar ea. Ther e is no
great congested distr ict, such as is found in
other lar ge cities. Ther e is no evid ence that
congestion will become a serious pro blem in
the future.
Development of a satisf actor y park systemr eq uir es a suitable agency. The par k and rec-
reation agencies of the cities, the county, the
state, and the nation have d efinite f unctions
to perf orm in this Region, and any such agency
may be somewhat ex panded. But in the Los
Angeles Region ther e is no author ity now ex-
isting that could or should assume the f ull r e-
s ponsibility of acquiring and d evelo ping a
complete regional recreation system. Such
authority should be created, with power to r aise
f und s in or der to acq uir e and d evelo p prop-
erty, fr ee f r om the disturbing influence of f re-
q uent political overturnings, and operating
over a long period und er a continuing policy.
Local r ecreation f acilities are needed
throughout the occupied sections. Local play-
gr ound s and recr eation ground s exist, but they
ar e ineq uitably distributed in the Region.
Much mor e than half the subdivid ed area is
pr actically unsupplied. Only 73 of the 726
schools in the R egion have f ive acr es 01; moreof play s pace. School ar eas, even at best, are
not adeq uate to meet all local req uirements,
but they. have great value which should be co-
or dinated with other r ecr eation features. The
pr esent availa ble r ecreation s pace per capit a
decreases in pro portion as po pulation incr eases.
Ther ef ore, mor e s pace should be acq uired
pr omptly, by the municipalities or by the
schools, or both. To provid e each distr ict in the
subdivided ar ea with r easonable local recrea-
tion f acilities might cost, over an extend ed pe-
r iod, $40,000,000 or more, but would be well
worth the cost.The. pu blic need s and should have a larger
pr o portion of the beaches. Fourteen miles of
beach is now pu blicly owned, six miles is q uasi-
public, and thir ty-two miles is clear ly of suffi-
cient pu blic value to war r aqt immed iate ac-
q uisition. The balance of the ocean f r ontage
within and near the County lines is now used
f or other pur poses or is less urgently needed
by the public. The public holdings ar e in gen-
eral ver y nar row. Much of the ar ea that may
be acquir ed is r elatively nar r ow, lying between
existing highways' or built-u p areas and thesea. To acquire the shor e-f r ont pro per ties and
a small amount of ad jacent land would prob-
a bly cost a bout f ifteen million d ollar s; to mak e
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them fairly usable would require not less than
two million more. This d oubtless should be
increased to include a pleasure bay at a cost,
for its share of break waters and improvements,
of another ten million dollars, making in all,
$27,000,000.
To meet the r equirements of gener al r ec-
reation, some regional athletic fields ar e need -
ed. Ten of the large reser vations recommend-
ed as enlargements in the general park system
ar e now fair ly accessible to the po pulous cen-
ters, and should be set apart for this purpose.
As many more in districts.more remote may be
needed eventually for this purpose. A fair
share of the cost of the ten now most accessible
has been estimated to be about $7,000,000 f or
acquisition and improvements.
In the more r emote tracts embracing themountains, canyons, deserts, and island s, lar ge
reser vations should be acquired and made ac-
cessible. The cost of acquirement is estimated
at less than a million dollars, but the cost f or
improvements, pr imarily f or r oads, eventu-
ally may r each twelve to f ourteen millions, a
large share of which, however, can doubtless
be obtained from existing sources such as road -
construction fund s and labor.
Pleasur eway parks or parkways as her ein
d escribed practically d o not exist in the Los
Angeles Region. Large parks, publicly owned
water lands, and the lik e, to the extent of
about 16,000 acres, lie along f easible routes
for pleasureways of which t hey may ser ve to
form a part; 440 miles of park s and parkways,
with approximately 70,000 acres of land (54,-
000 more than now owned ) ar e need ed to pro-
vide park areas, reser vations, r oadways, border
streets, drainage channels, and the lik e, to
serve the various public needs that can thus be
jointly ser ved . To acquir e the land s at pr esent
prices may cost a hundred million d ollar s; to
improve them may cost forty-five million dol-
lar s more. A part of each cost, however, in-
clud es costs that should be char gea ble (in part
at least) to dr ainage, local str eets; highways,
and other public purposes that will be ser ved.
The above estimates f or a complete park and r ecreation system include a number of pr o-
jects and involve lar ge sums of money; but
the total is not unreasonable; it is not dis pro-
portionate to the character, magnitud e, and
wealth of the Region; and it is not out of scale
with the provision f or recreation being mad e
in other large metropolitan R egions. The rec-
ommended ex penditures should not all be
made at once, but should e xtend over a period
o f possibl y f orty 01" f if ty year s, and thus not
involve a heavy burd en at any time.
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Beautiful foothills r oadway near Pasad en a, ty pical California scener y that should be pr esened with its
bor d er plantations and ,-iews into the mountains, as part of pr oposed par k way. (See Chapter V III.)(Phot o by F iss.)
Bcautiful foothills roadwar ncar
Pasadena, typical
California
scenery
that s hould
be
prcsen ed with
its
border
plantations
an d I icws
i nt o t hc m ou nt ai ns part
o f p ro po sc d p ar kw ay . S ee
Chaptcr
V lL
Pltoto Fiss.
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THE previous chapter has indicated the
kind s of park and recr eation facilities
needed in the Los Angeles R egion. Another
stud y is now to be pr esented , examining the
conditions which may aff ect the many prob-
lems of meeting the need . The f ir st of these
conditions is, of cour se, the character of theRegion itself, and the fir st of the pr o blems is
thor oughly to und erstand the people for
whom its solution is of such great impor tance.
Incidental to these are studies of what has al-
r ead y been done, what the existing facilities
are, and what is the wealth of the R egion. The
extent of the use of automobiles is considered,
with the volume of tourist travel; movements
of po pulation are car efully estimated, also the
possible ef f ects of zoning and other restric-
tions. Regional or local conditions that now ex-
ist or that can be f airly predicted f or a notdistant future ant considered; and the whole
chapter is an effort to determine just what the
people of the R egion are, what they have, and
what they can d o and should d o in the matter
of parks and r ecreation in order to preserve
and advance the prosperity of the Region.
CHAR ACTER OF THE R EGIO N
The Los Angeles Region is a large one, in-
cluding about one-thir d of the County. The
other two-third s are mountains and deserts.
The Region lies south of the mountains, cov-ering 1,500 sq uare miles of coastal plain, low
hills, and high agricultural development, into
which the po pulation has s pr ead , ver y thinly,
and is still spr ead ing. In this R egion mor e than
f orty cities. and a number of unincor porated
communities form local center s, with se par ate
jurisdictions, and deal with park d evelo pment
with no common or gener al policy, with no
generally accepted uniform standard s, and
with no unity of cOlltr ol. There has been wid evariation among them in park d evelopment.
And, partly because of t he newness of many
of the communities, the need for such f acili-
ties has in some cases been almost wholly un-
realized .
THE POPULATION
\Vith a po pulation of over 2,000,000 in the
Region, but recently gather ed fr om all q uar -
ters of the nation and constantly incr easing,
community life is not yet highly developed
and recognition of local interests is limited .The population of the Region, having grown
f rom a little over 100,000 thirty years ago to
twenty times that number now, bid s f air to
d ou b~e again by 1950.
With the growth of population the urban
area is becoming greater; the large open s paces
of th countryside ar e being pushed farther
and farther from the center and ar e being
made less and less accessible to the peo ple, ex-
cept in those lamentably few cases where land
is acq uir ed to be k e pt~pen for public uses. The
ar ea almost wholly cut into lots now extend s.out ten miles or more fr om the center and cov-
ers nearly 400 square miles, within which f ew
lar ge s paces ar e now availa ble f or par k uses.
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PeR50N5 PeR ACRE
CJ 0T05
CJ 5TolD
Q10 TO 25
o25ro50
_ OVE.e50
CITIZENS COMMITTEEOr R4RKS AAYGROUNOJ 8E A
Los ANGELES REG/ON'
POPULATION DENSITY IN 1922
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\ ~
PERSONS PER ACRE
Do ro5
05TO 10
1 0 T O 25
25 r 050
_ OV£R50
CITIZENS COMMITTE~ O N P ARJ'5 PLAYGROUNDS ANI) 8fACHf5
LOS A NGE LE S R EGI O N
POPULATION DENSITY
IN /928
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~
INCIlEA.1£ IN PoPtlLA7I0N
P£It.1ONS Pe R AcRE
o01'0/0
0 /01'015
.1570 50
Oee/lEAS/! IN POPIlLATION
PERSONS PElt. ACItE
o0 ro 10
/ 0 TO Z5
ZS 11J50
QTIUNS CCWMITT££ VN PA~I(S PiAY(;~NP.s ANP BMfIf ldl.
POPULATION OENSITY OIl/NOES /322 TO /328
FOR. CENTRAL 5ECTION OF Los ANIJELES REGION
XAU /N Mlus
I { 3
/~~.t'"
" ,
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--@-t
CITIZENS COMMITTEE ON PARKS PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES
\ \
MAP SHOWING PGPVLATION'
· THE LOS ANGELES REG~N
\" '"SCALE I N MILES
4 5
OLMSTED BROTHERS AND BARTHOLOMEW ~
CONSULT ANTS
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Cond it ions A ff ect ing t he Need/ or Par k and Recreat ion Facilit ies
and maintain lar ge private or club pr o perties,
such yard s pr ovid e f or none of those f orms of
r ecr eation which r equire broad s paces, wheth-
er f or active games and s ports, and other gr e-
gar ious activities, or for land sca pe en joyment.
Also, the s pread of private house lots over avast urban ar ea tend s to remove the open
countr yside to a f ar gr eater distance fr om the
homes of most of the Deo ple than would d ens-
er ty pes of development.
The r elative s par sity and the wid e s pr ead
of urban po pulation is pr esuma bly due in the
main to the combinatioll of two factors: fir st,
a gener al f ondness f or the single family d e-
tached house, peculiar ly d esir able in this favor -
a ble climate and especially attr active to the
lar ge number of elder ly people who come here
to live; and second, the gener al availability of
the automobile during the per iod in which this
Region has been growing to metropolitan size,
making fairly long distances of tr avel in the
common er r and s of ever y-d ay life a matter
of slight importance. This tr end will doubt-
less continue unless check ed by tr affic conges-
tion and by the increasing lengths of tr avel
thr ough completely urbanized ter ritor y.
E vils o f t he
"F rict ion o f Dist ance."
Los Angeles may continue to gr ow as a me-
tr opolis of automo bile user s, living pleasantly
in d etached houses with plenty of room, with
a minor per centage of apar tment dwellers, but
onl y if it provid es motor ways (of which the
pleasur eway park is one ty pe) on a truly mod -
ern scale undreamed of in the past. Otherwise
the "friction of d istance" will gr ad ually pr ess
it back towar d the f amiliar and deplor a ble
metr opolitan conditions o, btaining in older
cities, wher e po pulation and land values ar e
crowded into much smaller ar eas. Alread y in
parts of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasad ena,
and other lar ger center s, ther e is a strong drift
toward multiple dwellings which pr o ba bly
will incre;J.sc in the futur e. So f ar as this drift
goes, the need for local park s and r ecreation
gr ound s will be much greater than at present.
Age Groups.
A stud y of the population in Los Angeles
by age gr oups shows a lar ger per centage of
adults her e than in most cities, due pr o bably to
the fact that climate and living conditions at-
tract many adults to settle her e, with a cor -
r es pondingly lower percentage of children
under twenty: 26 per cent her e as against 36
per cent in most other lar ge cities. Long Beach
and Pasad ena sho w a still smaller per centage
of children than Los Angeles, and this would
pro ba bly a pply to some other par ts of the R e-
gion as well.
This pr evalence of adults indicates the need
f or a greater propor tion than in o ther com-
munities of those ty pes of outd oor recreation, both local and r egional, adapted to enjoyment
by adults, as 'contr asted with playgr ound s ex-
clusively for child ren, essential though the lat-
ter ar e.
Income G1·OU PS .
The only satisf actor y d ata on income grou ps
in the Los Angeles Region is found in the rec-
ords of or ganizations which have mad e eco-
nomic sur veys. Data, furnished by the Eber le
Economic Ser vice, based on a house-to-house
sur vey .of Los Angeles City and on r entals and
building permits, show f or a total of 328,685f amilies check ed in the central urban ar ea, the
f ollowing ratios of incomes:
I NCOME GROUPS BY FAMILIES FOR 1927,
AND PER CE NTAGE I N EACH
Class A-Income over $5000 per yeaL 8.37 0
Class B-Income of $2500 to $5000 a yeaL------27.27oClass C-Income of $ 1000 to $2500 a yeaL 55.2 r oClass D-Income und er $1000 a yeaL 9·3 r o
Cor r es ponding r atios f or the entire County ar e
not now available but f r om rand om obser va-
tions it appears pr o bable that a complete r ec-
ord would show somewhat larger pr oportions
of the two lower income gr ou ps.
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~
[ 22 ] PARKS) PLAYGROU NDS A ND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGIO N
These f acts have a d ecid ed bearing upon
the types of recr eational facilities needed.
People having lar ge incomes (Classes A and
B) ar e able to satisf y leisur e-time d esir es and
to live und er whatever conditions seem most
pleasant and enj oyable. Those of lower . in-comes (Classes C and D) generally live in
small-lot, single-family home d istr icts, and
have more childr en and less leisur e time in
which to go to distant park s and recr eational
areas. These f amilies compr ise 65 per cent of
the po pulation', and they should be given first
consid er ation, not only f or their own good but
for the welfare of the community.
HOUSI NG
Los Angeles is a city of single-family d e-
tached houses, but in certain urban ar eas apart-ments ar e grad ually taking their place. The
tr affic volume on near ly all str eets, the shar p
r ise of land values and consequent incr ease of
taxes and assessments, ar e making lar ge sec-
tions no longer suita ble for ordinary single-
f amily houses. The following ta ble is a sum-
mar y of the results of a house count made in
1925 by the Souther n California Telephone
Company f or the ur ban area, having its outer
limits approximately eight miles fr om the
centr al business district, including portions of
Bever ly Hills, but excluding San Pedr o, Long
Beach and the west coast communities. Theclassification "resid ences" includ es duplexes
and bungalow cour ts, but is pr o ba bly about
one-half single-family r esidences.
TYPES OF HOUSI NG PR OVIDED I N AN EIGHT-MILE
R AIJIUS, WJTH NUMBER AND PER CENTAGES
OF FAMILIES LIVI NG I N EACH TYPE
r ear Resid ences
191 7 ------- --------- I° 1,64-4-1922--- , 57,04- 5
1925 2 34-,8 5 3
Lodging
Y ear H ouseJ
I9 1 7---- ------------ 2,067
'922 -------- ------ 4-,608
1925 ----------- --- 5,580
F lat s
21,069
37,7 22
4-6,999
Lig/rt
H owekeepiug
5,74 -3
7,653
5,24-3
Total
14-2,4-°8
221,753
319,857
Apar t ments
11,885
14-,725
27, 182
Resi-
Y ear delt ce J
Light
A pal' t - Lodging H ouse-
llteltt s I I ouses kee pilt g T otal
1917 7 1.30ro 14-·70% 8·35% 1.4-5ro 4-.20ro 100
1922 70.80 17.00 6.65 2.10 3.4-5 100
1925 73-4-0 14-.70 8.50 1.75 1.65 100
These figures show only slight annual changes
in the pr o portions of peo ple living in the dif -
f erent types of dwellings. The incr ease of
f amilies living in multi ple family dwellings
is offset by the incr eased number of single-
f amily houses in the outskir ts of the city.
Los Angeles City building-permit recor ds
thr ow a somewhat diff erent light upon the
changing character of housing.
.'\CCOMMODATIONS FOR FAMILIES I N Nnv BUILDI NGS I N
Los A NGELES CITY
Per Celt t
Single Double o f S iugle
A part - Dwell- Dwell- T otal Famil)'
r ear lUeltt s F iatJ ings ings F amilies t o T ot al
1919 277 384- 4-, II1 589 5,3 II 77· 51920 561 4-75 8,850 956 10,8 4-2 8 I.5
1921 976 1,888 13,303 3,4-34- 19,601 68. 1
1922 4-,4-58 2, I84- 15>373 6,018 28,033 54-.8
1923 10,803 2,4-4-8 19,509 11,082 4-3,84-2 4-4-·5
1924- 7,652 14-,669 7,54-3 29,894 - 4-9.0
1925 6,095 12,4-82 3,4 -95 22,°72 56.51926 7,4- 5 9 9,999 2,5 59 20,01 7 50.0
1927 9,9 68 8,2 I3 2,4- 3 6 2 0,801 38.5
It will be seen that the per centage of single-
family dwellings to total family accommod a-
tions has been alri10st steadily d ecr easing.
CLIMATE
It is need less here to pr aise the Los Angeles
climate or to note the r educed cost of heating
houses. Any r eal enjoyment of climate is out -
d oor enjo yment. Without facilities for out-door recr eation, climatic ad vantages might just
as well be written d own to a mere diff erential in
heating bi1Js. As an asset, the Los Angeles cIi-
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Condit ions Aff ecting the N eed f or Par i?' and Recr eat ion F acilities [23 ]
mate is worth f ar mor e than that; but it will
be f rittered away just as sur ely as outdoor
means f or enjoying it are not conser ved.
Enjoyment of climate is in this region inter -
woven with all other f orms of outd oor r ecrea-
tion and ser ves to heighten the pleasur e theygive. But the most cons picuous eff ect of cli-
mate and scenery is to incr ease very gr eatly
the use of the automo bile f or r ecreation. On
holid ays and in leisur e hour s throughout the
entire year thousand s of motor vehicles ar e
car r ying young and old over the highways on
pleasur e trips. For increasingly fr equent pe-
riod s the primar y highways ar e congested to
a d egr ee which mak es the so-called pleasur e
trip anything but pleasur a ble, exce pt to those
who can enjoy any conditions so long as they
sit in an automobile.
Obstacles to enjoyment of the climate d e-
ser ve s pecial consid er ation with r efer ence to
the tourist population. The widely-ad vertised
attractions of climate and scenery bring thou-
sand s to the Los Angeles R egion ever y year .
They find the climate fully equal to expecta-
tions but the facilities by which the out-of -
doors may be enjoyed often pr ove a sur prise
and disap pointment. The pr essur e of gr owing
masses u pon the now availa ble beaches, can-
yons, forests, and countr y r oad s is lesseningtheir attractiveness and pr oducing unfavor a ble
r eactions in newcomers. The beaches, which ar e
pictur ed in the magazines to attr act the eastern
visitor s, are suffering fr om the ra pid encroach-
ment of private use; the wild canyons ar e f ast
being subjected to subdivision and cheek - by-
j owl ca bin construction; the for ests suff er an-
l1Ually f rom devastating fir es; the r oad sid es
are more and mor e d isfigured by signboar d s,
shack s, garages, filling stations, destr uction of
trees, and multiplication of poles and wires.
So that driving f or pleasur e is often an ex-
hausting and hazard ous or deal r ather than a
r ecreation.
SCENIC R ESOUR CES
A large number of those who have come to
this section of California have been attracted
to it by its scenic q ualities. They have r ead that
((no other part of the wor ld off ers such a di-ver sity of scenery and climate in such a small
area." These qualities contribute distinctly to
the agreeable living conditions which induce
visitor s to become permanent r esid ents. The
natural beauties of the Los Angeles Region
must, ther ef or e, be consider ed among its pri-
mar y assets, drawing new population and pro-
moting contentment and satisf action among
those who choose to live her e.
But scenic resources ar e d wind ling. The
beaches ar e being fenced off and withdr awn
from general use with alarming rapidity. The
oppor tunities now existing for the enjoyment
of views out over the sea f rom the highways
along the shor e and from privately owned
o pen s paces ar e being r a pidly lost. A practically
continuous row of buildings, walls and plant-
ing between motor ists and the seacoast o f Los
Angeles County is in pros pect. Ther e ar e now
only six miles of highway along the entire
coast of Los Angeles County wher e views of
the sea cannot be so cut off at the will of pr i-
vate land owner s. Ther e are no lar ge park s or
permanent public o pen spaces along the coast,
such as the waterfront parts o f Chicago, BelleIsle of Detr oit, or Stanley Par k, Vancouver .
The few small sq uares, shor e park s, and nar-
row beaches now existing ar e wholly out of
scale with the present po pulation and ar e de-
plora bly inadequate f or the future.
The mountains, which ar e dominant scenic
assets, are slowly losing value because of the
intensive urban g-r owth. On the one hand such
growth is steadily cutting off views of the
mountains, views that can be eff ectively ob-
tained only acr oss o pen foregr ound s sufficient
in scale to complete and unif y the landsca pecom position. The constant pr ocess of building
upon o pen areas, the confinement of highways
between r ows of dweLlings, stor es, ad ver tising
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PLATE I I. San Fer nand o Valley, looking toward the city, showing possi ble location for scenic routes
along the hills and showing the washes wher e subdivision is s pr ead ing but has not yet a bsor bed all
the ar eas needed f or park s and parkways. (Photo by Spence.)
structur es and other near - by o bstructions is
gr adually eliminating- enjoyment of the in-
spiring mountain scener y from the plains. This
is a great loss which can be stopped only by
r eser vation of occasional public o pelt for e-
gr ound s. It is immaterial whether these be
small local parks or parts of r egional pleasur e-
ways.
Within the mountain ar eas certain char ac-ter istics of the mountains most enjoyed by in-
timate contact are being depr eciated by misuse.
Only cer tain canyons nnd rid ges nr e read ily
accessi ble and easily usa ble, but these in some
cases have been so occupied by motor road s,
ca bin construction, and commercial uses as to
seem no longer distinctly mountain countr y, but
mer ely r e productions of some of the poorer
neighborhoods of the city.
The hills and sightly eminences in and
around Los Angeles have never been properly
work ed into the ex panding structure of thecity in order to preser ve their landscape value
or save for public en ioyment the magnificent
views f r om their summits. Land - platting and
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PL ATE 12. Signal Hill with its oil wells showing Long Beach on the plain to the r ight; along the ridge
among the oil wells a park way is need ed . (Phot o by S pence.)
r oad-building on steep hillsid es generally r e-
sult in scars and gashes which nature has great
difficulty in healing. Ther e ar e almost no con-
tinuous well-planned scenic drives in the hills
behind Hollywood or Glendale or those on
the east side. The drives and outlook points
in Elysian Park ar e merely suggestive of the
tr eatment that this gr eat metropolis might
reasonably be ex pected to give to many such
elevated areas.
The value to tourists and r esidents alik e of scenic routes' perm.anent l y protected against
obstructive building on I he sid e towar d t he
view in such situations as high on the Bald win
Hills, the Montebello and Puente Hills and
just a bove the base of the mountains, would
be enormous. Many thousands of visitors come
to this R egion expecting to find superb pano-
ramas of the great city, the or ange gr oves, the
mountains and the sea fr om these high places,
but month by month the o ppor tunities to mak e
them permanently available are slipping away.
Even yet, however , many o pportunities re-
main to car ry out pr o jects similar to such f a-
mous and po pular drives as the sk yline boule-var d s of Oakland and San Fr ancisco, Mission
Rid ge R oad and Look out Mountain Highway
in Chattanooga, the 25 -mile scenic r oute on
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PLATE 13. Phn fOl: highways in the Los Angeles Region as pr e par ed a few year s ago by the R egional
Planning Commission, showing a complete network of ma jor highways.
the hills behind Duluth, Terwilliger Boule-
vard and the Columbia Highway at Portland,
Oregon, and the hillside parkways at Seattle.
Native trees were never numerous in the
Los Angeles Region, and every grove is pre-
cious. The introduction of an adequate water
supply has banished desert conditions, and the
planting of orchards and ornamental trees hasof course enriched the view. Few concerted
efforts, however, are made to save existing
tr ees when in the path of subdivisions. They
are being destroyed by the spread of the city.
In widening the highways, mature tr ees ar e
cut down, thus removing the one effective re-
lief to the monotony of commercial build ings.
Many miles of once pleasant, tr ee- bordered
rural roads are annually added to the alreaq y
tremendous total of unsightly commercialized
streets. Is this good businessr It is through in-creasing lengths of such treeless streets that
both citizens and visitor s will be forced to
travel in sear ch of p]easu~e-un]ess the evil
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~' _ _ EAST SIDEORG A1'4iZ ATIOMIMc.--
---EHetN!:EI>\I'OGOeAo\,R'T •••••~T·------,.~• . . . . .-.. -~-
PLATE 14.. PLlI1 f or highway s in the East S ide as suggested by the Fa'st S ide Or g:lI1ization 111coh sul-
tation with the R egional P la nn ing Commission.
results of pr esent highway constr uction aresomehow counter acted and futur e im prove-
ments consid er the good of the whole com-
munity.
STREETS AND HIGHWAYS
The str eets and highways ar e developed
primarily f or other than r ecr eational end s, but
they play, or ought. to play, an important par t
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PLATE 15. Plan of the Pacif ic Electric R ailway system showing a rad iating system from the hear t of the R egion. •
in recr eation. Whether people find their out-
door r ecreation mainly in park s or elsewhere,
all pleasur e tr avel originating in and retur ning
to pr ivate houses must use the highways, pos-
si bly f or many miles; and much of the joy of
the d ay's outing will d e pend upon their condi-
tion. Yet all scr eens and opportunities f or
screens to f or m pleasant avenues, and also to
pr otect ad jacent pr o per ty fr om the disturbing
influence of traffic, have been lost in ht.lI1dred s
of miles of such highways. Such avenues as
Magnolia Avenue at Riverside, Euclid Ave-
nue in Ontario, and the parkways and " boule-
var d s" of other cities ar e wholly lacking in
the Los Angeles R egion.
CAR LI NES AND R AILWAYS
In early d ays the street car was a much used
pleasure conveyance and ter minal par k s were
popular, but with the extensive use of the auto-
mobile the volume of str eet-car tr avel f or
pleasur e has not k ept pace with the gr owth of
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Cond it ions J lff ect ing t he N eed j01' Park and Recreat ion F acilities
the city; the terminal park has become less
pr of ita ble and str eet-car extensions into new
areas have been limited. It is doubtful, in view
of the wide use of the automobile f or tr ans-
pOt-tation and pleasur e, whether any consider -
a ble extensions will be mad e in street-car f acili-
ties as other new r ecr eation o b jectives ar e de-
veloped.
The most ad vantageous r ecr eational f eatur e
of the pr esent tr ansit plan is the extensive ser v-
ice rendered the beaches and beach communi-
ties. There are now opportunities to appr oach
by r ail almost ever y str etch of usa ble ocean
fr ontage fr om Santa Monica southward to
Palos Verdes; lines extend to San Pedr o, Wil-
mington and Long Beach and f or miles along
the coast f arther south.
To the mountains ther e is ver y little street-car service and lik ely to be little in the f utur e,
as the total ca pacity of r esor ts ther e is neces-
sarily limited and not lik ely to encour age cost-
ly railway building.
Steam r ailroad s, other than as controlling
factor s in the location of industries and sta-
tions and as barrier s between residential neigh-
borhood s, d o not materially aff ect the r ecrea-
tion pr oblem.
ZONI NG TO CO NTROL THE USE
OFTHELA NDL6s Angeles and other cities in the Region
have ad o pted some regulations to control the
use of the land , maintain stand ar ds in each
section, prevent impr o per uses of the land ,
and k ee p the sizes of buildings in scale with
conditions surr ound ing them. One-third of
the municipalities have zoned f or use, about
one-f our th f or height and area, and a f ew f or
sid e and r ear yard s. But ther e is no regulation
of po pulation d ensities, and most places zoned
per mit multiple dwellings almost ever ywher e
and offer little Dr otection to the small home
owner . Hence there is little indication of
wher e private r esid ences are likely to continue
in large number s.
Wher e apartment-house construction is per-
mitted pr actically all over a city, as is the case
here, two evil consequences may r esult: fir st,
the d anger of the intr usion of a partments al-
most anywher e discourages the building of
single-f amily houses, even though the frac-tion of the total ar ea actually occu pied by
apartments will r emain comparatively small.
Second, a partments will be scatter ed and illog-
ically bunched, and while their occupants will
have far gr eater need for local par k f acilities
than other people, it will have been im pos-
sible to provid e f or them adequately in ad -
vance of building o per ations.
Zoning f or business fr ontage in most of the
Los Angeles Region is f ar f rom reasona ble.
The s peculative urge has almost ever ywhere
led to permission of business on f ar mor ef rontage than can ever be used, with r esultant
injur y to pr o per ty fr onting on many str eets
that might otherwise form pleasant r esid en-
tial neighborhood s. In a stud y of pr o perty uses
in twenty-three cities, by the Regional Plan of
New Yor k, the findings wer e as follows. No-
tice the business fr ontage:
Per cent age in
Resid mtial
Cit ies
Percent age i1l
hulwtl'ial
Cit ies
R esidences ------------- --- --------54 -.0 to 6 2. 0Business 1 .4 - to 2. 8
I nd ustr y - .. --------------- 3 to 5
Str eets (f airly constant). 25 to 25
Park s (ver y wid e var iance) 2 to J 7.5
3 4 - to 4 -8
5 to IO
2 I to 26
25 to 2 5
2 to 17.5
SPECULATIVE LAND SUBDIVISION
Subdivision has been car ried so f ar here that
acr eage par cels d esir able f or park purposes,
because near in and of scenic interest, ar e r ar e-
ly o btaina ble. And even when f ound they are
often held at such high prices, set by lot sales
in the vicinity, that it is difficult to pr ove thatat such prices they will show satisf actory r e-
turns to the public as park s and r ecreation
ground s.
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c!~ltNS CO"1 f'o1ITHE ON P AR KS PL AY GROUNDS AND B E AC HES
L OS M!GELES REGION
ARE AS CHIEFLY SUBDIVIDED
INTO HOUSE LOTS
PI. ATE 16. Ma p showing areas now almost wholly su bdivided into house Jot units. ( Base ma p b y cour tes y of Aut omobile Club o f S outltet ' ?t C ali f or llia.)
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CONSUL TANT,s
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Cond it ions A ff ect ing t he Need f or Par k and Recreat ion F acilit ies . [ 3 I ]
Ther e are few places in the wor ld wher e
land subdivision has been so constant and wid e-
spr ead as here. The ha bita ble ar eas of the Re-
gion are very r a pid ly changing fr om pastures,
orchard s, f arms, small f arm Jots, and br ush
land into streets and building lots. This tak es place with only slight and very inf requent r e-
gard f or the ultimate need f or public open
s paces by the incr easing number s who will oc-
cupy the subdivisions.
In the L o s Angeles market, those who fir st
buy lots from su bdivid er s are largely intent
on speculative r esale-to any bod y for any use.
They are easily persuaded that almost any lot
may turn out to be valua ble for business use;
they d o not realize that only a ver y small per -
centage of lots ever will be so used; and per-
haps they d o not care; they ar e intent uponr esale, nothing else. They d o not a ppreciate
the value of resid ential neighbor hood s per -
manently satisfactor y to live in because of
having ad equate local recreation ground s.
They may be penny-wise and pound -foolish.
Until the lot- buying public can be more gen-
erally educated to purchase d iscriminately, in-
stead of on the basis of undiff erentiated lot-
ter y tick ets, subdivid ers cannot be ex pected to
go very f ar in voluntar ily setting a part local
par k s and r ecreation gr ound s. Can they be
mad e to realize that in the long run such park s
will mak e the remaining lots more valuable
than the whole tract would be without them?
If people persist in buying lots that have
not been provided with accessible parks and
other ultimately necessary local public utilities,
at almost the same pr ice they will pay for lots
that have those ad vantages, they or their suc-
cessor s will simply have to pay the heavy price
for such shortsightedness.
SHORTAGE I N EXISTING PARK
A ND RECREATIO N FACILITIESIn the Los Angeles Region the existing
park s and recreation f acilities ar e ver y limited
in extent and ver y irr egular ly distr ibuted . The
total acr eage is not only below the standard s of
other cities, but below any r easona ble mini-
mum, either on an acr eage or a po pulation
basis. Comparison on the basis of population is
here illogical because po pulation is increasing
so ra pidly and because such large sections stillhave an abnormal percentage of vacant lots.
Comparison, as in the table below, on an acre-
age basis is more logical, as the total acr eage
will remain constant.
Ther e is no satisf actor y summar y of statis-
tical comparisons in r egar d to p ark s and r e-
lated facilities in Amer ican cities, whether in
relation to po pulation or to area, and statistics
are liable to serious misinterpretation without
a per sonal knowled ge of local cond itions. The
statistics used in the f ollowing ta ble, whether
or iginally made by the U. S. Census or other
compilers, wer e mainly o btained f rom incor -
por ated cities, though in some cases f rom s pe-
cial park districts, school districts, or counties.
They show that the boundar ies of administra-
tive units r elate in the most ar bitr ar y and di-
ver se ways to the distribution of ur ban terri-
tor y and po pulation. They frequently over lap
each other so that the officials of anyone of
them may control and re por t on r ecreation
areas within the jurisd iction of one or mor e
other administrative bodies. S,ome of them own
and o perate recreation f acilities outsid e their
own boundar ies. And ther e is much diversity
in the ty pes of recreation facilities classified
under the same head ing by dif f erent politicalunits.
The most near ly complete and compar a ble
data ar e those f or the parks and recr eation
ground s of incorpor ated cities. Fr om the fig-
ures f or 1925-1926 of the Playgr ound and
Recreation Association of America a ta ble has
been made showing f or Los Angeles and ten
other cities (arranged by population) the ex-isting par k acr eages, exclusive of school
ground s, and compar ing them with the total
acr eages of the cities, as follows:
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[ 32] PARKS) PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
TABLE SnOWING EXTENT OF PARKS IN ELEVEN CITJEs*
Population Number o f Parks by S i zes Per Cent
tn Under Over Total o f Park
Thousands Five 1000 Park Acreage Area t o
City ( 19 20 ) Acres 5-25 25- 100 100-1000 Acres Acreage of City Cit y Area
Chicago _ _ ---~---- _ . _ ----- 27°2 18 36 10 9 ° 4,487 131,190 3.4 1Philadel phi a _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ __ 182 4 4 10 7 4 2 7,802 80,017 9·75Detroit _ _ _ 994 37 10 4 6 3,733 76,245 4.96St. Louis _ ___ _ _ __ _ _ _ ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ 773 58 16 7 6 1 2,881 39,405 7.07Boston __ _ ___ ------------------- 748 74 9 8 8 ° 2,637 3°,598 8.61
Los AngeleL ___ 576 42 16 4 2 1 4,906 262,893 1.87San Francisco __ ___ ____ _ _ ___ _
5°7 20 31 7 4 1 2,536 81,280 3.12
Minneapolis __ _ ------------- 381 78 ' 28 13 13 ° 4,738 34, 105 '3.88Kan sas City __ _ _ _ _ ___ __ _ _ _ ___ _ 324 25 37 18 3 1 3,238 38,400 8.42Sea ttl e ___ ___ ____ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ ___ _ __
315 36 67 8 6 ° 2,145 45,760 4·7°P ortla n d _ _ ~ _ ____ __ ___ .__ ____ _ _ _ 258 25 41 8 6 ° 2,182 42,240 5.18
;l-Exc1usive, as i n the other s ta tistics, of school playgrounds, and exclusive of the National Forests.
Minneapolis has the most properties, the
largest percentage of park acreage, the best
distribution of areas, and the best develop-
ment and maintenance. The data for Minne-
apolis, for Los Angeles City and for Los An-
geles Region are in detail as follows:
CO MPARISO N O F PARK S I N MlN NE APOLIS A ND Los A NG ELE S
Number o f Par ks b yS izes
Under
5 Acres
MI N NEAPOLIS: Num beL . ___ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ 78
Aggregate acr eage -_ _ _ 63
Los ANGELES CITY:
Num ber 42Aggregate acreage 4 -8
L o s A NGE LES REGIO N:
N umb eL. -----.--------- 95Aggregate acreage 247
16216
19
93 4-
Within the Los Angeles :R~gion a wide vari-
ation is found in the percentages of park areas.
In Pasadena, r elatively large areas are now
publicly owned . In Palos Verdes, 25 per cent
of the entire resider itial district (800 acres out
of 3200) is set aside for park and recreational
uses. On the other hand, in many other dis-
tricts the percentage of public open space isextremel y low.
The total park area in the Los Angeles Re-
gion is 9,668 acres, or about IS square miles.
Over
1000
100-1000 Acres
Total
Park
Acreage
Acreage
of City
or Region
Populat ion
in 1920
That is to say, in a'region of 960,000 acres, or
1500 square miles, there are only IS square
miles of park lands. This is only about one per
cent of the total area. Compare this with the
fact that there are now in the same region 42
areas in golf clubs and country clubs privately
owned outside the park areas, and containing6,179 acres, or about two-thirds as much as
the total public park lands.
The following table shows what has been
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done and is now being done in four lar ge met-
ropolitan regions. Los Angeles has a r elatively
lar ge ar ea in munici pal parks, but it includ es
a number of mountainous ar eas having lim-
ited recr eational value. In Metropolitan,
. County and State par k s, Los Angeles is far
behind other cities-in fact, has hard ly mad e
a beginning.
M etro- Adjacent
M unicipal politan N ati01t a! Po pulation
METROPOLITAN M unici pal W ater -shed C ount y and F orest mzd Acreage o f o f the
R EGIO N Parks Pr o perties St at e Park s Park AI ' eas the Region Region
CHICAGO:
Cook County only, 1928 5,800 32,000 597,000 3,760,000Chicago R egion, I 928--------. 12,000 38,900 5,000,000 4-,800,000Chicago R egion of ficial rec-
ommend ations and esti-
mates for 1950-
(Minimum) ------------------- 21,000 64-,000 5,000,000 8,000,000(Maximum) _ _ ___ _ _____ ____ _ ____ 74-,000 -------------- --------------
BOSTON:
Metropolitan District, 1928.- 7,054- 712 11,14-2 262,4-00 1,84-0,912
NEW YORK:
New York R egion, 1927 ___ _ _ 13,736 56,999 76,266 655,874- 3,537,24-9 10,34-0,000
Los A NGELES:
Los Angeles R egion, 1928--- _ 9,161 6,523 507 64-0,000 960,000 2,000,000
DISTRIBUTION OF SPACES
NEEDED FOR LOCAL SERVICE
In ord er to indicate the extent to which ex-
isting pu blic o pen s paces may ser ve local rec-
reational and par k need s in the Los Angeles
R egion, a diagr am has been made (Plate No.
18) showing all public recreational ar eas:
parks, playground s, school gr ounds, and
other s, together with the surrounding district
f or which they can logically be ex pected to
pr ovide local ser vice. The d iagram was dr awn
on the assumption that local service should ex-
tend over a distr ict twenty times the size of
the unit (the par k area being 5 per cent of
total ar ea) but not more than half a mile d is-
tant fr om the u nit. * On this d iagram all such
districts, and all large areas not r equir ing r ec-reation f acilities (industr ial ar eas, hillto ps,
steep slopes, college grounds, and private rec-
reation grounds) have been left in white;
within the region now almost wholly cut up
into building lots all other ar eas have been
shown in black ; outside the intensively sub-
divid ed ( black ) ar eas all lands not served by
existing par k s and not withdrawn from resi-
d ence uses have been shown cr oss-hatched.
This diagr am shows a lack of o pen s paces for
local ser vice in a lar ge percentage of the Re-
gIOn.
Par k ways or pleasureway park s in any ad e-
q uate r ecr eational sense, as they ar e known f or
example in New York, Boston, Chicago,
Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Kansas
-'Five per cent of the total ar ea wou ld be a low stand ard f or a
r egion of gr eat population d ensities. (The island of Manhattan
has 12.4 0/ 0 of its total ar ea in par k s and , wit h a po pulation d ensity
approximating 200 per acr e, is ver y inadequately supplied. The
Bor ough of the Br onx has 16.8% of its 26,524 acres in park s.)
But 50 / 0 seems r easona ble f or the lower pr evailing d ensities of the
Los An geles R egion. The half -mile limit of eff ective service r a·
d ius for local r ecr eation f acilities is based on o bser vations and
attendance counts in m any eastern c ities, but possi bly the radius
should be extend ed here because of the much mor e extensive use
of automo bile tr ans portation.
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City, are almost wholly lacking here. This lack
cannot be due to a smaller need because of the
peculiarities of the Region. The people of Los
Angeles County have not less but more need
and desire for outdoor enjoyment by automo-
bile. Yet compare the almost complete lack here with the mileages in the following list:
New York CitY-79 milesBoston 20 miles
Chicago ------------84-miles
Cleveland --------4-3miles
Detroi t I5 miles
Minnea polis ----55 miles
Kansas CitY -90 milesLos Angeles _
_ _ _ _ _ _ __ N 0 true parkways
Some of the mileage reported in this table does not come up to the
standards for a true parkway as considered in t his report.
CONCLUSION
It is realized that in a review of Los An-
geles park needs, too much emphasis must not
be put upon comparisons with other cities. The
problem here must be solved almost entirely
on the basis of local or at least California ex-
perience. In the last analysis the people of this
Region must determine their own recreation
needs and meet them in the same manner as
they are working out the problems of water
supply, flood protection, harbor improvement,
transportation and other matters having sig-
nificance beyond the boundaries of any single
city.The people of the Los Angeles Reg-ion have
essentially the same normal desire to play and
they derive the same benefits from exercise in
the open as people elsewhere; youth here finds
fully as keen enjoyment and healthful devel-
opment in games and sports as youth in other
cities; the climate constantly beckons out-
doors, far more than elsewhere. Study has un-
earthed no factor which indicates that the peo-
ple of this Region will be permanently satis-
fied with lower standards than those of other
great communities, and many that point to-ward the expediency of higher standards. The
big question is whether the people are socially
and politically so slow, in comparison with the
amazing rapidity of urban growth here, that
they will dumbly let the procession go by and
pay a heavy penalty in later years for their
slowness and timidity today.
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ADMI NISTR ATIVE, LEGAL AND FI NANCIAL CO NDITIO NS
AFFECTI NG THE CR EATIO N OF AN ADEQUATE PARK AND
RECREATIO N SYSTEM FOR THE LOS ANGELES REGIO N
A N ad equate park and recreation system
nshould recognize two d istinct ty pes of
functions in ord er to meet need s that are pr i-
mar ily local and those that are r egional. This
diff erence of need and conseq uently of func-tion pr ofoundly aff ects the selection of sites,
the design, and the legal, f inancial and admin-
istr ative problems of control and maintenance.
But there is no such shar p distinction between
the kinds of par k s that may serve such need s.
Many park areas, pr imar ily intend ed f or the
one purpose, may serve the other, or may serve
both, and thus mak e f or efficiency and f or econ-
omy. Ind eed, many a local recreation area such
as a pu blic city beach, created and operated by
a single city primarily f or its own peo ple, is
now eff ectively ser ving as a r egional ar ead r awing people from all parts of the r egion in
even greater numbers than ar e other areas in-
tend ed strictly f or regional use.
A multitude of agencies, with r esponsibili-
ties and power s overla p ping in complicated
ways, have in ever y metr o polis d evelo ped seri-
ous d ef iciencies in practice and have left im-
por tant need s uncar ed f or . This is es pecially
true of recreation, which is slighted far mor e
than other branches of ad ministration. As new
need s have tardily been r ecognized , they have
been im per f ectly d ealt with either by ex pand-
ing the sco pe of existing departments or bycr eating subsidiar y bur eaus. This has been es-
peciall y true of pr o blems transcending j uris-dictional boundar ies.
Local Authorit ies and
Co-operative Act ion.
Operating throughout every metro politan
region, and d ealing with some of the prob-
lems here consid er ed , ar e the school boards,
which naturally deal with f acilities that ser ve
the people near at hand. At the same time and
in the same area a number of other agencies,
more or less inde pendent, work u pon recr ea-
tion problems, some f rom a local point of view,
others f rom a regional one. Among these some
now act in co-o per ation with one another, and
to this voluntar y co-o per ation and interchange
of views have been largely d ue such even mod-
erately well-balanced and satisf actory results
as have been o btained. .Existing methods have work ed out best in
th'ose matter s of local r ecreation wher e results
have appr oximated standard s which the local
people d emand and ar e willing to pay for. It
is theref ore believed that in such local matters
the best results for the least money can be ob-
tained by stimulating the activities of existing
muni~ipal agencies and school board s.
Regional Authorit y and
Continuing Policies.
It may conf idently be said that the mor e
tr uly regional par k and recreation needs havenever been satisf ied in a metropolis merely by
adding to local agencies such regional func-
tions as each munici pality may see f it to under-
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[ 36 ] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
take. Success requires an agency created for
the regional purpose alone, and guided by the
principle of unity-singleness of responsibil-
ity, authority, purpose, and policy.
Responsibility for and jurisdiction over a
broad territory may be focused in one agencycovering the entire metropolitan area. The
agency may cover it as one unit or as more than
one, but should in any case cover a section large
enough to emphasize unmistakably its regional
responsibility. For example, the Boston Region
has one metropolitan park agency covering
about forty municipalities, each with its own
local agency. The New York Region extends
into three states and has several park agencies
of wide jurisdiction, mainly covering an entire
county each; it also has two special commis-
sions (one interstate and one for the State of
New York) each having jurisdiction over sev-
eral counties; there are in addition four hun':'
dred municipal agencies.
The success of such agencies depends on
concentration of purpose. Responsibility for
park and recreation problems should not be
made a side issue. Continuity, stability of pol-
icy, and control of the budget are essential.
This I S true especially because the results of
park expenditures are very slow to materialize, _
slower perhaps than those of any other ex-
penditures. _
Of the conditions most essential to successare: first, stability of tenure of personnel; sec-
ond, a small deliberative body of large-minded
persons, responsible for the policy but willing
to delegate executive work in pursuance of the
policy; and, third, a method of financing which
permits budgeting systematically for consider-
able periods in advance.
Legislation Recommended.
Legislation embodying the principle above
outlined exists in other states, and the prin-
ciple is not unknown here in California. The
East Bay Municipal Utilities District is an ex-ample of regional authority overlapping both
city and county boundaries. *'cFor a detailed comparison of powers, duties and resources of such
agencies see Appendix No. IV.
Legislation is needed here to permit the cre-
ation of a regional park district. A large part
of the needs of the Los Angeles Region is es-
sentially regional, and can best be developed
through the creation of a regional authority.
To create such an authority will require legis-lation.
The Legislature should pass an enabling act
providing for an initiative petition signed by a
large enough number of persons, possibly five
'thousand, to show popular demand and to pre-
vent hasty action. This provision would limit
application of the act to populous districts
where the recreational need really exists. The
petition should be filed with the board of
supervisors, who may reject or approve it, or
reduce the boundaries of the proposed district.
When the petition is approved, an electionshould be called in the proposed district to de-
termine whether the district shall be formed.
Government of such a district should be
vested in a board of five directors, to serve
without compensation, with four-year over-
lapping terms, to be appointed by the Gov-
ernor. In this respect the proposed act would
follow closely the example of other successful
park acts, such as that for Boston, or for the
counties of New Jersey, where splendid per-
sonnels have been secured, consisting of lead-
ing citizens willing to give much time 'and
thought to this question, capable of resisting
political influence and attracted to the office by
considerations of public service where no salary
is involved.
The board of directors of the proposed dis-
trict should have the following powers:
to control such affairs in the district as are
necessary to carry out the purposes of the
act. This power should be substantially the
same as that of the flood-control, sanitation,
and other districts now existing here, and
that of similar park districts elsewhere, in-
cluding the power to acquire and hold land
and rights in land for the purpose of devel-
oping a system of parks and other recreation
facilities.
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to levy, in add ition to taxes f or ser vice of
bond issues, an annual tax for maintenance
not to exceed five cents per hund r ed d ollars
of assessed valuation.
to issue bond s not to exceed two per cent
of the assessed valuation of the distr ict, bygiving notice and hold ing hearings, with the
pr ovision that if a r efer endum petition is
f iled an election must be held, r eq uiring a
two-thirds vote to car ry the bond s. Of such
bond s, not mor e than one-half of one per
cent of assessed valuation to be issued in the
first year, nor mor e than one-quarter of one
per cent in anyone year thereafter .
to issue bonds thereafter, when appr oved
by a two-thirds vote of the electorate of the
distr ict, above two per cent but not a bove
five per cent of the assessed valuation.
The provisions a bove outlined are based
upon a stud y of the pr o bable financial require-
ments involved in acq uir ing and constructing
a system of regional park s f or the Los An-
geles R egion as f ully d escribed elsewher e in
this re por t.
ESTIMATED COST OF THE PROPOSED
PARK SYSTEM
To acquire and d evelo p a comprehensive
system of park s as here pr o posed will requir e
a period of many year s. It is difficult to ap-
pr oximate the probable cost very closely, butestimates have been mad e, as car efully as pos-
sible, under the thr ee head s of acquisition, im-
provement, and maintenance.
Costs of acquisition will be higli in the early
year s of the program. Improvement costs will
var y with the rapidity with which acquired
ar eas are brought to their fullest usefulness;
but if sufficient fund s ar e availa ble the annual
impr ovement costs will pro ba bly be highest
f rom five to ten year s after the gr eatest acqui-
sition of proper ty. Maintenance costs will be
low in the early year s and will gr adually in-
cr ease until the acquisition and improvement
have been lar gely completed.
The total cost to acq uir e and d evelo p the en-
tir e system of park s and recr eation ar eas, inso-
f ar as such d evelopment is' herein recom-
mended, includ ing all local as well as regional
featur es, is estimated at $224,000,000. But
.this estimate includ es a number of features,
such as highways and flood -control areas now
being d eveloped or now contemplated, for which f und s will be wholly or par tly available
from various other sources, the total of which
is lar ge, possibly $ IOO,OOO,ooo. This leaves
$ I24,000,000 f or which s pecial f inancing is
need ed. This estimate is necessarily prelimi-
nary only and is subject to various modifica-
tions, but it is a fair measure of the size of the
pr o blem that confronts this Region. The cost
of accomplishment will vary with time as well
as with change in land values, f or it will tak e
many year s even to a ppr oach a completion of
the progr am.
F actor s T hat !V I ay M od i fy C osts.
While spread of ur ban conditions and local
im provements will tend to increase costs, there
ar e several f actors that should aid in reducing
them.
The f act that a comprehensive plan exists
for park d evelo pment may encourage the d o-
nation of lar ge ar eas by persons who might
not other wise be ins pir ed to mak e such gif ts.
A public park makes a s plendid memor ial. Be-
q uests of this sor t have been po pular in the
older communities; and , already, here in thisRegion, several park s have been given, such as
Gr iffith Park, Brand Park, and Stough Par k .
It is possi ble that further gifts, even on a large
scale, may be made which will mater ially help
to r educe the total costs.
The proposed park authorities should have
sufficient power and leeway to mak e f avor a ble
pur chases of lands, and it is possible that such
f avor a ble pur chases may aid materially in
keeping d own the total costs.
There will undou bted ly be various instances
where the creation of parks will lead to a ver y
material increase in the value of ad jacent
land s. Such incr ease is a legitimate source f or
recover y in the assessment of benefits; and
while it is not her e proposed that the par k
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[ 38 ] PAR K S, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGIO N
board shall have authority to assess f or bene-
fits, it is possi ble that local communities may
join in o btaining land s and use their power to
assess benef its. Also, the fact of cr eated bene-
fits often ser ves to per suade owner s of large
tracts to give land s for park s· in return f or benefits the parks will cr eate, and thus aid in
reducing the total cost.
In the oper ation of the properties ther e will
be certain featur es such as golf courses, bath~
houses, boat landings, refector ies, and possibly
sites for amusement d evices, that may produce
some r evenue to off set in part the cost of main-
tenance.
Large ar eas of pro posed par k land s in the
r iver s and dr ainage channels will have double
value to the public because they will serve both
park and drainage pur poses. The cost of ac-
quiring these ar eas has been included in the
estimates for t he park system, but part of the
cost should be char gea ble to drainage work s,
and thus reduce park costs. I n e ither case the
pu blic will have to pay but once for the pr o p-
erty, whether through park or flood -contr ol
author ities, and will gain in the gr eater use-
fulness of the areas und er such a plan. As a
matter of pu blic re,.cord it would be more just
if a postion of acquisition be borne by each of
the d e par tments, r ather than by the park s
alone.
Possible S ource of Funds.
Bond s to the extent of . two per cent of the
assessed valuation of the district, based on the
pr esent valuation of approximately $3,5°0,-
000,000 will produce approximately $70,000,-
000. Assuming that the full amount of t his
sum may be issued in f ive per cent inter est-
bear ing bonds in the fir st few years, with pro-
vision for $2,000,000 r etirement annually,
and that $2,000,000 of new bond s can then
be issued annually, it will requir e from twenty-
f ive to fifty years to secure sufficient f und s to
carr y out the entire plan. The ef f ect u pon the
present tax rate will then be as follows:
T a x rate
on $ I 00
V alttation
Inter est of 5% on $70,000,000=
$3,500,000 I0.0 cen IS
Pr i nci pal r ctir emen I $2,000,000 5.7 cents
Ma inlena nce tax proposed 5.0 cents
As previously stated, ther e are numerous
f actor s which may r educe this tax rate, such as
gifts of land and money, favorable cond itions
of purchase, co-operation with the f lood-con-
tr ol district and with local agencies, use of s pe-
cial assessments, and revenues fr om o peration.
Ther e ar e still other factor s that may assist in
r educing the tax r ate, the most important of
which is the pr o bable incr ease in the assessed valuations of the district. At the pr esent rate
of incr ease the total assessed valuations will
approximately dou ble in twenty year s, which
will automatically r educe the r ate to a p proxi-
mately half the amount her ein estimated at a
maximum of 20.7 cents.
In the first f ew year s after cr eating the par k
district it will of cour se be impossible to use
any sum a ppr oaching the full amount of the
bond s. Ther ef ore, f or sever al year s, the tax
r ate will be consid erably below the maximum.
As these years pass, the assessed value will in-
cr ease, and the tax rate will corres pondinglyd ecr ease.
I t is also possible that the total inter est
char ges may be reduced by f avorable method s
of retirement of pr incipal, or through special
f orms of serial bonds, or because of lower in-
terest rates pr evailing at the time of issue.
Against all t h e f actor s that may r educe the
tax rate there is one that will tend to increase
it: the higher cost of land lik ely to r esult from
d elay in acq uisitions.
A balancing of all these factor s lead s to the
conclusion that a maximum tax rate of fifteen
cents may be required at certain times. But it
is believed that no mor e t han eight or t en cent s
will be required f or several years) with a prob-
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able maximum average of t en cent s over the
f or t y or f i f t y years requir ed to com plet e the
s ystem. But whatever the rate, the authority
to incur ex pense should be established as here-
in r ecommend ed.
] USTIFICATIO N FOR THE PROPOSED
EXPENDITURES
To compar e the present plan with accom-
plishments in other r egions is difficult if not
impossible, because of numer ous dissimilar
f actor s. The Los Angeles Region has a far
wider and thinner spread of population than
any other metro polis, and a far gr eater use of
automo biles.
T he Los Angeles Region is the onl y great
met ropolis that has develo ped almost wholl y
since t he invent ion o f the aut omobile. The rec-r eation of it s people is lar gel y de pendent on
the aut omobile. Favora ble climate and r ecr ea-
tional advantages attract gr eat num bers of
tour ists, to the pr ofit of the community. To
continue to attr act such tourists or to incr ease
the volume until it reaches an economic value
com par a ble, f or instance, with that of Par is,
park s and pleasureways on. a bout the scale her e
pr o posed ar e essential.
Her e is a most interesting op portunity for
comparison. Paris transf or med itself fr om an
unsightly place to a beautiful city. It has long
been the center of world tour ist traffic. The
improvement plan that has so profita bly r e-
sulted was und er tak en in 1850, when Paris had
a po pulation of a bout a million and a half .
During the next f or ty year s a bout $400,000,-
000 was s pent in car r ying out the plan. Dur -
ing that per iod, money was wor th far mor e
than it is today. Mor eover, Paris had far f ewer
economic possibilities, a much less ad vantage-
ous location, and a smaller po pulation than Los
Angeles; and a climate that compar es unf avor -
a bly. Yet Par is is now the wor ld's tr avel center .
If Par is, with all her handicaps, had enoughconfid ence in her future to plan and execute a
$400,000,000 progr am in 1850 at $267 per
ca pita when money was actually of greater
value than it is today, has Los Angeles less
confidence in her self and her futur e? Has she
the cour age to initiate an equally important
pr ogram at an estimated cost of $62 per capita
-less than a f ourth of what Paris paid ?
In Amer ica, the most recent and most com-
par a ble metro politan park plan is that of West-
chester County, New York, where a $60,000,-
000 program was und er taken by a po pulation
of about 361,000, the total assessed valuation
being a bout $670,000,000. The par k system
Ho w THE PARK SYSTEM
H AS C RE AT ED W EA LT H ~
FOR WESTCHESTER COUNTY
AS SHOWN BY INCREASE IN
TOTAL ASSESSED V ALUATIONS
OF TAXABLE PROPERTY
1,300,000,000.
1,200,000,000.
1,100,000,000.
1.000,000,000.
900,000,000.
600,000,000,
700,000,000.
S 6 00,000,000.
7VO,OOO,000.
500,000,000.
$ 500.000,000.
600,000,000.
$ 500,000,000.
YEARS IMMEDIATELY
BEFORE CREATION
OF PARK SYSTEM
YE ARS IMMEDI ATELY
AFTER CREATION
OF PARK SYSTEM
YE ARLY TOTAL OPER ATING AND MAINT~NANCE BUDGET,exCLUSIVEOF 90f'l D 1 t'-'TERE5T- AND AMORTIZATI ON CH ARGe:.S~IS REPRESENTED
BY FULL CIRCLESHADED AREA REPRESENTS RAPIOL'Y IflCREAS1NG REVENUE FROM
RL"lT ALS AND CONCESSIONS AND SHOWS THE TREND TOWARO FULL')'
BAL ANC!NG OPERATING ANDi"1AINTENANCE COSTS.
GRE ATLYINCREASED PARK FACILITIES WERE OPERATEDIN 1928 AT A MUCH LOWER /'lET COST TO TH~ COUNTY THAN EXPENSES
FO R n-i E P RECEDING YEAR S.
PLATE 19. Diagram tak en from 1929 R e por t of
Park Commission of Westchester County, New
Yor k, wher e a large develo pment of park s has r e-
cently been und ertaken.
of Westchester COWlty will comprise 16,000
acr es of par k s and 140 miles of parkways. It
r e pr esented, at the time of initiation, a total
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cost of about $ roo per capita, which should be
compared with the $62 estimated for a com-
plete park system for the Los Angeles Region.
The Westchester system represented 10% of
the total assessed valuation at the time of its
initiation; The entire system here recom-mended for the Los Angeles Region represents
30 %. The accompanying chart, Plate No.
19, illustrates how, within six years, assessed
valuations have doubled in Westchester Coun-
ty along with the development of th~ park
system. Certainly such a system should serve
to increase and maintain property values in the
Los Angeles Region. Indeed, in the absence of
such a system urban growth will destroy con-
ditions which have been among the important
factors in creating and maintaining the pres-
ent values.
In addition to the enormous value the park system will have for the people of the Los
Angeles Region, its very great value also as an
attraction to tourists, might even alone justify
its cost. Its total cost will be less than the sum
now spent annually in Paris by American tour -
ists. When completed, the Region will have
here, in the beaches, mountains, and plains,
over six hundred miles of pleasant driveways,
a remarkable combination of scenic values un-
equaled elsewhere in the world -a great assetfor the people, a stimulus for the value of
home properties, and an attraction for tourist
traffic heretofore undreamed of .
Industrial Growth.
A study of the economic resources of the Los
Angeles Region, undertaken as a part of this
report, shows that Los Angeles enjoys a unique
position among large cities. In number of wage
earners, in value of manufactured products,
wages paid, and the like, Los Angeles now
ranks industrially only about one-tenth of the
size of New York; but Los Angeles is enjoy-ing the greatest industrial growth of any of
the large cities; and there is little reason to
doubt the continuance of this growth, as sug-gested in the -following table.'
COMPARISON OF MANUFACTURES FOR 1923 A ND 1925(Source: Census of Manufactures, U. S. Dept . of C ommer ce)
Los N ew
Angeles New Y ork Chicago Philadelphia Det roit Bost on St . Louis Orleans
I923 ------------------------- 2,32 3I 925 2,69 I
Per cent change + 15.8
I923 ----------------------------55,27 °
1925---------------------------58,086Per cent change _ __ _ _ _ ___ +5.1
1923--------------------------- 8 1,236
I 92 5---------------------------85,736Per cent change _ _ _ ___ __ +5.5
I923--------------------------- 4-13I925 --- _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ 5 3 2
Per cent change +28.6
NUMBEROF ESTABLISHMENTS
27,4-23 9,299 6,399 1,686 2,791 2,4-4-0 632
23,714- 9,112 5,636
1,614- 2,620 2,367
661
-13·5 -2.0 -13·5 -4-·3 -6·5 -3.0 +4-.6
AVER AGENUMBER OF WAGEEAR NER S
577,971 384-,769 273,980 17°,960 82,4-5° 112,698 21>379
538,84-5 370,04- 1 24-6,680 172,74-2 77,334- 105,022 22,1l8
-6.8 -3.8 -11.1 +1.0 -6.6 -6.8 +3·5
WAGESPAID-UNIT: $1000
84-9,937 570,689 356,120 282,672 1°7,256 134-,823 18,59184-4-,64-8 563,635 332,4-15 293,896 103,812 130,857 20,291
-0.6 -1,.2 -7.1 +4-.0 -3·3 -2·9 +9.1
COSTOF MATERIALS-UNIT:.$I,OOO,ooo
2,719 1,882 1,04-9 906 29° 513 93
VALUEOF PRODUCTS-UNIT: $1,000,000
5>3IO 3,288 1,987 1,4-36 567 897 131
5,324- 3,4-39 1,937 1,599 586 875 135
+°·3 +4-.6 -2.6 +11.3 +3-3 -2·5 +2·5
VALUEADDEDBY MA NUFACTUREUNIT: $1,000,000
2,605 1,557 888 693 296 362 62
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~
iiI
\ \\\
\
/!I
, I
:J :C ; b " n CO U NT Y O F L e y ) j t - - ;G_E~E5-S1\OWISG i\ . . 'li.A S O C Ct: PI ED B y
y.A .Rrore , USES ~s S l \OWNI1 \E ; RBGIO!iAL PL '. N'i ,X G C C L'i,N c l5 51 0N
PLATE 20. M ap of the R egion showing areas used for industr ies and oil field s and ar eas in agr icultur e
for tr ee cr o ps, hog far ms and d air ies, as prepared by the R egional Planning Commission.
Within the Region enormous deposits of oil
yield a large income not enjoyed by other lar ge
cities. Agriculture forms another large source
of revenue.
In 1923 Los Angeles suffered a period of
ex ploitation that perha ps retard ed its commer -
cial pros perity, but the last f ew year s have seen
a steady and gratif ying pr ~gr ess. The incr ease
of po pulation, unequaled by any other lar ge
city of the world, is a continuing evidence of
the basic soundness and gr owing commer cial
str ength of the R egion.
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The Burden of Speculative
Land Values.
The magnitude of local real estate business,
which has successfully withstood several peri-
ods of reaction, indicates that an enormous population throughout the country looks to
this Region as a most desirable place for an
ultimate residence. It has been estimated that
the carrying charges on vacant lots in the Los
Angeles Region must approximate $100,000,-
000 per year . This is a very large sum for
property not in use but held for future homes
or as an investment waiting for a rise in value.
Certainly the hopes of those who contemplate
this as their future home and also of those who
are anticipating favorable opportunities for re-
sale would find a greater and earlier chance for realization if even a small portion of such a
sum as this were devoted annually to the high-
ly constructive purpose of creating an ade-
quate park system.
ESTIMATED COST FOR MAINTENANCE
The public recreation facilities now avail-
able are maintained by various agencies wholly
or partly devoted to such service. The local
park and local and county recreation depart-
ments are established for that purpose alone;
the school departments furnish a definite rec-reation service, and spend considerable funds
in maintenance; and to a lesser degree some
other departments make expenditures for
maintenance that serve recreation purposes.
The total expenditures for maintenance from
all sources amount probably to several million
dollars a year, but are involved with improve-
ments and other factors and are not readily
ascertainable.
Such maintenance costs will doubtless con-
tinue to be met and additional costs for main-
tenance will arise: fairly heavy costs for the
maintenance of local recreation facilities in
built-up sections and for completed parkways
and regional parks; and relatively low costs
for the maintenance of large reservations.
The maintenance of local areas can probably
best be met by local agencies in extension of or
readjustment of their present activities. The
maintenance of regional factors should be met
by a general agency established for regional
park development. The costs for such regionalmaintenance during the first few years will be
relatively low as there will then be but little to
maintain. But when the total system is devel-
oped as proposed the maintenance may cost
approximately as follows:
I. For large r eser vations and areas not in-tensively used $ 200,000
2. For 600 miles of park and park way
roads, planting, etc., at $2,000 a mile _ __ 1,200,000
3. Regional athletic field s 200,000
4 . G eneral o verhead, engineering, account-ing, Custodian and Guardian force, etc. $ 500,000
_ This total exceeds the · proposed budget of
five cents maximum tax on the basis of pres-
ent valuation, but is not greater than such a tax
will produce by the time the system has been
fully developed .
Cost of the Plan to
the Average Home Owner.
Assuming that the maximum estimated tax
rate of ISC should be necessary at the present
time, the average cost to the owner of a home
assessed at $10,000 would be $I5.00 a year; to
a workman whose home is assessed at $2,000,
the average cost would be $3.00 a year . To
them the benefits would be far greater than
this small annual cost; and to other taxpayers
and investors the benefits will come both di-
rectly and indirectly, through general increase
in values in the community. Certainly this
represents a small increase in present cost per
family in order to produce more enjoyable
neighborhood living conditions, and also more
pleasurable opportunities for outings on Sat-
urdays, Sundays and holidays, amid pleasant
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and agreeable surroundings-an oppor t unity
now f ast disappear ing in t he Los Angeles Re-
gt on.
Ear ly Action N eed ed
to Obtain Results.A complete plan and progr am is here pr o-
posed based on conditions existing and antici-
pated in the Region. Much of the value of the
plan will be lost, however, if work in accord-
ance with it is not started soon. Changes are
taking place and the chances for accomplish-
ment will be seriously interf er ed with b y de-
lays. Local agencies can a dopt and may be
ready to adopt portions of the plan, and should
be encouraged to do so pr omptly. Other
agencies interested in portions of the plan may
be read y to adapt their plans to the larger
scheme for general public benefit and should
be ur ged to do so. Any other means should be
encour aged which would stimulate public in-
terest and keep open the possibilities for the
finest park development in the world, so that
when a regional authority is set up it may find
a start alread y mad e and many existing finefeatur es pr eserved.
Local existing agencies at their best cannot
accomplish all that is needed . Legislation
should be o btained and a boar d esta blished to
acquir e and preser ve the best f eatur es of the
Region. The plan here presented should ser ve
as a guide and an aid toward development. The
present opportunity thus to improve the Re-
gion should not be lost. The public must be
informed of the economic ur gency of the en-
. terprise as a means to protect and pr omote the
health, welfare, and contentment of the people
now her e and the millions yet to come.
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PART TWO
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS
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THE chief means of ser ving local recrea-
tion functions ar e the municipal park s
and playground s, and the school play-
gr ound s. * Certain other functions, notably
educational ones, ar e often to some extentcombined with the r ecreational; and local
functions may also be combined with regional
ones.
The S chool Grounds.
Public schools with their playgrounds are
proba bly the most equitably distributed insti-
tutions we have. Their distribution has come
a bout thr ough a systematic, unremitting, and
lar gely successful effort to locate the schools
at points accessible fr om the homes of all the
child r en; locations being determined chiefly
by the distances which pupils of various ages
can reasonably be ex pected to go daily, by the
present and prospective density of population, .
and by the economical and efficient sizes for
school units.
These are practically the identical consid-
erations that should control the placing of local
recreation center s f or children of elementary
school age. And the considerations controlling
location of high schools and junior high
schools are substantially those that might con-
trol the placing of recreation facilities for
adults. This practical identity of policy strong-ly counsels associating school playgrounds, as
-::-For general statements rcl<lting to local recreation facilities ) s ee
Cha pter 1.
far as practicable, with other local recreation
ground s in combined neighborhood units. And
it should be immaterial whether the land s are
acquired and the facilities operated by the
school or the recreation authorities, or by thetwo jointly.**
Ther e ar e in this R egion numer ous exam-
ples of school ground s that provide adequate
recreation for the children, and contribute not
a little to other recreation needs of the neigh-
_ borhood, especially by community use of
school buildings, good architecture, and pleas-
ant landscape settings. But there are few
schools having ample ar eas for outdoor recrea-
tion, even f or children of school age; and the
great majority of school grounds are decided-
ly inadequate. Only 73 of the 726 public
schools have five or more acres available for
play. (See Appendix No. 1.) The remaining
652 have an average of less than two acres
each.
The total area-2,o57 acres-availa ble for
active recreation on all the school grounds of
the Region, is a comparatively small one for a
growing population of over two million peo-
ple.*** Ama p (Plate 18) shows the distribu-
·::··::-Interre1ation and overlapping of school and recreation f unctions
wer e d iscussed in Chapter 1. Exped iencey alone should d ecide
how much should be done by schools a nd how much by the par k
agencies; practice varies widely. This report does not attemptto discuss the apportionment of responsibilfty; it is ~nough
merely to urge the importance of co-operation.
"··"·"All other existing pu blic and q uasi- pu blic o pen s paces d ir ectly or
indir ectly valuable for outdoor r ecr eation ar e listed in Append ix
No. II.
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tion of all r ecr eation areas and indicates, on
the basis of assumed stand ar d s,all territor y not
conveniently accessible to any such area of ad e-
quate size.
E xist ing Public Pm'ks ant iP laygr ounds.
While und er existing agencies pu blic par k s
have been develo ped in various par ts of the
region and playgr ound s have been established
in some cases in such par k s and in other cases
upon ind ependent gr ounds, they are, as ex-
plained in Chapter II, ver y ineq uitably dis-
tr i buted, being almost wholly lack ing in lar ge
sections of the region while fairly complete
in others. In the city of Los Angeles the De-
par tment of Playground and Recreation main-
tains f if ty or more properties, including r60
acres in city playground s and recreation cen-ters, 5 miles of beaches considered her ein
und er the chapter on beaches, and 6 moun-
tain camps, and, under the plans of the De-
par tment, increased facilities will be provid ed
in other parts of the city also. These areas,
together with those und er the Par k Depart-
ment of the city, however , ar e still far below
the need s as estimated on any reasona ble stand -
OC.F A " v
~i~~
PL ATE 21. Ma p of Long Be~ch showing in black the existing park ~r eas ~nd in outline the w~ter
hnd s and the airpor t.
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PLA"E 22. Map of Santa Monica showing in black the existing park areas and cross hatched the schoolareas, and n ear the large park the airport.
ITY
OF
S NT MONI
PL \fE
Ma p
of
antaMonica showing in black the existing park areas and cross hatched the school
areas and n ear th e large park the airport
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ards, as are those also of many other cities of
the Region.
Long Beach ( Plate o. 2 I) has one large
park, several smaller parks and has an airport
and some water lands that have some recrea-
tional value, but as yet' many districts in thecity are not provided with local parks other
than school grounds. of
Santa Monica (Plate No. 22) like Long
Beach, has several parks, but has many dis-
tricts not yet provided with local facilities
other than school grounds.
In Pasadena (Plate' No. 23) there is one
large string of city parks along the west boun-
dary in Arroyo Seco with several smaller parks
scattered more fully throughout the district.
And there, as in Long Beach, the Departmentof Parks and Recreation has planned, under co-
operative management, to develop the school
grounds and playground areas in a way to serve
as completely as possible for the entire city.
(Plate No. 24.)
PLA'n: 23, Map of Pasadena showing large parks in the Arroyo Seco near the west boundar y and show-
ing smaller parks in other parts of the city.
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P L A N F O R
D E V E L O P M E N T O f
P L A Y G R O U N D S
P A S A D E N A C A U f :
Red c l r . ;l t:s - ft{1"/ ~ r 'IJ),:-T $< ; rYl u.
+= L<><. atou wltcr ~ /." ,:1 $""ul J h~ ohl"o,,, .d ~/ '" ,1 . . ,ltl t 5
PLATE 2 4-. Plan of the De par tment of Park s and R ecr cation of Pasadena for d cvelopmcnt of play-
ground ser vice.
Similar maps are availa ble for some of the
other cities and sections of the Los Angeles
Region showing mor e or less similar condi-
tions.
In the entire Los Angeles R egion south of
the mountains there are now 195 public park
and playgr ound ar eas, exclusive of th e school
ground s, of mor e than one acre each in ex-tent, and having a total combined area of
9,559 acr es, as listed in A p pend ix No. II. Near ly all of the lar ge existing park ar eas
lie in the line of the pr o posed regional Park
and Par kway System, exce pt Stough Par k , in
Bur bank, 120 acres; Malaga Par k, in Palos
Verd es, 249 acres; the Huntington Estate, in
Pasadena, 200 acr es; and the pro posed Cali-
fornia Botanical Gar dens (to be 800 acr es),
near Sawtelle, each having some regional value
as well as some local par k value.In the Region ther e ar e also pr ivate golf
and country club gr ound s, amounting to 6,288
acr es, or near ly two-thirds as much as the total
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PLATE 25. Map showing the R egion d ivid ed f or convenience into classes of use, r esidential dis-
tricts "A, B, C, D, E, and F," mountain and hill stricts "1\1," a nd industr ial d istr icts " Y ," and
each d istr ict or ponion of distr i ct num ber ed for cOlwenience of r ef er ence as listed in school and
park lists in a ppendices 1 O. I and o. II. ( Base ma p by cou1" t es y o f Aut pmobile C lub o f S ot t t it em
C ali f o1" nia.)
public park and playground ar ea, but not open
to the gener al pu blic and liable to be subd i-
vid ed when most need ed by the incr easing
po pulation.
The entir e R egion has been d ivid ed f or con-
venience of r efer ence into classes: R esidential
(A, B, C, D, E and F); mountain and hill
distr icts (M); and ind ustrial and commercial
distr icts (Y); and these in turn have been di-
vid ed into units as num ber ed on Plate 25, to
which the number s in the a ppendices r efer .
PROPER SIZE AND DISTR IBUTIO N
FOR LOCAL R ECR EATIO N UNITS
Ex perience has shown that people living
within less than one-half mile of any park Ol~
r ecr eation unit ad a pted to their local need s
tend to visit it f r eq uently, use it extensively,
tak e per sonal prid e in it as a neighbor hood pos-
session, and get lar ge values f rom it; but that
per sons living much mor e than one-half mile
fr om such an area are seld om able to visit it
and ar e cer tain to gain less f r om it than those
living nearer by. * It is pro bable, however, that
the reasonable aver age ser vice radius will
pr ove somewhat gr eater here than in eastern
cities, because of the lower po pulation d ensity,
the mor e f avor a ble cliniate, and the mor e near -
ly universal use of automo biles. The peo ple
of each locality will have to work out for them-
"As to the use of lucal parks and playgrounds, the Los Angeles
City De par tment of PliLygr ound and R ecreation in its 1926-27
report shows an ~l\·crage daily attendance for the tweh"c months
for 25 playgrounds, containing 147.6 aCres. This average is 8)14+
persons) ranging f r ail" ) 84 persons per cia.\ ' 011 th e 2o-acr e play-
gr ound at Gr if fith Park, to 76 I per sons on the 2-acr e playgr ound
at South Park. The average shows 326 persons per d ay per area,and 5 5 persons per day per acre, The extremes show f rom 84 to
761 persons per area per day, and 4 to 380 persons p e r acre per
day. The extremes ill the case of Gr iffith Par k ar e pr o bably due
chiefly to its nC\\ nC "s s ;1I 1c1 its present r crn otlOI l(" SS f rom p o)'u lo w::
areas.
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selves, gr adually, how much they want and
what they are willing to pay f or . Suffice it her e
to indicate what seems a reasonable norm that
should be appr oximated.
Local Recreat ion Districts
and Recreat ion C ent ers.
To this end it is convenient to regard the
Region as divid ed into r esid ential neighbor -
hood districts, each a sq uar e mile or more in
extent, not infrequentiy consid erably larger .
Their boundaries ar e lar gely determined by
natural or ar tificial barrier s, such as hills, can-
yons, railway tracks, main tho oughfares, in-
d ustr ial districts, or business districts. They
also may be determined by ver y marked and
relatively permanent social d iff er ences, ordif -
ferences in economic status. R ecognition of
these barrier s may lead to a consid er a ble varia-
iton in the size and shape dcertain d istricts.
In each such distr ict the most eff ective meth-
od of meeting local park and recr eation need s,
other than those met by the schools, is to esta b-
lish a single, ad equate neighbor hood center , in
co-operation with the schools wher ever f easi-
ble. It should provid e for people of a ll ages:
sand piles and wading pools for the little tots;
playground apparatus and small play areas for
boys and girls; tennis courts, local ball field s,
playground ap paratus, and other f acilities f or
active play; parklik e ar eas f or q uiet and men-tal r efreshment; f ield house and swimming
facilities, also club r ooms and other indoor fa-
cilities for community use. This list can be cur -
tailed so far as the schools ad equately provid e
f or community use on school premises.
Such a center, ser ving many kind s of need s
in a well-balanced and economical manner, is
a development of com par atively r ecent year s
and is pro bably not f amiliar to many of the
people in Los Angeles. In it there should be
agreea ble landsca pe features, such as ar e f ound
in Westlak e Park , Bixby Park in Long Beach,and Central Park in Pasadena, combined with
playground s and athletic f ields. And , fur ther,
the better school-community center s should
have some at least of the elements found va-
riously combined in Lincoln Park , Hazard
Par k, and Echo Par k in Los Angeles, Br ook-
sid e Par k in Pasadena, and Monrovia Par k in
Monr ovia. All of these more or less suggest
the d esir a ble ty pe.How f ar it is pr actica ble to consolid ate these
f unctions in one center f or one district, and do
it eficiently and economically, is a matter of
local ex ped iency. And how far it may be un-
avoidable to distribute the functions to se pa-
r ate center s because of the f ir st cost of getting
enough land in one piece, or of starts alread y
made, is also a matter of local ex pediency.
But in the long run it is most lik ely that the
convenience, ef f iciency, and economy of ad -
ministr ation of a lar ge, consolidated unit will
more than off set a consider able initial outlay
for the pur chase of land .
In a district of one sq uare mile entir ely built
u p with single-f amily houses and having an
average po pulation density of 25 per acr e,
there would be accommod ations for a p proxi-
mately 16,000 people,* and they would fall
into the f ollowing age grou ps, accor ding to
Los Angeles ratios:
I. Childr en under 5 1,000
2. Child r en of 5-12 (elementar y-school age) 1,500
3. Children of 12-15 ( junior high-school age) .. 600
4-. Child ren of 15-18 (high-school age) 600
5 . Y ouths and active adults of 18-35 4-,8006. Ad ults of 35-6 5 - -6,4-007. F.ld er ly group, of 65 and over ... oo l, 100
Of these the childr en und er five can be and
pr o per ly should be accommod ated mainly on
private grounds thr oughout pr actically all the
Los Angeles Region, owing to the pr evalence
of single-f amily resid ences with good -sized
yard s. But alread y the multi ple-d welling
pr o blem has become insistent, since within
eight miles of the central business district,
from 25-30 per cent of the families live in
multi ple d wellings. Such dwellings are mostly·;:OMany districts may be much more extensive, the size being offset
f or a long time by a much sparser population. Others, of the nor-
mal square-mile size, may, in the rnorc densely popu!:ltcd parts of
Los Angrlcs) have as many ;154-0,000 inhahit:llltS.
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without yards, but doubtless a ver y much
smaller percentage of young childr en live i n
them than elsewhere.
Childr en of school age always have some
pI space on school grounds. Nevertheless,
school grounds are generally so inadequatethat even if considerably enlarged they will
still remain inadequate. Ther ef ore, the most
efficient and economical way to meet adequate-
ly the needs of these children would be to con-
centr ate most of the possible additional s pace
in one unit f or the entire neighborhood,
whether that includes one school or many.
Unless neighborhood center s are provided
f or them, the people above school age-12,-
300 in all, or three-fourths of the entire dis-
trict population-wil" have outdoor recrea-
tion only in private yard s and in the str eets,with possibly a partial use of school ground s.
Standards for Recr eation C ent er s.
In ~onsidering the d esir a ble acr eage, and
also the least that is at all adequate, thr ee dis-
tinct kinds of area should be included:
I. Intensively used ar eas f or or ganized or
super vised play, such as outd oor gymna.sia,
minor local ball field s, tennis courts, swimming
pools, and the'like. These are normally from
S to 10 acres in each unit. .
2. Open meadows and playfield s for gen-
eral exercise and fr ee undirected play, nor-
mally from S to 10 acres.
3. Par k-lik e areas f or quiet, rest, and men-
tal r elaxation, f or picnic gr oves, and music
courts. They should include planted border s
and areas, in order to give to the o pen field s
and playground s a satisf actor y enclosur e and
setting. Normally they should contain not less
than 10 to 1S acres for each unit.
These three kind s of areas, together, would
ther efor e require a total of 20 to 3 S acr es, or
from 3 to S per cent of a square-mile district,
in order to form a neighborhood park and
r ecr eation center r easona bly complete.
The Pr oblem of Acquir ing
the N ecessary Lands.
In distr icts wher e consider a ble land remains,
unimproved it is possible that park sites can be
acquired at prices admitting the purchase of ar eas of this standard size, or even lar ger . And
lar ger ar eas may be desir a ble, especially where
the topography is irregular, and where r egion-
al inter est can also be ser ved.
\;Vhere land values are ver y high, or exist-
ing impr ovements must be d estr oyed to mak e
space f or a park, it may be impossible to jus-
tif y the acquisition of as much as twenty acres.
It is also pr o bable that no area of that size
could be found fr ee of impr ovements of ex-
cessively high cost. Ther ef ore, in such dis-
tricts it may be necessar y to consider a smaller
total ar ea, or even to use two or more separateunits.
But no single area of less than 10 or 12 acres
can be ex pected to a ppr oach ad equate ser vice to
a squar e mile or mor e of residential distr ict,
even if develo ped to the highest possible effi-
ciency. Furthermore, the district where the
temptation to buy small parcels is strongest is
nearly always the ver y place wher e it should
be most str ongly r esisted, because such a d is-
trict is usually a densely po pulated one, or
becoming so, and the need for recr eation s pace
is cor res pondingly gr eater than elsewhere.Ther ef or e, any wholesome depar tur e fr om
standard should be toward larger rather than
smaller units.
On the other hand , in d istr icts having a
po pulation d ensity of less than IO per acr e,
there is today r elatively small need for or j us-
tification for fully 'improved neighborhood
park and recreation gr ound s. But i n such dis-
tricts the opportunity in some cases now exists
to o btain land at a cost far below the prices
that will obtain after the community has been
more fully built up. And it is possi ble also in
those districts that need ed park land s may be
acquired now thr ough dedication or gifts, at
little or 110 cost to the community.
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The Example o f Palos V erd es.
Such standards have already been applied
within this Region in connection with the es-
tablishment of combined school and neighbor -
hood park sites in Palos Verdes, where in the pr ocess of subdivision of a large tract, sites
averaging a mile apart were set aside, each
with a s pace f or a local playgr ound and com-
munity park. The total area of each unit is in
some cases less than the minimum above pr o-
posed because of the existence of other lar ge
parks nearby, but is larger than that required
for schools alone. There the total number of
pupils predicted on a basis of the total number
of f amilies possi ble in each district under the
zoning regulations was availa ble. These areas
were as f ollows:
I. High school and local par k and play-
ground containing 46 acres in two terraces of
18 and IS acres, and the balance in steep slopes
to be planted as park land. School to ser ve
1,200 pupils.
2. Junior High School and local park and
playground combined with one elementar y
school, containing 28 acres all nearly level
land. Junior High to ser ve 1,700, elementar y
school to serve 800 pupils.
3. Six other elementar y school and local
par k and playground areas, ranging in size
f rom 6 to II acr es each, that will be required
to serve less than f ,500 pupils each.
T y pes o f Dist ricts in Which t o
A cquire Land Prom ptl y.
S peculative value in land is an unusually
serious problem in the Los Angeles Region, es-
pecially within subd ivided areas, where mar-
k et land values are generally higher than in
other large cities. Future incr eases of rental
value are here more highly ca pitalized than
in other metropolitan regions. On the other hand, the value of improvements is lower, and
the improvements are subject to more rapid
d e pr eciation. Consequently, in areas alr ead y
subdivid ed, ther e is less to be lost financially
through postponing the purchase of recrea-
tion gr ound s until the need for them is urgent
and insistent, because the incr ement in land
cost, less d e preciation of improvements, is not
lik ely to outrun the accumulation of compound inter est on an earlier purchase.
Summing up this phase of t he subject: the
thr ee ty pes of distr icts in which it is most ur -
gent to acquire land pr omptly f or local units
of recr eation are:
Outl ying unsubdivided areas where a sharp
speculative rise in price has not yet taken place;
Older dist rict s in which , a f ter a dormant
period o f one t y pe o f occu pancy, r ebuilding f or
a denser population is r easonably to be ex pect -
ed ; and
W ell-established dist ricts in which the pr es-ent ur gent need clear l y just ifies the present
cost of securing the land.
In all thr ee instances, again, the relation to
the school situation and the possibility of cor -
r elative action should be consid er ed.
In this connection a few places in the Los
Angeles Region have been noted where the
effective service of present playground and
school f acilities could be increased very ma-
ter ially by eliminating o bstacles between near -
ly adjacent areas. For example, between theManchester Playgr ound and the Manchester
School, where an alley and one r ow of build -
ings se parate the two. Again, at the Euclid
Avenue School, wher e Ar gonne Str eet might
well be vacated to incr ease materially the use-
fulness of school gr ound s and build ings, which
are now on both sides of the str eet. At Hazard
Park a playgr ound , two schools, two par k
areas, and some local streets could all be com-
bined, extended, and r edesigned to become a
mor e complete unit and still ser ve all pur-
poses. And at Roxbury Playground in BeverlyHills adjacent vacant land in the city of Los
Angeles should be add ed to mak e a mor e com-
plete neighborhood center .
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SMALL DETACHED LOCAL PARKS
In many districts of the city there are now,
beside the schoDI grounds and neighborhood
parks, various other park-like areas that have
great value, such as small squares, trianglesand circles at street intersections, small mon..t-
ment sites, and odd bits of public property and
grounds around public buildings, no one of
which will go Jar in itself toward meeting the
recreation needs, but each of which has some
recreational value as w~ll as great potential
value in adding to civic pride and the content-
ment and happiness of people. Some of these
incidental areas may afford space that can be
satisfactorily used for play facilities of lim-
ited character, such as sand piles, wading pools
and park benches, provided those uses do notconflict with any higher value such areas may
have for ornamental uses. Terrace Park, St.
J ames Park, Pershing Square, and the Plaza
in Los Angeles, Memorial Park in Pasadena,
and Drake Park and Santa Cruz Park iri Long
Beach are areas of this sort.
Such small detached parcels of local park
land of course add substantially to the general
attractiveness of a neighborhood if well kept
up, and their free dedication is far easier to
secure in connection with subdivision than that
of larger areas. Within rather close limitations
the creation of such small local public park
areas should be encouraged; but an analysis
of costs of park maintenance, especially in
\Vashington, D. c., where such parklets are
exceptionally numerous, shows that the public
burden of the annual cost of maintenance is
excessively high per acre and that even if free-
ly given to the public they are an expensive
luxury, to be indulged in only with discretion.
There is one sort of district in which the
maintenance cost of small decorative open
spaces is practically negligible because of the
number of people who benefit from them, pro-vided they are so placed and improved as to
give real benefit and to avoid interference
with the prime functions of the district. This
is an intensively used central district, where a
space such as Pershing Square or City Hall
Park is enjoyed by immense numbers of peo-
ple daily. One such space that has been sug-
gested and that might well be acquired, is the
block between 12th and Pico and between Hilland Broadway.
Among other units of park-like character of
public interest may well be included land-
marks of historical interest, such as the old
adobe houses of Southern California, some of
which should be preserved as public monu-
ments.
LOCAL PARKS FOR INDUSTRIAL
DISTRICTS
Industrial districts need spaces also for ac-
tive recreation, some of which are already pro-vided by larger industries on their own
grounds. Just how and where additional areas
can best be located is now difficult to deter-
mine, because of the rapid spread of the in-
dustrial districts and the lack of any definite
knowledge as to what are going to be the re-
quirements of the industries that may come to
occupy the land. Even so, a few areas should
be acquired as opportunity offers in the indus-
trial sections.
A STUDY OF FOUR TYPICAL
NEIGHBORHOODS
Four typical neighborhoods of approxi-
mately one square mile each in extent, in dif-
ferent parts of the Region, now lacking local
recreation facilities, except on school grounds,
have been. studied in detail to detertnine the
local needs and conditions and present possi-
bilities. The neighborhoods chosen are of wide-
ly different character . One is in a small com-
munity fairly remote from the main city, one
in a region closely built up with inexpensive
houses, one in a partly built up section of more
expensive character, and the fourth in a moredensely populated section where improve-
ments are of relatively high cost. The results
of these studies are as follows:
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approaches 2,000,000, this means that the
total cost of providing additional complete
local park and playground facilities for t \e
1,500,000 people in the entire 0ccupied area of
the Los Angeles Region would be about
$39,000,000.
This total est jmate is made up o£ two items
that can be divided approximately as follows:(I) Acquisition $ 3 1,200,000
(2) Development 7,800,000
The above figures are based on per capita esti-
mates. On the other hand, on an area basis,
the four units estimated involve a cost of prac-
tically one million dollars or at the rate of
one-quarter million each, and if there are 16o
districts that should now be so treated, the costwould amount to $40,000,000 or about the
same figure. A part of this cost, if not all of it,
can be borne by local districts or local munici-
pal or other administrative units unless by mu-
.tual agreement the entire problem is to be
handled as a regional one.
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THE most active d emand for more park s
tod ay in the entire Los Angeles Region,
especially during the summer months, is for
mor e and better beach and water side facilities.
The public now owns and contr ols f or recrea-
tion along the ocean fr ont a bove mean high
tide -line a number of str i ps var ying in width
from a few feet to a hundr ed f eet or mor e, and in length amounting to 14 miles. The public
owns also all the land below mean high-tid e
line and the land und er water, but most of this
land cannot b e used except at low tide without
trespassing on pr ivate land. (See A ppendix
No. V.)With many miles of the finest ocean fr ont in
the wor ld, where the climate is id eal-cool but
never too cold f or enjoyment-the public now
find s a bout nine-tenths of the entire frontage
destined to be screened f rom view from the
near est highways by private d evelo pments.
The remaining tenth is d ivid ed into short dis-
connected stretches.
About six miles is tak en u p by the harbor dis-'
tr ict, which of cour se can be used for pleasur e
only temporarily and wher e not yet needed f or
commerce. Much of the fr ontage at Long
Beach, Redondo, Venice, and Santa Monica is
public, but other por tions are occupied by cost-
ly improvements and are highly d evelo ped out
to the water's ed ge or beyond in a way to pr e-
clud e extensive pu blic acq uisitions in those
stretches except at enor mous cost. The 17 miles
of coast between the harbor district and R ed on-do Beach is mark ed by high cliff s, gener ally
with rock y f oreshor es subject to almost com-
plete submer gence at high tid es, and has no
wid e beaches suita ble and saf e for use by large
bodies of people, although it has a·nota ble
scenic drive along the to p of the cliffs.
West of Santa Monica the 27 miles of coast
has, alternating with the sand beaches, inter -
mittent r ock y and boulder y str etches, a bout 8
miles of such stretches and a bout 19 miles of
fine sand y beaches. Vlhile those beaches are
pu blic pr o perty below or dinar y high tid e, they
PLATE 26. Coast highway near To panga Canyon
showing line of cottages cutting off all view of
the ocean f rom the highway. (Phot o by Stagg.)
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PI.ATE 27. The Harbor from Long Beach showing L ong Beach in the foregr ound , the har bor dis-
trict in the center , and the San Ped ro hills in the distance. (Phot o by S pence.)
PLAT E 28. Rugged shor es and high clif f s of Palos
Verdes, attr active to pleasure travel, but not
adapted to beach uses. (Phot o by Pad illa.)
are privately owned above high tide f or prac-
tically their entire length.
For the year 1927 the total number of user sof certain beaches was estimated by the De part-
ment of Playgr ound and Recreatioil of the
City of Los Angeles; to be as follows:
Spect at or s
Sta. Monica Canyon 828,451Venice 1 1,50 5,062
Playa Del R ey _ _______ 314,8 I I
Terminal Island 215,812
Cabr illo ---_ _ __ _________ 744,41 1
13,608,547
Bathers
219,892
1,917,338
108,68289,850
1°4,°78
2,4-39,84°
T otal
1,04-8,34-3
13,422,400
423,493
305,662
848,489
16,048,387
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In order to determine the actual usage of
beaches during one busy d ay, counts wer e mad e
in 1928 for the Citizens Committee by the De-
partment of Playground and Recr eation of
Los Angeles, the r esults of which ar e shown in
the f ollowing table:
W id t lt
in F eet
II A. M.
Spect at or s Bat hers
W est County lr ne to Las F lor es Canyon 55 0
LJS F lo r es Canyon to Top ang a Ca nyo n --------- 50Topanga Canyon to Castle Rock 4 ·_ _ _ _ _ 50
Castle R ock to Lighthouse Caf e - 50
Lighthou se Ca fe to Santa Monica _ _ 150
City of Santa M o n i c a . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 50
Ocea n Park P ier to Ve ni ce Pi er . __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ 200
Venice Pier to De! R ey __. _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 100
D el Re y to P icnic G r o u n d s . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 25
Pi cnic G roun ds to Hy perion Pi eL ---- 50
Hy perion Pi er to E ~ Se gundo Pier 100
EI Segundo Pier to M anhattan Pier 200Manh a ttan and Herm osa Beaches 100
Ci ties of R ed ond o and To rr ance ---------- --------- 75
To r ra nce-P alos Verdes Esta tes --- ------------------ - 5Sa n Pedr o Ci ty __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ __ __ __ _ __ __ _ 100
Ter mi na l Island , Lo s An ge les.. _ __ 200
Term ina l Island, Long Beac h 200
Lon g B ea ch City _ __ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ 100
Total cou n ted _
Assu m ed t ot al for da y _
These tables both show that the number of
s pectators using the beaches was sever al times
as gr eat as the number of bather s, and indicate
the consequent need for a lar ge amount of up-
land area.
From these figur es it appear s that there were
at one time 47,670 peo ple on the beach at Santa
Monica, estimated by the o bserver to be 3 miles
long and to aver age 50 f eet wid e, or 750,000
squar e feet of s pace with an aver age of onl y
1 .5 square f eet of s pace per per son at one
time. Beach "widths" ar e varia ble and uncer -tain things to estimate, and the area which
these 47,640 occupied may have been consid -
erably larger or smaller than estimated.
Lengt l / ,
in M iles
3I
2~
y;3I
20~
2
I
2
2~
5,4 -26
1,67 I
1,250
2,505
1,24-6
10,694-
2,4-60
2,74-3
15°
25°
101
63915,303
Estin zated
12,000
7154-,160
2,°5°
1,800
8,189
5,000
7°1,920
600
1,4-00
2,4-4-4-
1 ,588
620
281
687832
3,235
4-,662
2, 564 -
100
J I S
4 -5
2°79,280
73,352 35,650
109,002
Bather s
II 1,4-0 I
156 ,9 15
3 P. M.
S pect at ors Bather s
13,4-56
3,826
3,105
6, 525
7,825
36,975
9,872
3,127
4-75
72522;
1>3 5623,657
E st im ,at ed
20,000
1>34-5
I1,64-0
2,250
2,800
18,959
4-,9 17
1,820
1,230
1,8671,808
10,695
11,119
2,54-7
283
275
54 -
3°020, 137
6,000
7°4-,600
100
2,300
5,629
168,14-7 75,751
24-3,898
T otal
352,900
672,663
C ompar ison 'Z vithBeacl~es
o f Other Regions.Even with a lar ge allowance f or possible
error in the Los Angeles- figur es, it is signifi-
cant to compare these figur es with those at
Coney Island, New York , the wor ld's most
heavily used beach, wher e airplane photo-
gr aphs showed an aver age of 56 square feet of
beach a bove water-line per per son und er con-
ditions reported to be unduly cr owd ed, and at
Atlantic City, wher e photogra phs showed greatcr owd s with an average of 78 square feet per
person, also r e ported as too crowded f or com-
f or t. In New York, where beach is at a high
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PLATE 29. Pu blic beach at Venice on July 4th, showing use to ca pacity, too cr owd ed for comf or t.
(Phot o by St agg.)
pr emium, it is estimated that a beach having a
width of 150 f eet with 9 times as much add i-
tional upland space can accommodate comfor t-a bly a bout 50,000 peo ple per mile at one time,
but in no portion of Los Angeles frontage is
such a width of upland now open to public use,
or lik ely to be so.
There wer e at 3 :ooP. M. on July 4th, 1928,243,898 peo ple along the Los Angeles beaches,
and at p oints they were much crowd ed. Fur -
ther more, many people of Los Angeles who
know that beaches are so cr owd ed either stay
away or go elsewhere at a h eavy per sonal ex- pense, when they would pr efer to enjoy their
own water front, and would flock to the beaches
if mor e public beaches existed.
Fr om conditions actually o bser ved it is f air
to assume that all the usa ble beach f r ontage
her e that can be made availa ble f or the public
may now be taxed occasionally to capacity if
not actually to over crowding. The d emand for
public use of beaches will inevita bly exceed thesupply. Consider able adjoining ar eas in addi-
tion to the beach itself must b e availa ble if a
beach is to accommod ate large cr owd s. Such
adjacent areas may accommodate more peo ple
than the beaches themselves, and space is re-
q uired f or par king of automo biles even greater
than the space requir ed on the beach for the
peo ple who come in them.
U se o f Beach Land s.
Ther e ar e now other demands f or ri parian
lands along the beaches where private owner-ship extends down to ordinar y high tide, and
these have r aised to very high levels the mar k et
price of such land .
One is f or residences close to the beach, in
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PLATE 30. Public beach at Atlantic City, New Jersey, showing wide board walk and wid e, sand y
beach beyond.
itself a socially desirable and highly beneficial
use, but a use that tends to become less attrac-
tive in proportion as great crowds use the
neighboring public portions of the beach.
Where the public now uses such beaches in
spite of some inconvenience, crowds will
spread on to the lower parts of the private property above the high tide line, and the value
of such land for residential lots may decline.
A second demand is for business lots because
of transient crowds that are attracted to the
beaches, and for hotel and club house sites.
Business may range from services which are of
the utmost importance and desirability to the
most injurious parasitism. The value of such
lots will depend on the amount of profit that
can be made from them.
The average beach-goer because of his holi-day spirit, is an ((easy mark." Helping him at
a fair price to derive the maximum benefitfrom a visit to the beach is fair business. Ex-
ploiting him is not and should be prevented.
In case after case where large crowds have
once begun to go to a beach for pleasures ob-
tainable only there, commercial exploitation
has gradually put the beach or a large part of
it wholly out of existence, as by decking it over
completely, and has corralled the cr owd into
indoor commercialized enterprises which might
just as well have been elsewhere and which areon the whole distinctly d eleterious in character.
Those are extreme cases, but tendencies toward
such a result accompany commercialization
of the opportunity for ex ploiting beach crowds,
just as the tendency exists for crowds of tran-
sient visitors to blight the use of beach-front
property for residence.
To get the greatest value from the shore
lands, the frontage should be segregated to
serve either - private or public purposes, and
should be protected accordingly. Such segre-
gation should recognize the fitness of the lands
for each purpose and the proportionate impor-tance of each.
To some extent, such protection would fol-
low use of the police power in one or more of
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C I T I ZeNS COMM I TTeE ON P A RKS PL AYGROUNOS AN D BE AC II ES
P0551BLc PROFILE rOR CON5TRUCTION or BE ACH ON TiO AL L ANOS
!f ORIZONTA/. . SCA L.E
/()(J .iO 0
" " zo o xx> 400 SOOFr
VERTIC AL SC AU
10 S 0 10 zo 30 40 SOrT.
. .
SURVEY CONSULT ANTS
O / msl~d!3rofh~rs- tJ a r f hol omew f . f Assoc/ a / ~s NOY E M/ J E Il . /.928
its many f orms, such as zoning of a highly spe-
cialized sort applied to properti~s peculiarly
r elated to beaches. But the technique of this
has not yet been develo ped and tested by ex pe-
rience. The main reliance wherever this pr o b-
lem has become serious has been public owner-
ship and proprietar y control of sufficient land
to guard against the wor st evils. Even such
ownership alone may avail but little unless the
control is entrusted to an agency specially and
exclusively charged with the duty of protect-
ing the r ecr eational inter ests of the public, and
having a jo b of sufficient size and impor tance
to win and hold the interest of really first ratemen.
SHOR ES ADAPTED TO PUBLIC USES
Befor e proceed ing to the detailed enumera-
tion of coast land to be acquir ed for regional
public recreation, it seems desir a ble to outline
two lar ge pr o blems aff ecting a long str etch of
coast; the fir st fr om Santa Monica Canyon
westward where conditions have not yet cr ys-tallized but soon will; the second from Santa
Monica Canyon south to Playa Del Rey, wher e
they have ver y rigidly cr ystallized in a man-
ner which is in some r es pects highly unsatisf ac-
tor y.
liVest f r om Sant a Monica.
'Vest of Santa Monica the public highway
par alleling the shor e f or many miles is now a
busy one and is destined to carr y a vastly greater
volume of traffic because it is the most dir ect,
most level, and most agreeable route to Ven-tura and other coastal distr icts beyond. The
time will soon come, as is now clearly recog-
nized by the State Division of Highways) when
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traffic will imper atively demand a much wid er
r ight of way than the present 80 f eet. For
a bout three miles the highway is built on a nar-row strip between very high bluff s and a ver y
narrow belt of privately-owned ocean-fr ont
property, wher e some buildings have already
been erected. A continuous barrier of such
buildings is lik ely soon to develop, cutting off
fr om the road views of the sea and public ac-
cess to the beaches. Farther west, the hills re-
ced e and the highway passes through wider
ar eas, part of the way near the shore, wher e
there is a narrow strip of private property out-
sid e the highway'as in the preceding sections,
and part of the way farther back from the shor eand on higher levels with lar ge blocks of pri-
vate property outsid e the road.
A very fine str etch of beach adjoins the high-
way for nearly thr ee miles just above Point
Dume, and back of it lies a ver y fine seaside
mesa.All the way from Santa Monica to the coun-
ty line the road must ser ve not only as a major
state highway for all kinds of traffic, but also
as a pleasure route of the utmost importance
to the Region. It should have a r ight of way
not mer ely wide enough to carr y its destined
traffic without serious congestion, but also wid e
enough to make tr avel upon it thor oughly
agreea ble, es pecially in the fir st str etch, where
ever yone driving westward first comes to the
ocean and where the visual impression is of
great importance. To get a glimpse of the s eaand then file into a choked road behind a row
of buildings is a calamity. With the o pening
of the State Highway and the invitation to
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CITIZENS COMMITTEE OIVPA'K,J Pf . A't'GROU",OS AND SUCHeS
LOS ANGEL£S-CALlFOR.NI A.
PLfA5U Rf HAR BOR AND OCf ANS I DE PARK FO R
SA NT A MON I CA R E G / ON
PLATE 33. Plan for an extensive Pleasur e Har bor op posite Santa Monica and Venice, with a park in theDel R ey mar shes and a par kway on a chain of island s around the outsi de of t he harbor .
crowd s to enjoy this coast, a new impetus has
been given to the development of privately-
owned lands between'the highway and the sea,
The beach her e is generally good, and capa ble
of being widened by gr oins, as experiments
have shown. Alread y ver y high land values
have been esta blished in places alongtheshor e; but land that is clear ly most need ed by the
pu blic should be acquir ed bef or e further im-
provements and fur ther subdivision of thosear eas mak e the d ifficulty of such acq uisition
still gr eater .
If the situation is not dealt with ad equately
now, if a nar row but heavily tr aveled and con-
gested highway becomes walled in by r ows of
buildings, if only small openings her e and
ther e connect the highway with the beaches
and if the crowd s push in helter --:sk elter wher-
ever they can get to the beaches below high
tide, conditions will become so bad that reac-
tion will set in and the r ecently boomed value
of the shore lands will fall. Eventually such
intolerable cond itions will be r elieved whollyor in par t either by condemnation of the land
and impr ovements, or perhaps by widening
and extending the beach itself outsid e pr ivate
hold ings and building a new road on the margin
of the beach as thus advanced.
But unless immed iate action is taken things
will be in a mess for year s and may never be-
come just r ight. Any d istr ict that once goes
wr ong is very hard to reha bilitate.
S out h f rom Santa Monica.
South fr om Santa Monica Canyon to Playa
Del R ey practically continuous build ings sev-eral block s in d epth separate the beach f romthe near est practica ble roadway along the coast.
In certain places str uctures on private land ex-
tend to the line of mean high tid e; in othersstructur es on tid elands leased f rom the cities
cover the beaches and extend on piles far out
over the water . The public is now so much
aroused, however , that further private en-
cr oachments on the tid eland s ar e unlik ely, and
cond itions still r ather r eadily per mit broaden-
ing the beach to seaward, where buildings on
pr ivate land have cur tailed the use of its upper
edge.In this entir e r egion, three-quarters of amile
off shor e, the water is only a bout 30 f eet deep
and pr o jects have long been d iscuss.ed for a
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I~~~~~,-~~~~~. .~~-,-'"-"-"-" .. _ ~ . ,..,.~~. _ _ ._,,... _- "', .., . . _ _ ._-,-,-_.. _----~~.,~~~--~
PLATE 34. Sketch for extensive Pleasure Har bor and par k and parkway d evelopment as shown on
Plate 33.
harbor pr imarily or exclusively for pleasure
cr aft, to be fo:. med by breakwaters a bout that
distance off shore, star ting consider a bly to the
west o f Santa Monica Canyon.
An off-shore breakwater can be built here so
as to add great recreational value, whenever
people want it enough to pay for it; and the
cost will not incr ease with d elay. It seems not
unr easona ble to look f orward to the time when
the Los Angeles Region will follow the exam-
ple set by Chicago in its gr eat park d evelop-
ment out into Lake Michigan, and not mer ely
build a jetty so as to form a harbor open to
masted vessels at the head of Santa Monica
Bay, but also a long breakwater or chain of
narrow islands connected by bridges and car- .
r ying a par k d r ive, from the State Highway at
Santa Monica Canyon to Playa Del R ey. The
shelter ed water between there and the beach
will be of gr eat value for motor boats and
small boating, and the beach bathing will beimpr oved for most peo ple, while a park d r ive
along the chain or narr ow islands, a bsolutely
away f rom buildings and concessions, will be
used and enjoyed by hundreds of automobil-
ists to every user of boats.
SUMMARY OF SHOR E FR O NT R ECOMMENDATIONS
(T he classes lett er ed A t o E ar e r ef err ed t o in the last
column o f t he ne xt table.)
Lands Along Land Back
S hore F r01' t t o f H ighwa y
Lettgt h i1f M iles Ar ea in Acres
A. Now public (for r ecr e-
ation) 14
B. Now quasi-pu blic (f or
r ecr eation) .~ ~~~ ~ 6
C. Pr o posed to be acq uir ed
for public r ecreation, in
county, extend ing into
Orange County............ 32
D. Specif ically assigned to
use for 0the r pur poses
(including har bor) 9
E. Other land s not includ-
ed in r ecommend ed ac-
quir ements 000........ 19
*In addition to the .f ive other large reservations estimated and in-
cluded in pr oposed park system.
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U NITS OF THE ENTIRE SHORE FRONT
Classif ied as A, B, C, D, E, with numbers r eferring to locations on Plate 35 and to Descri ptions
f ollowing this ListFollowing the coast fr om Ventura County eastwar d into Or:mge County, the various units have been number ed for
convenience of r efer ence.
Refer -
e1tce
N o.
A pp ro x. A pprox.
length width
ir t feet in feet
I. Sequit Beaeh 4000 200-300
2. Ar royo Seq uit Park
3. Nicolasand Encinal
Beaches and Bluff s 21000 500-600
4-. Zuma Beach _ -------15000 150-250
5. Dume Park See Chapter VIII
6. Ramirez ~Canyon
R eser vation See Chapter VIII
7. Dume Point Shor e 13000 Narrow
8. Ramir ez Beach and
Bluff s __ 6000 200-1000
9· Escondido Beach - 54-00 10-150
Escondido CanyonMouth _
Corral Beach I6500 10- I50
Malibu Beach and
Plain 4500 200-1200\
Possible Mali buPark _
Mal ibu Slough and Beach 2400
West Carbon Beach 24-00
East Carbon Beach 6200
Carbon Beach and
Las Flor es Beach
(small area now public) 3600 100-200
Las Flores Delta 500 200-300
East Las FloresBeach 2800
Pena Canyon Beach 5 4 -S O
TunaCanyon Beach 7£00
Topanga CanyonPark U pland _
Topanga Be ac h to
Los Angeles City
Line _ 5300 20-1 j 0
Topanga Beach in
Los Angeles City 1600
Castellamar e Beach 700
Santa Ynez Beach _ I900
Bel-Air Pacific Pal-
isades Beach 9000 10-200
Lighthouse CafePoint 300 200
200-[200
80-200
100-300
20- [30
20-130
20- 130
20-1130
100-150
10-500
Back
land C laSJi-
ar ea f ica-
tit acl'es tion
e1tce
No.
29·
A pp rox.
lmgtl z
Name in feet
Huntington Pali-sad es Beach 1800
S:mta Monica Can-
von Beach
Santa J\10nica Can-yon Park _
Santa Monica Pali-sad es Park _
Beach Clubs in Los
Angeles City _
Beach Clubs InSanta Monica City _ 900
GeorginaAvenue to
Calif ornia Avenue
(few small public
wa ys) ------------------ 3900
Cal if or nia Avenue
to Arizona Avenue 1350
Arizona Avenue to
Broad way _
Broad way to Santa
Monica PieL __ _ _ _ _ _ 950
Santa Monica Pier
and beaches to Lick
Pier at Santa Mon-
icaCity line. Var i-ous par cels now
public --------------- 3700
Same- parcels not public 3000
Lick Pier to Del
Rey Pier all in city
of Los Angeles in
Venice. Various par-
cels now public.. __~ _ I0520
Same-Various par-
ce Is that should be
acq uired -------- __ __ _ _ __ 5260
Ballona Creek Mar shes _
Proposed outside
mole and pleasur e bay _
Del R ey Pier to
Hy perion Beach,
areas now public _ 3500
A p pr o x.
wid th
in feet
Bad
land ClaSJi-
area fica-
t 1t acr es tion
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Recommendat ions for Public Beaches [ 69 ]
Back Back
Refer - Appr o x. A ppr o x. land ClasJi- Re f er - Approx. Appr o x. land C lassi-
e1t ce lengt lt zddtlt area f ica- e1t ce lmgtlt width area ft ca-
N o. Name i1t f eet i1t f eet i1t acr es tio1t N o. Name i1t feet i1t f eet 11t acr es t i01t
46. Same-Areas to be 67-68. Palos Verdes
acquir ed -------------- 8300 10-50 C R anch ------------------35000 E
47· Los Angeles Hy- 69· Point Vicente
per ion Beach. _ _ _ ______ 5350 20-100 A Lighthouse ------------ 2000 B
48. Los Angeles Hy- 70. Palos Verd es Hill
perion u pland s _ ____ _ --- - ---- ---------~-- 180 B shore and bluf f s. __ _ _ _ 5000 C
49· City o f E l Segundo 71. San Pedro Hills
(Stand ard Oil Co. R eser vation ---------- See Cha pter Vlll Cfrontage) _ ____ _ _ _ _____ _ 1900 70-100 C 72. R oyal Palms shore
50. Same-Ar eas devel- and White's point
oped for other uses 300 D to Los Angeles
51. In Los Angeles County Line - -- --- -- 8400 200-500 C
County (Stand ard 73· White'sPoint Beach
Oil Co. beach) _ _ ____ 1900 70-100 C in Los Angeles City 1900 150-200 C
52. County Public 74· Point Fermin and
Beach in Los An- the San Pedro shores 7875 100-400 i \ geles County __ _ __ ____ _ 1300 80-100 A
75· Point Fermin-
53· Par cel owned by Var ious parcels _____ _ 1100 100 CCounty in the City
76. San Pe dro Westof Manhattan Bluff 6 acr es CB e a c h __ __ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ ____ _ A
--------------------
500 50-80San Pedro
Manhattan Beach, 77- East
54· Bluf f 6 acr es CVar ious parcels city
--------------------
owned 900 50-80 A 78. Point Fer min Play-------------------
Manhattan Beach, ground s ---------------- 8 acres B
)).
Other beach to be 79· Har bor Section of
acquired -------------- 7950 50-100 C Los Angeles and
56. Park in Manhattan Long Beach onTer -
Beach _____ __ _ _____ _ _____ _ 2 A minal Island .-----__ __ 30600 D
-------- ------------
57· City of Her mosa 80. Harbor Section at
Beach f ron tage nowLong Beach _ __ ______ _
3800 100-600 A public 5500 20-100 A
81. Flood Control-------.,.,.---------
Channel and West58. Same - Fr ontage
Beach 3200 100-200' Adeveloped f or other
------------------
82. Amusement Zone __ 1260 Duses ---------------------- 420 D
83· Long Beach Pier 59· Same - Beach
and Aud itor iumfrontage now pu blic 80-100 A
---- 2000 A3500
84· Long Beach from60. R ed ond o Nor th A.ud itorium to East
Beach ------------------ 3950 10-100 A County Line now61. Redondo Amuse- pu blic ( incl. 1800
ment Zone _ __ ___ _____ _ 1350 D county owned ) ____ 12800 10-50 A62. Red ondo C ity Par k 8 A
85· Same-Ar ea that
63· R edondo South should be acq uir ed 8100 20-250 CBeach --- - ------------- 7030 10-150 C 86. Long Beach Bluff
64-. R edond o South Par k __ ____ __ _____ _ _______ _ 8 acr es ABeach ------------------ 1470 ISO B 87· Alamitos Bay Shor es 3 miles of
65· Torrance Beach _ __ _ 4050 20-80 E inland shor es C
66. Palos Verdes Estates 88. Bolsa Chica Beach
L. A. Cou n ty _ _ _ _ __ __ 26000 B olltsid e city _ _ __ ___ _ . _ -------- ------------ 5 miles C
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DETAILED R ECOMME NDATIO NS
1. S equit Beach (4 ,000 Feet).
Fr om the west county line for sever al thou-
sand f eet eastwar d is a good sand y beach. The
old r oad followed this beach, but the new StateHighway f ollows a line farther back. Any
existing rights in the old highway should be r e-
tained and the stri p between it and high tid e
should be acq uired f or pu blic use. This might
well be a State Par k pr oject in connection with
Sequit Canyon, Zuma Beach, and Dume Park
(No.2, NO.4, and NO.5 below) and in con-
nection with shor es in Ventura County.
2. Ar royoS equit Par k (150 Acr es).
At the mouth of the Arroyo Seq uit are some
fine trees and a bit of open relaJively flat land having gr eat value f or a par k in connection
with the beach. The hillsid es u p as f ar as they
f orm cons picuous par ts of the valley scener y
should be includ ed with the floor of the valley
and the reservation should extend back from
the ocean half a mile or so, as f ar as beach pic-
nic parties ar e lik ely to go.
3. N icolas and E ncinal
Beaches and Blu ffs.
Fr om Seq uit Beach to Zuma Beach for a
d istance of f our miles the l1ew highway f ol-lows the f oot of the hills on a mesa 500 feet or
so back from the sea and high above sea level.
In this section the beaches ar e f air, but ar e
r emote fr om the highway. The chance f or
pr ivate d evelo pment of the upland is excellent
and it is believed that this str etch should be lef t
for private use, subject, of cour se, to the ex-
isting right of the public in the tideland s.
The need f or widening the right of way
must d oubtless arise soon and through this sec-
tion it may be possible to develop a second
roadway near the to p of the bluffs, as has beendone on Palos Verd es, for pleasur e travel only,
leaving the present highway f or commercial
uses and heavy tr avel.
4. Z uma Beach.
One of the finest beaches along the coast and
one that would serve an enormous number of
pleasur e seeker s is that above Dume Point
known as Zuma Beach, thr ee miles in length.This has been included in the recommend ations
f or park s and parkways as an integral part
of that plan with the Dume Canyon and mesa
and the hills above. If the entire area is ac-
q uir ed as r ecommended it will be possible
eventually to constr uct an u p per level r oad
parallel to the present shor e road and to divide
and contr ol tr affic thr ough this str etch in a way
to permit the lar gest possible use of the shore
f ront f or recr eation. This beach has already
been in par t su bd ivided and some costly pr ivate
d evelopments have been mad e, but the entire
beach should be acquir ed and the houses should be r emoved or r emod eled f or public uses.
5. Dume Pa7 ' k .
Dume Park, back of Zuma Beach, has been
includ ed also in the par k plan as one of the
most valua ble, healthful and attractive park
featur es f or that part of the general plan, and
it is also intimately connected with the beach
pr o blem. This ar ea with those to the west of
it certainly should be consid er ed in the plan
for State Par k s as well.
6 . Ramir ez Canyon Reservat ions.
Four hundr ed and sixty-f our acr es now U.
S. Lighthouse property that should be made
useful f or public recr eation with Dume Par k
in the general park and parkway plan.
7. Dume Point S hor e.
For two miles eastward fr om Zuma Beach
the highway lies a long way back fr om the
shore, and the shor e is mostly rocky and nar-
r ow, bor d ered by high bluff s,and isnotad ap.ted
for use by large number s of people. This ar ea
is well adapted to high-class private d evelo p-ment for which it is pr o ba bly more valua ble
than for public use. Ther ef ore, it is not recom-
mend ed f or pu blic acq uisition. Back of the
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·shore the highway problem will be similar to
that farther west, and either a wider right of
way or two routes for travel will be need ed
eventually, and should be included in any plan
for subdivision and local development.
8 . Ramirez Beach and Bluffs.
East f r om Dume Point for a mile or so the
highway is still above and back from the shore
on high bluff s, and the shore itself is rugged
and of limited recreational value and therefore
is not recommended for acquisition.
9. Escond id o Beach.
From near Escondido Canyon wher e the
highway drops to the shor e level eastward for
a mile to Latigo Road and Point, the highway
is ver y near the shore. The beach is good and all inter vening lands should be acquired.
10. Escond id o C an yon M outh.Back of the highway in Escondido Canyon
there is an area of 35 acres or so, large enough
for a small shor e front park that should be ac-
quired to serve as a shelter ed picnic ground ad-
j acent to the beach.
11. Corr al Beaches.
Three miles of beaches very near the new
State Highway. All land between the highway
and the shore should be publicly owned, and
the beach should be k e pt o pen to the public.
12. Malibu Beaches and Plains.
Opposite the mouth of Malibu Canyon there
is a strip of flat land 200' to 1,200' or more in
width and nearly a mile in length between the
highway and the sea that is now lined with cot-
tages and held at high prices andiswelladapted
to private uses and likely eventually to be used
for lar ger buildings if t he ar ea back of it is
d eveloped as a small community center . This
beach is not recommend ed now for acquisition.
13. Possible M alibu Park.
Back of the Malibu Beach and extending
into Malibu Canyon there is a ver y attractive
area of one square mile or so, including the
ranch headquarters, that could be made a beau-
tiful park with the beach, if acquir ed, but is not
includ ed in the l ist as of pr ime importance.
14 . Malibu Slough and E ast Beach.
East of Malibu Creek and at the mouth of
the creek the beach and slough fr om 1,200' to
2,000' or so in width and half a mile long be-
tween the highway and the shore should be
acquired f or public use, and in the slough a
small s pace for water sports can be developed .
Through the land back of this area and through
Malibu Park the County now owns the r ight
of way of the old highway that might reason-
ably be exchanged for a portion of this ocean
fr ont property f or public use.
15. W est Car bon Beach.
From Malibu east beach to the Malibu Pot-
teries for a bout half a mile the highway is
again near the shore and all intervening land s
should be publicly owned.
16. East Carbon Beach.
Along the potteries and land s to the east-
ward for a little more than a mile to Coal Can-
yon Point the s pace between the highway and
the shore is somewhat wid er and back of the
highway ther e is consid era ble land that can bed ~velo ped for residential uses. This section
would doubtless be very costly to acquire and
ther efor e is not includ ed in the recommenda-
tion f or immediate acquisition, even though itwould have gr eat value for the public.
17. C ar bon Bay and
Las Flores Beach (3 ,6 00 F eet ).
From Carbon Point eastward for a number
of feet in Car bon Bay, the highway is now
actually against the shor e and no private land
intervenes, and there public access to the shore
can be kept open. Farther eastward costly im-
provements have been made, and high land
values have already been established. Ther e-
f ore, this beach is not listed f or acq uisition,
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PL ATE 36 .. Mouth of Topanga Canyon, showing ar eas that should be . pu blicly owned to c are f or the
vast crowd s that gather ther e, and showing an endless chain of autos extend ing down the beach,
cutting off all view of the ocean from the passing tr aveler s. (Phot o b), S ta gg .)
even though it also would have gr eat value for
the public.
18. Las Flor es Delt a.
Opposite the mouth of Las Flores Canyon
f or a r elatively shor t distance of 500' or ~o,
there is a small d elta being developed with
r oad side buildings, cabins and conveniences,
that would be costly to acq uir e and ther ef ore is
omitted .
19. E ast Las Flor es Beach.
From Las Flores Canyon eastward f or half
a mile or so to the next point of land , the high-way is near the shore below a high bluff all the
way and ther e are 55 small cabins on the sea-
ward side. The land on that sid e should be ac-
q uired f or pu blic use and all the ca bins should
be removed.
20. Pena Canyon Beach.For a mile the highway is ver y close to the
sea, suppor ted most of the way by r ipr a p. Pri-
vate ownership, if any, in this section should
be acq uir ed.
21. T una Canyon Beach.
At the point o p posite the Hear st Pr ivate
Road, ther e is a small ar ea outside the highway
with a tent, and eastwar d fr om there to To-
panga Canyon f or a mile and a half there are
65 small buildings on the nar row stri p between
the highway and the ocean. Some of these
build ings on high timber s may be standing on
public tid elands. All should be removed and
all land should be pu blicly acquir ed .
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PLATE 37. Be:1Ch<ibol-eSanta Monica that would be inside pro posed harbor , showing gr oins built far out on the beach to protect the shor e an~ catch the drif ting sand s. (Phot o by S pence.)
22. T o panga Canyon Park Uplands.
At the mouth of Topanga Canyon the small
flat area now occupied by a number of small
cottages is all needed for a park and picnic
area and to hold a large number of automobiles
that come to the shore. Here the value to the
public would be very much greater as a public
park than can be realized on the same area un--
der private owner ship.
23. T o panga Beach.
From Topanga Canyon to the Los Angeles
City line at the Parker Ranch Road f or a dis-
tance of one mile there are 30 small buildings
on the seaward side of the highway, with high
cliffs on the other . The entire strip between
the highway and the sea should be publicly
owned, as it will have a far gr eater value f or
lar ge number s of peo ple under public owner -
ship.
24. Topanga Beach in Los Angeles C ity.
From the city line to Castellammare Beach,
about 1600 feet, Topanga Beach is very nar -
row. The highway is filled out onto the beach
and there is little if any private land on that
sid e except at Castle R ock in the middle of this
str etch. Any f 'rivate land that may exist shou'ld
be publicly acquired.
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PLATE 38. Beach at mouth of Santa Monica Canyon, showing public beach in the center with pr ivate
club and parking area in the lef t foreground . (P hot o by St agg .)
25. C ast ellammar e Beach.At the arch over the street and eastward a
stretch of beach 700' long has been fenced in
for the use of owners of property in Castellam-
mare, thus withdrawn from private ownership
and dedicated to quasi-public uses, for which
purpose it is recommended that it should be
left.
26. Santa Ynez Beach.
For a distance of 1,900 f eet between the
highway and the shore opposite Santa Ynez
Canyon there is one old building and some
land that should be acquired .
27,28 and 29. Bel-Air, Pacific Palisad es
Beach , Lighthouse Ca f e and Hunt -ingt onPalisad es Beach to the Count y
Public Beach.
Two miles of narrow frontage, a part of
which has been built out recently by arti-
ficial means upon publicly owned tid eland s.
Through this section a plan is being consid er ed
for constructing a new State road , on a wid er
right of way, partly on the tid eland s just out-
side the private lands and partly on those land s,
and for abandoning the present highway in ex-
change for property rights along the shor e.
Either some such exchanges should be work ed
out or the strips of privately owned shore front
lands should be acquired outright.
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30. S anta Monica Canyon Beach.The public now has the use of nearly a
quarter of a mile of beach at the mouth of
Santa Monica Canyon. This is a very valuable
beach, fair ly broad an now ver y po pular .
31. S anta M onicaCanyon
Par k (9 Acres).
At the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon a
portion of the partly vacant land back of the
highway should be acquired to make a small
waterside park for intensive use by automobile
parties near the beach, and to provid e some of
the needed parking space for automo biles and
s pace f or a public bath-house to be connected
with the beach by a foot subway.
32. S ant a Monica Palisad es Park .Santa Monica City owns a f ine coast park of
46 acr es, though it is almost entir ely cut off
from contact with the ocean, and is high abovesea level.
33 and 34. Beach C lubs in Los Angeles
Cit y and in S ant u M onica.Eleven hundred f eet of beach fr ont is now
lar gely tak en u p f or intensive use by a number
of beach clubs and houses on the shor e. The
value pf this area and areas farther eastwar d
has mounted so high that it will. prove much
less costly to leave this land in pr ivate owner -
ship; to allow the pr esent shore road to serve
for or dinar y traffic, and to plan f or pleasur e
travel ultimately to pass outside these proper -
ties either on new land s to be filled out on the
tid elands or on a chain of islands farther out.
35. F rom Georgina Avenue
to Cali f ornia Avenue.East f rom the clubs f or three-quarters of a
mile a ver y narrow strip of the shore outsid eexisting lots might be acquired, but the lots run
almost to high tide and in places may r each it,
and the strip is so narr ow that it would add lit-
tle to the area of tid eland s alr ead y publicly
owned. Ther efore, this strip is not listed for
acquisition.
36 and 37. From Cali f or nia Avenue
to Broad way.
From Br oadway west to Arizona Avenue
the city of Santa Monica now owns a f airly
br oad str i p of beach fr ontage outsid e the walk,
and west of Arizona Avenue f or a quarter of a
mile to Calif ornia Avenue there is a narrow
strip wher e the walk is built up above the tide-
lands. This land can be widened eventually
to seaward by building groins to incr ease its
recreational area.
38. Broad way t o S ant a Monica Pier.
Nine hund red and f ifty f eet of hi-gh value
privately owned p~o perty is not includ ed in
pr o posed acq uisitions.
39 and 40. Santa Monica Pier
and Beaches to Lick Pier .
From Santa Monica Pier to Lick Pier at
the city line there are now a number of narrow
parcels of publicly owned beach outside the
existing walk, and ther e is one small park of an
acr e and a half on the slo pe a bove the walk. In
this str etch f or a bout half the distance the nar-
r ow beach outside the walk is privately owned to tid eland and possibly can be acquired at r ea-
sonable prices, but here again the cost of acqui-
sition is lik ely to be gr eater than the narrow
width add ed to the width of the walk would
justif y, and it is proba bly better policy from
the public point of view to leave the beach here
to be developed eventually farther out by
f illing on existing pu blic lands rather than byrecover y of the pr ivate holdings. .
At Santa Monica Pier, and again at the
Lick Pier , amusement park s have been built
far out over the water on flimsy pile construc-
tion to attr act large crowds with no special pr o-
vi.sion of space for parking of automobiles:
Such facilities should eventually be super seded
by more appropriate and adequate ones under public control.
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PLATE 39. Shor es of Venice and the Del R ey mar shes, where a large park and harbor can be d evelo ped
if the land is soon acquired. (P !t ot o by S pence.)
41 and 42. From Lick Pier to
Del Rey Pier through Venice.
Nearly two miles' of beach front in Venice
outside the walk is now publicly owned in va-'
rious parcels, and all of the remaining front-
age amounting to another mile should be ac-
quired, subject to such arrangement as may be
deemed best with owners of existing piers. This
private property lies mostly at the easterly end
of the beach. Some of the land claimed to be
private property is probably really public now
having resulted from filling out upon pUbli~
lands, and is now under litigation. Along most
of this frontage the beach is now too narrow to
render full value to the public and the entir e
beach doubtless should be greatly widened
eventually by proper use of groins or br eak -
waters, but whatever is done should form par t
of a plan for the best possible ultimate use of
this entire section of shore, probably as a pleas-ure bay of large proportions as suggested by
the Venice Branch of theLosAngelesChamber
of Commer ce and as shown in the sk etch plan
herewith pr esented.
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43 and 44 . Ballona C r eek M arshes and
Lagoon and P1' o posed Out sid e Mole
and Pleasur e Ba y.
As d escr ibed and r ecommend ed for the park
and par kway system there is o pportunity for
cr eating one of the great r ecr eation f eatur es of
the wor ld at the shor e to includ e the Ballona
Cr eek Mar shes, a mole outside Venice and
Santa Monica and the enclosed Pleasure Bay.
(See Plates 33 and 34·)At the Del R ey Mar shes ther e is now a lar ge
ar ea of low land which can be mad e into a broad
water sid e park to sup plement the beaches that
ar e elsewher e bor dered f or so many miles by
comme'rcial an esid ential buildings. Between
the marshes and the.sand y beaches there is along, narr ow lagoon now popular f or still-
water bathing.
45) 46 and 47. Del Re y Pier and t he Los
- Angeles Hy perion Beach) 33 /z M iles
Long.South of the Del Rey Pier f or some dis-
tance the beach is now fenced in and subdi-
vided ; east of there the Pacif ic Electric car line
follows the base of the bluff on the shore itself,
in some places so close that a high tid e washes
the rock s along the tr ack s. A bove the r ailroad,
the newly constr ucted highway f ollows theedge of the bluff to Hyper ion and there turns
a short distance f arther inland. The public now
owns a bout 3,500 f eet of this fr ontage south of
the su bd ivision and also a mile of fr ontage at
Hy per ion, with a mile of narr ow private pr o p-
erty of limited value between the two. This
private proper ty and a nar row strip at least
along the outer sid e of the subd ivid ed area at
Del Rey should be acq uired to com plete the
shore holdings. The beach at Hy perion is now
public property and insofar as it is not needed
f or sewer outfall purposes, it should be made
availa ble for r ecr eation und er proper inter -de par tmental ar r angements.
48 . H yperion Uplands.A bout 180 acr es of upland is also publicly
owned, str etching f or a mile along the bluffs
and sand dunes. It w ill eventually have ver y
gr eat r ecreational value and should be k ept f or
such purposes, insof ar as it is not need ed by the
Sewer De par tment.
49, 50 and 51. El S egundo and Los
Angeles Count y S hor es Owned b y
St and ar d Oil Com pany. .
The Stand ard Oil Company owns nearly a
mile of shor e fr ont at El Segund o and f arther
east. This shor e f rom the car line and the high-
way down to high tid e is almost all vacant, and
is k e pt fr ee fr om buildings as a pr otection to
their pr o per ty a bove. A shor t str etch is used
f or the pier and accessor y uses. The balance of
the beach should be publicly owned, and it is possible that under certain restrictions f or their
own pr otection the company might r easona bly
tur n this over to the public.
52 and 53. Count y O' lvned Beach
at M anhat t an.
The County und er favora ble opportunity
r ecently acquir ed a bout 1,800' of beach front-
age at the'west ed ge of Manhattan, as another
unit in the public hold ings between the r ail-
road and the shor e.
54 and 55. Manhat t an Beach Sh01'es.The city of Manhattan Beach now owns
a bout half the shore along its fr ontage and the
r emainder in long, narrow parcels of limited
commercial value should be publicly acq uir ed
as o pportunity offer s. The beach thr ough the
city is border ed by the r ailway and by a walk ,
but not by the highway.
56. M anhattan B each Par k.Just back of the shore the city owns a small
par cel of land over looking the sea in which a
pleasing local par k and gather ing place can be
d eveloped.
57) 58 and 59. Cit y o f H ermosa
Beach F ront age.Almost all of the beach frontage of Her -
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mosa is now public, in a long, narrow strip out-
side the walk . 420 f eet is pr ivately owned at
the City Pier , and the question of acquiring
that was recently d ecid ed ad ver sely by the city
owing to high value placed upon it. This shor t
parcel has not been includ ed in the recommen-
dations f or acquisition. The entire shor e is f ol-
lowed by a walk on which private pr o perties
face, but the highway and car lines ar e f arther
inland .
60,61,62,63 and 64. Redond o Beach
Shor es.
The North Beach, three-quarters of a mile
long ( No. 6o), is now publicly owned outside
the beach walk. For a quarter of a m ile,
through the center of the city, the beach is oc-
cupied by an amusement zone (No. 61), out-
side a portion of which the city has built a
public pier . This f rontage is not r ecommended
for acquisition. South of the pier to Avenue I,
the beach and bluff s should be publicly ac-
quired for a mile and a half, the easter ly por-
tion to extend up to the nearby public highway,
the Esplanad e.
The city has an 8-acr e park (No. 62) near
the pier that is used intensively at times f or
picnics and large gatherings near the beach, f or '
which it is admirably suited.
At the south end of the city for about a quar-
ter of a mile (No. 64) the beach below the Es-
planade has recently been dedicated as a quasi-
public community beach, and this is not in-
cluded in the r ecommendations for public
acquisition.
65: ,T orrance Beach.
The extreme southerly end of the sand y
beaches of the South Bay District where they
merge into the r ock y shor es of Palos Ver d es is
in the city of Torrance. It is about thr ee-quarter s of a mile long and is bor d er ed by
bluff s and ver y high cliffs, above which the pr i-
vately owned land s are now being subdivid ed
for residences. The beach, bluffs and cliff s
should be, and probably in any case will be, r e-
ser ved for r ecr eation and scenic effect, but are
of more local than regional value.
66, 67, 68, 69, 7 0 and 71. Palos V e1 ,d es
Est at es and Ranch and Lighthouse.These areas lie in the unincor porated terr i-
tory of Los Angeles County, including over 13
miles of coast line. Along the coast a t Palos
Verdes and all the way to Point Fermin in San
Pedr o there is very little sandy beach, the
shore is gener ally rock y, and the shoal water
for a long distance out is f illed with k elp.
A bove the shor e cliff s rise abruptly, so' to 1so' in height, leaving almost no open ground near
sea level. Along the to p of the bluffs for much
of the way a shor e fr ont r oad , the Palos Ver -
des Coast Road, has been built, from which fineviews over the ocean are obtained.
For the fir st five miles f rom the Torrance
Beach the shore and bluff s and a large amount
of canyon and hill land back of the shore, in all
several hundr ed acr es, are quasi- public held in
tr ust for park pur poses f or the benefit of the
local community ( No. 66). The par kway
above the cliff s f ollows the shor e reservation
most of the way and command s fine views that
are protected by the existence of the reser va-
tion along the shor e.
Farther east the coast highway f ollows afifty-foot right of way owned by the County
(Nos. 67 and 68) along or near the top of the
bluff, with f air assur ance that the Coast R oad
will be dedicated eventually 170' wid e, r e-
stricted to pleasure tr avel only, and that an-
other through r oad f ar ther back will be d ed i-
cated to carr y heavy tr affic.
At the Point Vicente Lighth~)Use the U. S.
Government owns about 2,000 feet of f ront-
age ( No. 69).
N ear the easterly end of Palos Verd es R anch
the road was not built along the coast owing tothe a bandonment of the _ f ormer connection
with Pacific Avenue and Paseo Del Mar in San
Pedro, and plans f or possible extension will
depend on the possibility of reopening that
section. A par kway should eventually con-
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tinue eastward along the bluff s, possibly to
dr o p down to the seashore along Royal Palms
and \iVhite's Point, then to rise again to con-
nect with Paseo Del Mar in San Pedro east of
\~lhite's Point.
The shores along Palos Verd es are of lim-ited value for general public recreation, and no
acquisition of shores is recommended, except
f or one mile at the easterly end ( N 0.70) where
a lar ge reser vation is proposed in connection
with the park system, to serve as a terminal
feature (No. 7 I) for a large vol ume of traffic
that will come to the shore.
7 2 and 73. Royal Palms Shor e and
l iV hit e's Point t o Paseo Del Mar in
S an Ped ro.
Fr om the Palos Verd es Ranch east line, east-
. ward along the base of the bluff s and \iVhite's
Point the shore and the face of the bluff s
should be acquired, including a suita ble road
location following the shor e past \iVhite'sPoint
( No. 72), then rising to connect with the Paseo
Del Mar in San Pedr o ( No. 73). The con-
struction of a road along the shore will involve
costly shore protection and costly inclines at
either end, but will make a feature of shore
front parkway of great value to the public. It
will ser ve as a local outlet for San Pedro rather
than as a through road in the park system, and
will tur n much traffic into San Pedro from
the west to find its way through city streets
where an extension of the parkway is imprac-
ticable, or to turn back to the San Pedro HilJ
Reservation.
74, 75, 76, 77 and 78. Point F ermin
and the San Ped ro Shor es.
. Of the nearly 2 miles of San Pedro Shore
over 80% is now publicly o'wned, of var ying
width, including much of the bluff s ( Nos. 74and 78). The remaining private proper ty near
the shore ( No. 75) and two parcels on the
bluff s ( Nos. 76 and 77) should be acquired to
complete this park and beach area, wher e al-
y
read y a large number of people go, and where
many more may be expected as the city grows.
79. The H ar bor S ection and
T er minal Island.
Nearly 6 miles of ocean fr ont from San
Pedro across the bay to the old Los Angeles
River, including Terminal Island, is practi-
cally all taken up for Harbor and Commercial
purposes, and aside from minor local recrea-
tion grounds for persons employed in the dis-
trict, this area should be kept free from pleas-
ure seekers and devoted to the commercial and
industrial uses for which it is primarily in-
tended.
8 0. Harbor S ect ion at Long Beach.
Thirty-eight hundred feet of the harbor
lands lying within the breakwater s is now a
public beach belonging to Long Beach. This
section now has considera ble r ecreational
value, but will doubtless be used in time to
meet commercial requirements, f or which it is
well suited; its r ecreational use will then be
largely or wholly lost to the public.
81. Flood Control Channel
and W est Beach.
Three-fourths of a mile of intensively used beach in Long Beach, now publicly owned.
8 2 and 83. Amusement Z one and Mu-
nici pal Pier and Aud it orium.
Over half a mile of the fr ontage o pposite
the main part of the city is occupied by the
amusement zone ( No. 82), the city pier, and
the fill now being made by the city f or an Audi-
torium and other public uses ( No. 83) .
84, 85 and 86. Long Beach fr om the
Aud it orium t o E ast C ount y Line.Four miles of shore east of the Auditorium
in Long Beach, having a fine sand y beach and a
ver y br oad sand y tid eland strip, should all be
publicly owned. Three-fifths is now publicly
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[ 80] PARKS, PLAYGR OUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGIO N
owned ( No. 84), much of that being only a
narrow strip below the high bluff s, with a sea
wall at the base of the bluff practically at flood
tid e level. The city owns the strip of Bluff
Park f or a distance of three-q uarters of a mile(No. 86), over which a fair view can be had
fr om the swar ms of passing automobiles on
Ocean Avenue.
East of the park the bluff s become less and
gr adually disa ppear , and fr om Termino Ave-
nue eastward to Fifty-second Str eet all pr ivate
holdings between the highway with its car line
and the sea should eventually be publicly ac-
quired and ar e now being acquir ed by the city
( N o. 85). East f rom Fifty-second Str eet the
nar r ow strip south of the walk should be ac-
quired to connect with the public beach now
owned by the County. At the east County lineand just beyond , the entire point east of
Seventy-second Str eet should be publicly ac-
quired. From this point a bridge will even-tually be built acr oss Alamitos Channel to
connect with the shor e road farther eastwar d ,
and then the highway along the Long BeachPeninsula will be used by large numbers of
pleasure seek er s.
87 . Alamitos Bay Shores.
Alamitos Bay is the only large inland salt-
water area in the County now used f or r ecr ea-tion. It is of limited extent, having about 3
miles of shores and is only f airly well d evel-
oped f or public use. All the available area in
the nar row str i ps between r oad s or walk s and
the shor e line should be pu blicly acquired and
some additional public r ecreation f acilities
should be established at points where automo-
biles may park in lar ger number s without con-
gesting the shores. For this pur pose it seems
possible that some of the vacant land northeast
of the bay may yet be availa ble.
Five miles long, but immed iately outside
Los Angeles County, the beach between the
highway and the tide-line is followed by thePacific Electric Railway and in places small
cottages have been built and the beach has been
subd ivided, but this entir e str etch should be
acquir ed in connection with the Bolsa Chica
Mar shes. Ther e will be need f or a bathhouse
and a limited amount of shelter , but no ex-
tensive construction need be contemplated at
pr esent. Ther e should be two br id ges over the
railr oad with some automobile parking space
along the shor e side of the track s.
r . Land along
S/ Z O I 'ef r ont.-
Length in
M il es A cqttisition Impr oveme1t t
A.. Now public 14 .... _
B. Now quasi-pu blic 6 _
C. Tobeacq uir ed 32 $13,700,000
11 . Land s back o f Areas in
t lt e highway: Acres
A. Now pu blic 64
B. Nowq uasi- pu blic 188C. To be acq uir ed 206
Ill.Pleasure Bay I m-
provements:
(Par tly char ged un-
d er park and par k-
way plan) Beachshar e .. _
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EVEN where local park s and playground s
and school ground s may now ad eq uately
pr ovide f Qt" or dinary daily use, and where
park s and beaches are accessi ble for holid ays
and occasional visits, the· important require-
ments of boys and gir ls just above school age, but not yet established in active employment,
f ull of energy and strength and r a pidly pass-
ing from the contr ol of par ents and teachers,
but not yet held d own by r es ponsibilities of
business, call for some s pecial consid eration.
For these childr en, who ar e just at the "d an-
gerous age" when they will esta blish their
places in the community for good or f or bad,
there is need f or wholesome encour agement
and a fr ee outlet for a lar ge amount of en-
ergy, s pace f or games of active competition
too rough and too widespread ing to be played on the local playgrounds. They need
such areas as ar e provided in Franklin Field
in Boston, with its many acres q f open mea-
dow on which a dozen baseball games ar e
played at the same time, or the gr eat field s
in Pros pect Park in Br ooklyn, and similar
f ield s in Jack son Par k and other park s in Chi-
cago.
To provid e s pace for baseball games, foot-
ball, track events, tennis, swimming and var i-
ous other games and spor ts, with f ield houses,
lock ers, and other necessary conveniences, and to be able to serve large crowds that will gather
at times, each such ar ea should contain 100
acres or more of f air ly levelland.·
Such areas, if they are to meet the particular
purpose for which they are proposed, should
be within easy reach of a lar ge number of young
peo ple at a minimum cost f or tr ans portation.
They should , ther ef or e, be easily accessible by
the str eet car s for a single carf ar e. There
should be one or more such ar eas on each sid e
of t he center of the city.Sever al ar eas have been includ ed and num-
ber ed in the gener al plan f or par k s and par k -
ways (See Plate No. 46) in some orallofwhich
large f ields can be d evelo ped, such as:
3 I. Culver R ecreation Field.
35. R ancho Cienega Recr eation Field.
48. Long Beach Water Land s.
55. South Gate R ecreation Gr ounds.
57. Whittier Narr ows.
59. Lincoln Park and R ecreation Gr ound s.
6 I. Brook sid e Park , Pasad ena.
62. Elysian Park (Chavez Ravine Section)64. Gr iffith Park Playground s.
92. Eaton Canyon Wash.
In each of these ar eas, a s pace large enough
f or an eff ective lar ge athletic field in agr eea ble
park-lik e sur round ings can be f ound and in
several at least, if not all, the land should be
mad e availa ble, if not alread y so, f or such uses.
While some of these ar eas d o not now meet the
r equirements as to accessibili ty, they can d oubt-
less all be mad e easily accessi ble in time. Still
other areas f ar ther out may also be needed in
time in the San Fernand o Valley, the San Ga- briel Valley and the Ballona Creek Basin, for
which other /lar ge reser vations can then be de-
velo ped to meet this need, such as Alondra
Park, the dr ainage basins, and the r eservoir
park s.
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[ 82 ] PARKS, PLAYGROU NDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES R EGIO N
DETAILED R ECOMMENDATIONS
31. Culver Recr eat ion F ield .
Culver R ecr eation Field as pr oposed , in-
clud ing the tr iangle between La Cienega Ave-
nue and Venice Boulevard with 160 to 190
acres, is a low flat ar ea suita ble f or such uses.
It~s, however , a little over a mile fr om the end
of the city car line at Rimpau Boulevard , but
is on the Pacific Electric car line.
35. Rancho Cie17 cga Recr eat ion F ield .
Lying east of Angeles Mesa Driveand south
of the line of Ex position Boulevar d and lying
north of pr o posed par k way into the city. About
125 acres of flat land is th er e availa ble, or more
if the pro posed parkway be includ ed . This ar ea
is accessi ble f or a single fare by the yellow car line on Santa Barbar a Avenue less than half a
mile to the south, and by the Thir ty-ninth
Street car line one-quarter mile to the east, and
by the Jef ferson Street line at Ninth Avenue.
48 . T he Long Beach rVat er Land s.
The Long Beach water lands to ser ve Long
Beach and its extension northwar d includ e a
lar ge ar ea that can be and should be mad e
available f or such uses as the city d emands be-
come greater . This area is not now accessible
by a low city tr ansportation f ar e, but is lik elyto be so ser ved in time.
55. S out h Gat e Recr eation Grounds.
At South Gate 600 to 700 acr es of river bot-
tom land is proposed to be acq uired as a park
r eservation. In this ar ea very large athletic
field s can be d evelo ped to ser ve the southeast
section. This area is 9 miles out, and it is not
on a car line at pr esent but is served by the
South Gate Municipal Bus Lines and is a finef ield f or ultimate develo pment.
57 . Whittier N m'l'O'UJS Recr eat ion Park.This park , pr o posed as another lar ge river-
bottom r eservation, has a lar ge acr eage in which
athletic field s can be d evelo ped eventually.
This ar ea is 10 miles fr om the center of t he
city, is near Monte bello, Whittier, EI Monte
and Alham br a, and may in time be served by a
single far e city tr ans por tation line, although it
is not now so served.
59. Lincoln Par k and Recr eat ion Ground s.
J East of and including the pr esent Lincoln
Par k , a lar ge ar ea is easily accessible from aJ1
of the east sid e of the city by North Broad way
and Nor th Main Str eet by street car s for a
single far e, and is crossed by the Pacif ic Elec-
tr ic line. It includ es r ough but usa ble land
that could be mad e into athletic f ields. Par t of
the area is now occupied by the Ascot Race-
tr ack, of d oubtf ul value as such, and there is
an auto camp on the Alhambr a Avenue sid e,
but the land is now nearly vacant and should be acq uir ed f or the pur pose, includ ing boun-
d aries satisfactor y f or the proposed east and west park way as well.
61. Br ooksid e Par k, Pasad ena.
Pasadena now owns lar ge areas in the Ar -
r oyo Seco at Brook sid e Par k that ser ve in part
the purposes of a great athletic field. This par k
will d oubtless be f urther d eveloped on a large
scale for such uses. Brook side Park is now di-
vided f or uses as f ollows:
Playground eqni pment _
Ten n is _
Ma jor s por ts _
Picnic ar eas _
r \utolllo bi Ie park ing _
Pl:11 l red ar eas __ _ _
3 acr es
Iacr e
18 acr es
18 acr es
5 acr es
1 3 acres
58 acr es
Stad iU III 22 acr es -
Autolllobile parking -----15° acres
Golf cour se and und evelo ped ar ea ---290 acr es
62. Elysian Park (C have z Ravine S ection).
Elysian Par k, near the heart of Los An-
geles, on the northerly sid e, is now chiefly
rugged hillto ps, but in the plans to extend the
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park to includ e Chavez Ravine and the adja-
cent slopes s pace will be available, es pecially
in the lower section of the ravine, where a
great athletic field can be d evelo ped to meet
the r equir ements of lar ge number s of people,
surrounded by other park f eatur es.
6 4. Grif fith Par k Pla yground.
The city now has Griffith Park Playground,
on a 20 acre tract, a playground and athletic
field of limited extent. This area could be very
materially extend ed to includ e some of the
adjacent water lands. The adjacent lands on
the easterly side of the river ar e subdivided
and becoming built up in small houses, but it
is possible that a fairly large area of such
lands can be acquir ed also, at less cost for ex-
tension to the plant alr ead y esta blished, thancould an equally satisf actor y s pace be f ound
elsewhere. This ar ea is easily accessible from
Glend ale and f rom Ed end ale and the easterly
end of Hollywood.
92. E at on Can' )'on T i llas I t .
In Eaton Canyon Vvash 500 acr es of the
wash and adjacent slo pes are recommend ed
f or acquir ement, and in that area a lar ge ath-
letic field to ser ve the east sid e of Pasad ena
and adjacent towns on the east can be devel-
o ped .
ESTIMATE OF COSTS
An estimate has been mad e of the pr o bable
cost for acquisition of areas not yet owned and
for development of athletic ground s at each
area, insof ar as such d evelo pment is lik ely
to be needed for some time to come. This f ol-
lows:
Cost of acquisition _
Im provements _
---- ------$4-,700,000
- - 2,500,000
This calls f or r elatively little cost on some
areas and high cost on other s. For those ar eas
where a much lar ger r eser vation is r ecom-
mended in the general park plan than is need -
ed f or athletics alone, a f air por tion of the
total estimated cost has been included her e.
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- .R ECOMMENDATIO NS FOR LAR GE R ESER VATIO NS IN
THE main Los Angeles R egion as her ein
. considered, lying between the mountains
and the sea, obviously d oes not includ e all the
area~ of recreational value to the people of theregion. With the great use of the automo bile,
the range f or pleasur e seek er s even in l ar ge
numbers has been gr eatly extend ed, and the
need f or s pecial pr ovision for r ecr eation in the
outlying r egions has already been keenly felt.
The County has acquired and developed
sever al ar eas for recreation in the mountains,
and the City of Los Angeles has d eveloped
four recr eation camps at a long distance fr om
the city. The Government also has develo ped
r ecreational ar eas in the Angeles National For -
est, and there ar e other ar eas far within theinter ior of the f or est, of limited extent and
wid ely se parated one fr om another, that could
be used by a large number of visitor s if made
sufficiently. accessible. They can be made ac-
cessible by providing reasonably saf e and di-
rect r oads, and by pr ovid ing the necessar y con-
veniences, such as running water , some f orms
of shelter , toilet f acilities and sanitation, and
stor es f or f ood and camping supplies.
With the constr uction of d ams in the San
Ga br iel Canyon, the pr esent route thr ough the
Canyon will necessar ily be diver ted and may be super seded at least in part by a route far -
ther east through Little Dalton Canyon and
the east f or k of the San Gabriel River to
Vincent Gulch and Big Rock Cr eek and to the
deser t beyond with a connection also to Big
Pines R ecr eation Camp. This would be dis-
tinctly a canyon bottom r oute, and while it
would have many attractive featur es, it will
lack that par ticular inter est which is to befound in a high-level r oute thr ough the high
mountains. The San Gabriel Canyon r oad is
now being extend ed to Crystal Lak e, and some
r oad will d oubtless be carr ied from ther e over
the mountains also to Big Rock Creek, but will
be fairly stee p. A mountain road to aff ord the
greatest scenic value, however, should start
near L a Canada, pass ar ound the head of the
Arroyo Seco as now planned by the State Divi-
sion of Highways, f ollow the r idges fr om
ther e around the west end of the San Ga briel
Canyon to o pen up the mountain plateausalong the r idge, then drop down into R ock
Cr eek and there connect with the Big Pines
Recreation Camp· road. Farther west in the
mountains ther e have been suggestions for
r oads over the mountains to Palmd ale for
commercial use, either along the Ar r oyo Seco
and around the head of the Tujunga Canyon,
or thr ough a canyon farther west. Neither of
those r outes, however, will r each land that has
any ver y great r ecr eational value.
In the mountains and in the d eser t in the
northern part of the County there are severalf eatures of r ecreational value and public in-
terest, nota bly the top of Lie bre Mountain in
the National Forest, now partly in private
owner ship, together with its delightful north-
er n slo pes; the Josh ua tr ees and the open d es-
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PLATE 4-0. San Gabriel mountains from mouth of T uj unga Canyon, showing stee p, barr en hillsides,
off er ing little or no r ecreation s pace above the valley floor . (Photo by F iss .)
ert along the north County line, including the
bed of R osamond Lake, which is dr y much of
the time, but is a ty pical desert feature with
its fr equent mirages of consid er a ble scenic in-
terest; and the big Joshua trees at the east end
of the Antelo pe Valley. To get into those areas
thr ough f airly agr eeable pleasure r outes, it
would be possible to construct a pleasureway
circuit from Newhall Tunnel nor thward,along
the western base of t he mountains, east of the
occupied areas of Newhall and Saugus; then to
follow up the Eliza beth Lake r oad to R adium
S prings; then to climb up to near the to p of theridges of Sawmill Mountain and into Liebr e
Mountain, with a br anch d own the northeast
slope of Liebr e Mountain thr ough Oak grove
Canyon, and f r om ther e to the lar ge gr oup of
Joshua trees near Neenach; thence cross the
d esert, north of the cultivated areas, to R osa-
mondLak e and to the grove of big Joshua trees
between Antelo pe Valley and Wilsona Valley,
and connect fr om there southwar d to the Big
Pines R ecreation Cam p road and the roadways
in and over the mountains toward Pasadena,
Glendor a and the other foothill cities. All the
privately owned land s along such routes are
of ver y low economic value and the pu blic
owner shi p of a liberal mar gin of land along
such routes, k e pt in its natur al condition, would
be of gr eat scenic and r ecr eational value to the peo ple of the Los Angeles Region. In the
Owens Valley, f ar north of the County line,
the City of Los Angeles owns many thou-
sands of acr es of land f ormerly cu ltivated but
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PLATE 41. Top of Liebr e Mountain, looking down onto nearby ridges, showing l1ati,-e gr owth not
yet ruined by fir e or cutting; should be developed as a public r ecr eation par k.
now r eturned to deser t because the water has
been tak en f or city use. This area even though
r emote has some value f or r ecr eation and may
eventually attract many pleasure seekers, es- pecially in winter .
Within the County there are also the island s
lying some distance off th~ coast, having very
consid erable possible value f or r ecreation for
those who can afford the time and ex pense re-
q uir ed to reach them. Santa Catalina is pr i-
vately owned and is d evelo ped in part f or com-
mer cial r ecr eation. San Clemente, lying farth-
er out, is owned by the National Government,
under the Lighthouse Department, and should
be valuable eventually as a County or State
recreation and cam ping place when ther e isenough demand to war rant the ex pense of
eq uipping and running a recreation station
there and of esta blishing tr ansportation routes
by air or by water or both. It is now chiefly
harr en, and almost without water , and unin-
ha bited , but h as a f air har bor and a lar ge area
with some ver y attr active featur es, canyons,
cliff s, and volcanic cones as well as inter esting
shores. So too, the wester ly end of Santa Cata-lina, with the harbor at the isthmus would
mak e an excellent public r eser vation.
Other r ecr eational ar eas, such as those in
the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Moun-
tains, d raw heavily fr om Los Angeles, and
might eventually be includ ed in a plan either
as an extension of the Los Angeles System or
as State Park s, or as parts o f other Metr o poli-
tan Systems f or the counties east of Los An-
geles.
The Park system as proposed pr ovid es also
for , I 2
or 13 outlets at the County bound ar iesf rom which extensions should be developed
eventually through adjacent counties, and to
which especial attention of the adjacent coun-
ties may well be invited.
I n t he mountain ar eas the lar gest cost to
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pr ovide f or recreation will und oubtedly be
that for road constr uction, and the value of the
investment in these roads will depend largely
on the method s and manner of road construc-
tion and the control of adjacent land s. The
use of the road s involves f our kinds of activi-
ties: fir st, dr iving along and enjoying views
and events of the road; second , pausing in the
car t o enjoy points of s pecial scenic inter est;
thir d , sto pping to picnic or to en joy other
forms of isolated outdoor r ecr eation near the
car; and four th, parking the car usually at
some park ing center and leaving it to go else-
where on foot. Each of these f our inter ests
can be, and should be, pr ovided for in the
mountain road s, without at the same time de-
tr acting from the en joyment of the r oad inother ways. Car s parked or pausing on the
outer edge of the road necessar ily red uce the
enjoyment of the road fr om passing car s. So,
too, car s in the outer lane of travel ser iously
cut off the enjoymen~ for people tr aveling
next the hillsid e and even the wid ening of the
roadway to pr ovide f or several lines of travel
cuts off the plunging mountain views f r om
persons using the inner lanes. Ther efore,
wher e roads ar e mad e for en joyment at so high
a cost per mile as is inevitable in the mountains,
some ad ditional cost can well be justified to
o bviate this f eature, by extra grad ing and
planting if need be, through providing even
small hillsid e or woodland "nook s" or d e-
tours, near to but scr eened f rom and not in the
way of the main tr affic. Such nooks can be on
higher or lower levels, and as stub end s or as
loo ps, so long as they affor d s pace enough for
a f ew cars and a chance to turn around .
Where many cars will be park ed in a scenic
r egion it is well worth spend ing a consid er a ble
amount of . money and of ingenuity to r ender the mass of cars less conspicuous, either behind
belts of planting or by parking in "groves," the'
car s being at least partly hidd en under and
among the tr ees.
Wher e the volume of traffic in both direc-
tions is a considerable one, in mountain reg-
ions and where cross-over s are not needed at
frequent intervals, there is a great ad vantage
in having two one-way r oads of limited width
and each on its ind e pend ent location. The ad -
vantage of safety in travel as well as the added
o pportunity f or en j oying the scenery ,free f rom
interruption by vehicles passing in the oppo-
site dir ection, is of very gr eat importance. The
d anger of meeting on the turns of mountain
road s, the glare of headlights at night, and the
constant passing of vehicles is a factor of con-
sider a ble irritation that can be eliminated by
one-way r oads. Two roads may cost more than
one wider one, and two may provide less eff ec-
tively for travel when the peak load is chief ly
going in one direction, but two r oad s will give
infinitely more enj oyment to the tr aveler s
whose chief reason for traveling is to find en-
j oyment. Where preliminary constr uction
calls for making a two-way road, twenty or
twenty-f ive feet wid e now, but wher e a greater
capacity will be needed later, it is often pos-
sible to plan the location so that the additional
width can later be provided in an ind epend ent
second r oad , so as to give ultimately the ad -
vantages of two one-way r oad s.
Enjoyment of scenery from an automobile,
moving as fast as practica ble, is much mor e
possible with broad open scenery from high
level road s wher e the near by f eatur es are un-
impor tant than in narr ow canyons and inti-
mate small scale landsca pe where the scenes
are passed so rapidly that no really good views
ar e possible. In general, the canyons should be
protected fr om the r ush of thr ough travel,
and main r oads should be placed where pos-
sible on the view-command ing slopes and r idges, where they will also best ser ve f or fire
pr otection.
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[ 89 ]
Lengt h A" ea
zn zn
M iles Acres C lass
2 1,290 A
7 D
20 D
2" F)
82 F
160 F
18 F
---- 50,000 C
SUMMAR Y OF PROPOSED OUTLYING
RESERVATIONS AND PARKWAYS
The letter ed classes are referr ed to in the last column or
the next table.)
. Large R eser vations in f or ests._ _ ___ __ 14
. Large R eser vations in deser L ___ ___ __ 10
. Island R eservations _
. Connecting park r oad s in forests __ 97
. Connecting par k road s not inforests 8 I
Camps in mountains _
19,745
7,5 00
60,000
4,800
285
LIST OF EXISTI NG A ND PROPOSED PARK
RESERVATIONS AND PARKWAYS
I N OUTLYING REGIONS
(Number s on the left margin r efer to number s on Plate
No. 42. Letter s at the r ight r ef er to the class of use for
which each is r ecommended.)
Length
W id t h in
in Feet M iles
Ar ea
ZIt
Acr es C lass
WI-Newhall Parkway 200-500 20 1000 E
0z-Elizabeth Lak e Can-
yon and L ie b r eM t.
R oad (mostly through
for est land ) ------------200-500 20 D03-Lie bre Mountain R es-
er vation (10,000 acres
of National Forestland s) - 15,000 7
204-Neenach Park way 500 8
205-Neenach Joshua trees
r eser vation ----- _ ____ ___ _ 5,000
z06-Antelope Valley Par k -
way -------------------------- 500 35
207-Lovejoy Joshua treesreser vation _ __ 10,000 5
208-R ock Cr eek Park way _ _ 500 18
z09-Big Pines Park Road 500 5
2Io-Big Pines R ecr eation
Camp (existing coun-
ty reservaton) ---------- 5
21 I-R ock Cr eek to Ar royo
Seco R idge R oad and
R eser vations _ _ -------500-5,000 42
2 I 2-Mt. Idip Road s _ __ _ _ _ _ 3
12,000 A
500 E
2,500 B
2,200 E
5,000 B
1,100 E
D
4,200 A
D
D
W idth
in F eet
213-Crystal Lake Reser-
vation (existing coun-ty r eser vati on) _
zI4-Devil's Canyon R oad
215-Big Pines Vincent
Gulch and LittleDal ton Road _
2 16-Camp Seeley, City of Los Angeles _
2 I 7-Camp R adford, Cityof Los Angeles _
2I8-Camp High Sier r a,
City of Los Angeles._
z I 9-Camp Oak Flats, Cityof Los Angeles. _
220--San Clemente Island
(Owned by U. S.) _
22 I-Angeles National For -est, Miscellaneous
Ar eas that should be
acquir ed (The An-
geles National For est
contains 670,682
acr es within the coun-
ty r ; J which 41,62Z
acr es ar e a lie n ate d ,
leaving 629,060
acr es U. S. land)
222-Por tion of Santa Cat-alina Island _
DETAILED R ECOMMENDATIO NS
201. N e7.vha ll Par k7 .vay .
From San Fernando Valley toward the
northwest ther e is now a main traveled high-
way through the Newhall Tunnel, and another
par allel to it and a little f ar ther westward is
being develo ped , and through the pass r uns
also the Southern Pacific R ailroad. A parkway
r oute should be develo ped farther eastwar d
through Gr apevine Canyon to cross the foot-
hills a little above the pass and to f ollow along
the easterly side of the railroad along the
present highway fOlJa mile or so, then to f ol-
low und eveloped lands east of the railroad, to
cr oss over t h e r ailroad and highways at Sole-
d ad Canyon and to f ollow around the easter ly
sid e of the Santa Clara River Valley, u p the
easterly sid e of the Castaic Valley, parallel to
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but separ ated fr om the Rid ge Route. Through
Elizabeth Lak e Canyon it should turn nor th-
eastward to the f or est boundar y.
This r oute would involve some heavy con-
str uction, but passes thr ough inter esting coun-try that, if pr otected fr om fir e and f rom d e-
vastation, can be k e pt attractive. Much of the
land is of limited comme"rcial value and a wid e
right of way should be acquired.
202. Eli zabeth Lak e C an yon and Liebl·e
M ount ain Road.
A bove the f or est line the park road should
follow the valley f or some distance a bove
\Varm Springs. The entire valley should be
held as a reser vation and the few private hold -
ings should be publicly acquir ed. A bove vVarmS prings the canyon becomes narr ow and ver y
crooked and a bout two and one-half miles
fr om the springs the r oad should turn west-
ward in a branch canyon to rise to the sadd le
at its head; then should f ollow the side of
Sawmill Mountain, rising northwestward to
the notch between this and Lie br e Mountain.
This section will involve ver y heavy constr uc-
tion a n d need not be consid ered until the d e-
mand f or it becomes sufficient to warr ant the
work or until Lie bre Mountain is mad e a po pu-
lar recreation camp, but the right of wayshould be planned and it is possible that a fire
road might well be built along the line in an
effort to prevent further great fire losses, and
that the forest ar ea may r ecover sufficiently in
time from the last great fir es to make the r oute
more inviting than it is now.
203. Liebr e M olt1t tain Reservat ion.
In the northwest corner of the Angeles Na-
tional For est there is a fine r olling mountain
to p just a mile above sea level, extend ing f or
several miles eastward f r om the Rid ge R outeat Sandber gs, and having a native f or est cover
not yet ruined by f ire, wher e a lar ge r ecreation
park somewhat similar in function to the Big
Pines R ecr eation Cam p, but radically diff erent
in hnd sca pe char acter , might be develo ped . A
small portion of the hill is privately owned ,
and should be acq uir ed at once by the pu blic.
At the base of the north slo pe of the mountain,
ther e are attractive small valleys containing
some f ine oak s and pines and beautiful pastoralscenes that should be mad e a part of the reser -
vation by acquiring the privately owned lands.
Thr ough the reser vation a road fr om the
R id ge R oute eastwar d along t he top, then
br anching both" ways to d escend to Sawmill
Mountain Notch would ser ve to afford access
and to open up the interior, and f rom thel-e
westward down the north slope it would aff ord
access to the pastor al land s at the base of the
mountain.
204. Neenach Par k 'Z .vay.Fr om Sawmill Notch a park r oad should
f ollow westward down the north f ace of Lie-
bre Mountain to meet the old r oad where it
cr osses the sadd le, then turn northeastward
along the old road out Oak gr ove Canyon, and
f ollow the Los Angeles Aqueduct eastward
into the Antelo pe Valley, where the large
groups of Joshua tr ees now stand , a d istance
of eight miles thr ough inter esting country and
some trees, though the r egion has recently
been terribly devastated by f ir e.
205. N eet lach J oshua T r ees Reservat ioll.
Near Neenach ther e is a group of Joshua
trees on a sandy plain slo ping gently toward
the north, sever al thousand acres in extent. The
land now has little value. This is an interesting
bit of the desert, within fairly easy r each of
Los Angeles, and it can well be pr eser ved un-
changed in its natural condition.
206 . Ant elo pe Valle y Par k ' Z.va y.
Fr om the Neenach Joshua trees eastward acr oss the Antelo pe Valley f or a d istance of 35
miles a parkway is pr o posed, to follow along
the north edge of the f arming d istrict ar ound
Lancaster close to the County boundary, and
to includ e a stri p of deser t land wide enough
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to form a foreground of desert conditions
and to control some of the views over the val-
ley and surrounding hills. This strip should be
400 to 500 feet wide, and wider where inter-
esting buttes and other features occur, and
should extend in places to the edge of Rosa-mond Lake, usually dry, where fine mirages
are to be found. East of Rosamond Lake it
should turn southeast toward the big Joshua
trees in the Lovejoy Buttes and the bed of
Rock Creek.
207. Lovejoy Joshua Trees Reservation.
At the eastern end of Antelope Valley and
just north of the Rock Creek entrance into the
mountains, there is a large expanse of waste
desert land, some of which should be included in a reservation to preserve its natural char-
acter . The reservation should include the very
large Joshua trees, some of the river bed, and
some of the buttes that have little value for
any economic use but are very picturesque and
interesting as landscape features.
208. Rock Creek Parkway.'
From the Lovejoy Joshua trees to the
mountains the route should follow the east-
er ly side of Rock Creek Wash up to a pointwhere it can cross the creek to j·oin the present
road into the mountains.
209. Big Pines Park Road.
From the mouth of Rock Creek Canyon to
Big Pines Recreation Camp a new road has re-
cently been constructed on good lines and
grades to serve both as a general highway and
as a parkway to the recreation camp. In time
this road will have to be widened and it is pos-
sible that in places two one-way roads can bemade to serve better than a single broad road .
As this is primarily a pleasure route special
care should be taken to protect the scenery
along the way, and any private property that
now exists, should either be acquired, or else
restricted against building for some distance
back from the road.
210. Big Pines Recr eation Camp.
To meet the urgent need for big open rec-reation grounds in the mountains near the city,
the County of Los Angeles has wisely acquired
a large reservation at Big Pines, containing a
variety of most interesting and attractive scen-
ery. This area has been made available to the
public by building good roads and by provid-
ing shelters, fireplaces, stores and other neces-
sary accommodations. In order to meet the
needs of a large number of visitors, some for a
day, some for longer, a number of local recrea-
tional facilities have been developed and
doubtless more will follow.The success of the camp with its large at-
tendance is leading to serious problems of wear
and tear and of congestion. The big pines and
firs, among the chief charms of the region, can
stand only a limited amount of trampling and
cutting and regrading about their roots, and in-
tensive use of the grounds may so affect these
trees that they will become weakened and will
fall ready prey to the ravages of pests and
diseases. Ther efore, it may be necessary very
soon to limit the use to a part of the ground s
under the trees in a w ay to give others achance to grow.
Other problems of handling many auto-
mobiles and of adding buildings will have to
be met. Ingem~ty and skill may permit more
intensive use without destroying the charm of
the place; but in any case there are limits on
the amount of use that can safely be permitted .
Such conditions are acutely felt now at the
Yosemite and among the "big trees" where
large crowds gather to enjoy the natural con-
ditions, and by so gathering tend to destroy
those very conditions they have come to enjoy.
211. Rock Cr eek to Arroyo Seeo,
Ridge Road and Reservations.
From the existing roads in Rock Cr eek to
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the Arroyo Seco, a distance of over 20 miles,
there is now no way to tr avel thr ough the
mountains. Various plans have been consid-
ered for roads for through tr avel, for f ir e pro-
tection, and for access to recreation ar eas in the
mountains. Sur veys have been consid er ed f or shor t r outes fr om Pasadena and fr om Azusa
or San Dimas to the d esert, and in 19 I9 a r e-
por t was made by. Mr . J . B. Li ppincott to the
Automobile Club of Southern Calif or nia rec-
ommending a consolid ation of eff or ts to d e-
velop one master road over the r id ges between
Rock Cr eek and Arroyo Seco.
Alread y the State is planning to construct
a r oad up the sid e of Arr oyo Seco to the saddle
back of Mount Wilson at R ed Box, and the
For est Service has built a nar r ow road f r om
Mount Wilson thr ough R ed Box to BarleyFlats and along the r id ge from there east and
north to Little Pine Flats and beyond . Along
that r oute, one r oad or two one-way road s,
dod ging heavy constr uction and high scar s
'where possible, but passing through the most
inter esting points and areas, will serve as a
par kway, a tr affic road , and a means of pr o-
tecting the forest r eser vation.
Along this route there are only a f ew sites,
of limited area, suita ble for gener al recreation.
Those areas can be made accessi ble only at ver y
large cost, but have a high recreational value.
Plans have been consid ered by the For est Ser v-
ice for leasing ca bin sites at Barley Flats and
f or turning over to Pasad ena a lar ge ar ea at
Little Pine Flats. Those ar eas will r epresent
actually millions of d ollars of value by the
time saf e and satisf actor y roads are completed
to them, and they may have ver y high value
f or general recreation at that time. Ther ef ore,
it is believed that those and other ar eas along
the pr o posed road way should be r eserved for
the gener al public and be developed under such plans as may produce the most general
benefit r ather than be d evoted to pr ivate cabin
sites. Possi bly small sites in those ar eas should
be leased to cities or clu bs f or s pecial d evelo p-
ment in such a way as to start activities and
encour age their use.
All private holdings along this route should
be publicly acquired now in ad vance of road
building bef or e high values in them may have
been created at public ex pense.
212. C r ystal Lake Reservat ion.
The County has recently acq uired a r eser-
vation of 1,290 acres ar ound Crystal Lak e to
includ e the f ine canyon basin and pine groves.
A road is being built into the basin and d evel-
o pment is proposed for this ar ea. A consid er -
a ble plant f or r ecr eational purposes will be
need ed here and it is possible that und er a care-
fully d esigned plan a complete plant can be
develo ped in a way to preserve the natur al
char m of the basin and still to make ad eq uate
pr ovision f or the need s of the peo ple. Such
a plan should be mad e with much car e, to avoid
possible wasteful and d estructive changes that
other wise may pr ove necessary later, and to
pr eserve as much as possible o f t he natural
charm.
214. Devil's Canyon Road .
From Crystal Lake a road is b~ing built
down the canyon to Cold brook Camp and be-
yond . Below Colsl br ook this r oad may be cutoff by a Sar i Ga briel R eservoir and a new
road will be need ed to the east fork of the San
Ga briel. Such a r oad proba bly can best cr oss
fr om near Coldbr ook to the head of Devil's
Canyon; then dro p down across the cliff s of
the ridge to Ir on Canyon, and d own Ir on Can-
yon to the floor of East San Ga br iel Gorge,
though such a route will involve heavy con-
struction through' extr emely r ugged country.
215. Big Pines-Vincent Gulch and
Little Dalton Canyon Road.Portions of a road are now being built that
will make a f airly direct r oute between Big
Pines Camp and San Dimas, r unning over
Blue Rid ge fr om the camp, then dropping to
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ANGELES NATIONAL FORESTCALIFORNIA
SAN BERNARDINO MERIDIAN
192E
_ N _ . . .. _ • . . _ -~ ... -.,. -~,-=~--:"'''''''=---
it _
• G __ e _
£. T"",,,--_
. . ~---~---• . . . • . .T.eN.
. I
1 / V-V-
KEY I
I• RECReATION CA NP! SITes
• CANP SITES II~ AREAS NOT P U B L I C I '
ARe.AS BURNED IN 8 c.AR:3
- NATIO N A L r OR D5 BOUN D RY
rLOOD C O NT ROL e.SE..RVOIRS
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the Pass at t he head of Vincent Gulch, then
down the gulch and the gorge of the San Ga-
briel to the head of the proposed San Gabr iel
Reservoir . From ther e the road should turn
westward to rise ar ound the basin of Horse
Canyon and to cr oss the front range; then towind d own the head of Little Dalton Canyon
and to connect with roads already built u p the
canyon.
.216 . Cam p S eeley.
25 acres in San Bernardino National For est.
217. Cam p Radf or d.
82 acres in San Ber nar dino National Forest.
218 . Cam p H igh Sierra.160 acr es in Inyo National For est.
219. Camp Oak Flats.
18 acr es in Angeles National For est.
These f our cam ps oper ated by the City of
Los Angeles are designed to serve vacation-
ists and campers primar ily, and are located far
fr om the city, where attractive conditions exist.
220. San C lement e I sland .
The Island of San Clemente is 50 miles
south of Point Fermin. It belongs to the N~-
tional Government and has been reser ved f or
lighthouse purposes. The island , 20 miles long
and 3 t o 5 miles wide, contains about 50,000
acres. It is now leased f or sheep grazing and
the steeper, attractive nor th slopes are being
bad ly eroded, due to trampling and gr azing.
The entir e island should eventually be used
for a public pleasur e r esort. There is no water
on the island, but a r eser voir can be built inone of the larger canyons to hold enough water
for d omestic uses. Bathing beaches and a f ine
small har bor at the southeast end of f er chance
for bathing and boating. The lar ger area could
be treated as a game and bird preserve.
221. Angeles N ational Forest and Mis-
cellaneous Areas Ther ein T hat
Should be Acquired .The Angeles National For est contains in
all 690,540 acr es, of which 670,682 acr es lie
in the County. This area includ es 41,622 acr es
that have been alienated , leaving 629,060 acr es
of public lands. About two-fifths of this ar ea
is in the f orest above Saugus and three-fifths
in the near er section. Most of the areas alien-
ated are held as water pr eserves, but there are
a number of small areas in pr ivate hands that
should be pu blicly acq uired to protect the res--
er vation for general recreation. In all, about
2,,255 acres of such holdings have been listed by the United States Forest Service as likely
to lead to undesirable develo pment or usage
if not so acq uir ed, and these should be acq uir ed
at once by the Los Angeles Region, since the
Forest Ser vice is not now in a position to ac-
quire them, and since it is mainly for the ser v-
ice of the people of the Region that they are
needed.
222. Santa Catalina I sland .
The wester ly end of Santa Catalina Island
is now unused and is of limited commer cialvalue. The isthmus and its small har bor , with
the nearby slopes on the east and with the
westerly end of the island , might wellbe ac-
quired as a public reservation to be d eveloped
when d emand is suf f icient to warrant the neces-
sar y expense.
ESTIMATE OF COSTS
An estimate has been mad e of the pro ba ble
cost of acq uir ing and of improving all of the
a bove listed units, based on t he present sales
values of pro perty near each unit, and on theamount of wor k d eemed justifiable to make
each unit available to the pu blic. These esti-
mates are as follows:
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Lengt lt Area in C ost o f C ost o f
M iles Acres A cquisit ~on I mpr ovement T ot al Co.r !
. - 1 . . Lar ge R eser vations 111 For ests _ _ ----~-------------- 14-.0 19,74-S $ 14-0,000 $ 800,000 $ 94-0,000
B . Lar ge R eser vations 111 Dese r t ________ __ _ _ __ ___ _ _ _ 10.0 7,SOO 110,000 200,000 310,000
C. Island R eser vations ------------------------------------ 60,000 100,000* SOO,ooo SOo,OOO
D. Connecting par k road s in For ests _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ ______ __ g7·0 SO,ooo 9,000,000 9,oso,000F Connecting par k road s not in Forests ________ _ _ _ ' _ 81.0 4-,800 300,000 '2,300,000 2,700,000
F. Pu blic Cam ps in MOll n ta ins.. _ _ __ _ _ ___ __ _ ________ _ _ 28S 0 _ _ ___ _ --------- ----------------
202 92,330 $700,000 $ 12,800,000 $ 13,Soo,000
~·Thc cost of acquiring the islands m u st depend on negotiations, possible concessions or gifts and other factors; theref ore) only anomiml! f igure is used here.
On the basis of the above figures a r elative-
ly small amount of money is need ed f or the
acquisition of land s, while a lar ge amount is
need ed f or r oad building and making the ar eas
available f or use, es pecially in the mountains.
The improvements may be mad e graduallyover a long per iod of year s. Doubtless a con-
sid er a ble shar e will be paid by the State Divi-
sion of Highways and the National Fq r est
Ser vice, and many of the r oad s will be built
by the County, whether a systematic park pr o-
gr am is adopted or not. But many o f the land
acquir ements are now ur gent. -
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THE most extensive and possibly the most
urgently needed class of park and recrea-
tion facilities recommended for the Los An-
geles Region is thaf of parkways and related
large parks. The general considerations con-trolling this group of subjects, the meaning of
the term "pleasureway parks" or parkways, as
used in this report, and the extraordinary im-
porlance of such parks to a metropolis of the
automobile age and particularly for Los An-
geles, are set forth in Chapt~r I, pages 12-14.
Their relation to flood control and water con-
servation problems is discussed in Chapter I, page 14. The gen,eral character of such parks
and the contrast between them and more or
less decorated highways to which the terms
"boulevard" and "parkway" are often applied,
are indicated by the illustrations (Plates 4, 5,
53 and 56).Westchester County, in the New York Re-
gion, offers the most up-to-date example in this
sort of development, which is everywhere be-
coming urgent in response to the demands of
a new age. It had in 1927 a length of approxi-
mately 140 miles of parkways in a total COU11-
ty area of less than 450 square miles, with
5.6 per cent its total area in parks, mainly of
this type. Westchester County occupies a posi-
tion corresponding to the outer parts of the
Los Angeles Region, having an average dens-ity of population in 1927 of a little less than
two per acre, but directly in the tide of outer
suburban residential development of the bet-
ter sort. What this would mean in the Los An-
geles Region is suggested in a diagram (Plate
44).Elsewhere in the New York Region and in
many other metropolitan regions-such asBoston, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis,
Kansas City, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and
Portland, Maine-there are excellent exam-
ples of real parkways; and in most metropoli-
tan regions there are intermediate types shad-
ing off gradually from real parks, through
admirable but generally narrower and more
citified parkways, both informal and formal, to
so-called parkways and boulevards which are
but slightly glorified streets.
In creating any extensive system of parks in
a region like that of Los Angeles where urban
and suburban growth has been active, critical
places are almost inevitably encountered
through which it is of the utmost importance to
secure a reasonably pleasant and convenient
connection but where the cost or physical diffi-
culties of securing a parkway really worthy of
the name would be prohibitive. There it is the
part of wisdom to introduce a different sort of
link in the chain, good of its sort but different.
An occasional narrow neck of no appreciable
length with ample widenings on either end of
the neck need not impair the park-like quality
at cill. Much irregularity of boundaries is infact desirable as facilitating the introduction of
many special features of park value which
could nowhere be secured if the width were
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less fluctuating. A general tr imming d own of
width f or consid er able distances, however ,
would r esult in an unprofitable compr omise,
costing as much but less eff ective than if part
of the length wer e an ad equate par k, withgood scenery and o ppor tunities for many park
functions besides mere driving through, and
the rest were a narrower parkway of a f rank ly
different ty pe. Some cr oss sections at various
parts o f the proposed system have been mad e
to illustrate what should be d one (Plate No.
48).There is no standard ,for the amount of ar ea
that should be d evoted to large par k s in any
one region, to say nothing of real parkways,
which ar e a peculiarly modern need that has
only r ecently begun to be met. But the lack of
large par k s in most sections of the Los AngelesRegion and the absolute lack of real parkways,
is evid ent (See Plate No. 17). In the I,500
sq uar e miles of the R egion, ther e are now 33
park s of over 25 acres each, and only I2 of
these are of more than IOOacr es. The I2 have
an aggregate area of 7,539 acr es, or a bout one-
half of one per cent of the total ar ea of the
region, and even then a pproximately half the
acreage consists of stee p and rugged mountain
land s in Gr iffith, Elysian and Br and Par k s.
In the lar ge centr al ur ban area, approxi-
mately 20 miles in diameter , where most of the peo ple live, ther e is now but one possible
park way extending east and west through Ely-
sian and Griffith Park s, and but one route north
through the Ar royo Seco that possibly can be
extended southward f ron1 Elysian Park to the
Baldwin Hills. In this urban ar ea, ther e are a
large number of rad ial str eets lead ing out in
various d ir ections, many of which have been
d esignated as "boulevard s" and on some of
which an effort is mad e to maintain trees and to
k ee p the r outes attr active, but the gener al d e-
mand for ver y wide pavements for large vol-
umes of traffic has been so gr eat that most of
these inter ior routes have been paved f or al-
most their entire width, and very little space
is lef t f or planting.
Ther efore, most of the travel or iginating
within the urban distr ict must pro bably con-
tinue in the future as it has in the past, to f ind
its way thr ough existing highways out to the
regions in which par k s and par k ways can rea-sona bly be established, and tr avel f rom the
outsid e must either find its way around the city
through the pr oposed park way system, or cross
thr ough the center by the ordinary highways,
even though this ar ea, 20 miles in d iameter,
contains the people most in need of access to
park f acilities, and is near ly as large as the re-
gion in which the entire Boston system of City
and Metropolitan Park s has been d eveloped
(See Plate No. 45).
The plans as proposed contemplate the ac-
quisition of a r elatively lar ge amount of land,
but the areas have been selected, so f ar as pos-sible, to use much land which, though less valu-
a ble for commercial, industrial, or resid ential
use, has great value f or par k and recreation
purposes.
The total area of this proposed regional sys-
tem of par k ways and large parks, including
I6,000 acr es of existing publicly owned parks,
water lands, and similar ar eas is a p proximately
70,000 acr es, and the aggregate length of the
pro posed routes is 440 miles. Seventy thou-
sand acr es is a large amount of park land , but,
looking to the futur e of this extr aord inary re-gion, it seems entirely r easona ble. It is only
a bout 7 I/3 per cent of t he total ar ea of the
region. This percentage would be almost im-
perce ptibly increased by including the limited
ar ea of t he beaches, which cannot be precisely
ex pressed in acr es because of their ind ef inite
outer bound ary, while the gradual increase,
with the s pr ead of population, of local play-
gr ounds and other strictly local r ecr eation
areas, not includ ed in this r egional system,
might be ex pected ultimately to incr ease the
percentage a few points further. The island s,
deserts, f or ests and mountains with relatively
lar ge acreages f or r ecr eation, lie wholly out-
side the Region.
As an objective , and f or a metr opolis that is
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o
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N
•
t - - 1 H ~ - - ·
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PI ATE
45.
Map
of the Los Angeles Region the
Boston l\1c:tropolil3n ParI:
sr.tem
superposed
red
and with the proposedBoston Bay circuit shown cross-
hatched to indic:uc what that pHI system would mean
in
t
cg undari the 8Qston
Metropolitan
,CM .. r
/1
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( jJ) R A W - C G 1E
<C (jJ) EXISTINC 0PAOpOSEO [],
.
I
K
iOl
A N
o
lEJ
.
« J
-
•
-
•
V
for a complete s lem o park.
r the: s An l\ dea RCRion. Ba e
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growing up under 20th century conditions,
with the special urge to outdoor recreation
which the people of the Los Angeles Region
must f eel, compare this with the f act that Chi-
cago already has within Cook County over
6 per cent of the total area in parks; thatGr eater New York alr ead y has 5.5 per cent in
park s; and that three adjoining counties of the
New York Metr o politan District alr ead y have
from 4.9 to 5.6 per cent in park s (from 5.8 to
13.4 per cent in park s and municipal watershed
land s combined ); and that they ar e all dili-
gently striving f or mor e.
In the following pages there are d escrip-
tions, unit by unit, und er number s which r efer
to the accompanying ma p (Plate 46), of a pro-
posed complete system of parkways and asso-
ciated lar ge park s for the entir e region, such as
a ppear s reasonable in connection with the other
ty pes of units discussed in other chapter s. The
proposed system is grouped chiefly along three
main east and west r outes and six north and
south routes as follows:
THREE EASTERLY AND WESTERLY
CHAINS
T he Mount ain C }z ,ain:
Extending along the base of the mountains
from the Newhall Tunnel to the eastern Coun-
ty line and connecting with all r oad s into the
mountains, it is in large part placed high
enough on the slopes to be above most of the
urban develo pment, so as to command superb
views over the plains and cities, and should be
always wide enough to kee p forever open in
park ar eas the foregrounds of these views as
seen f rom the main roadway. The parks in this
chain in places dir ectly adjoin the Angeles
National For est lands and constitute an exten-
sion or rectification of the present souther ly
for est bound aries. Elsewhere they leave con-
sid erable private land s above them. But anypr ivate land s, either above or below, should
front upon separate border roads or other sup-
plementar y r oad s and not cr owd in upon the
main roadway. The units along this chain are
Nos. 18 to 21, 75 to 80, and 86 to 97.
T he C oast Chain:
Along or near the coast from Ventura Coun-
ty to and into Or ange County, designed to meetrequir ements f or thr ough pleasure travel and
for pleasant following of the shores, the value
of this chain will depend ver y lar gely upon
the amount of public contr ol of land s lying be-
tween the roadways and the sea. Fr om El Se-
gund o to the east end of Long Beach this r oute
is inland, passing through Nigger Slough and
over Signal Hill to connect the best points of
inter est along the route. The units along this
chain are Nos. Ito 3, 33, 38, 41, 43 and 46 to
52.
T he Hillt o p Chain:Fr om Tr iunf o to Pomona along the Santa
Monica Mountains, Griffith, Elysian and Lin-
coln Park s, the Monte bello Hills and Puente
Hills, a scenic middle route connecting a large
number of points of interest and tapping a
lar ge number of ur ban str eets. This route com-
mands some of the finest views into the moun-
tains and over the plains and cities. I t i ncludes
units Nos. 6 to 9, 25 and 26, and 57 to 60, and
62 to 74 .
SIX NORTHERLY AND SOUTHERLYCHAI NS ~
The S an Gabriel Chain:Fr om the mountains to the sea along the
San Ga briel River, a r oute having the advan-
tage of f ollowing the drainage channel. This
includ es units Nos. 53 and 81,82 and 83.
The Rio H ond o and E at on Wash Chain:
From the mountains to Long Beach near the
sea, par allel to and just west of the San Gabr iel
Chain, this r oute ta ps the cities on its border s
and benefits by following the large dr ainagechannels with their points of interest. This
chain includes units Nos. 54 to 57, 84, 85 and
92.
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Ar royo S eco and Palos V erdes
Loop Chain:
From the mountains to the sea through the
heart of the city. This chain follows the present
large public holdings in the Arroyo Seco and Elysian Park with a proposed extension
through Ex position Park to the slopes of Bald-
win Hills, and fr om there south to the sea at
Palos Verdes, with a loop ar ound the Palos
Verdes shores and back to Nigger Slough, tap-
ping the heart of the city anq affording a pleas-
ant outlet in both directions for a very large
population. This chain includ es Nos. 35 to 40,
44 and 45,61 and 62.
Tujunga V alle y and Ballona .
C reek Chain:From the mountains to the sea over the
Santa Monica hills. This chain follows the
wash and valley of the Tujunga to a favorable
place to cross over the hills, dropping down
along the Franklin Canyon Reservoirs to cr oss
the west side of Beverly Hills along the var i-
ous Golf Courses to the Baldwin Hills, then
to follow Ballona Creek to the Ballona Slough. at Del Rey. It i ncludes units Nos. 21 to 24,
and 26 to 33.
Newhall, C hatswor th and
Topanga Canyon Chain:
Also fr om the mountains to the sea. This
chain passes the two large reser yoirs, skirts the
head of San Fernando Valley to pass over the
Santa Monica hills and down To panga Can-
yon. It includ es a number of points of inter est
and forms an important r oute. It includ es units
Nos. 10 to 17.
Dume Cany on Chain:
Fr om Ventura Boulevard at Triunf o across
n. , •• lA.-C ' " F t ;o"
~.,,' ' •••••. _ ~ ~j-;-jjip-:·' _ "':'-:':-L£'1«·.",.J
, , , " U ""' P"I ' I ~ p"r''''','''~If'- P. ~"' 51'.J"
/IO/LYIYOO/J-,P.lf LOJ j /.[IU l fJ
HP.YLr EIJ;"';',.f RKW"f YJ
PLATE 4-7. Parkway fr om Los Angeles to Palos Verdes now being planned by the County as the fir st
real park way in the Los Angeles R egion; the plan shows also Alond r a Par k in the center and the
proposed Sepulveda Park way and Gard ena Valley Park across the center .
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PON rol!. ( jENTI. Y JI.OPING HILLSIDES
/'fONrE~£LLOMOTH400 rUT o~ Mou
TI'f~~E Raf D PI. AN'!b1i! STE~P itII.L.1ID~~
Gl£NDO RA . S I ERRA NACRE ' A LT AP£ NA
WIDTH $00 rE~r OR. MOIi!£
PARKNA Y AND CHANNEL
EAT O N WAS / 1
NfI)TH JOO FEET
Two ROA(JPLAN FoR.5UEP HIlLsion ALTADENA' Rt/.BIO . MONR.OVIA
Mor H ~oor UT OilMou
Ttlli!EE Ra.4D PL AN r Oil LEVEL L~olos
SAN DIM AS· S AN FERN ANDO' ONE}lSMOUTH
KiDTH300 r E£~
PL AN FOi! VE.IlY ST~E P 1iII.I:.SI/)ES
SANTA MONIC A MOt/NTAINS'Pt/ENTE Hlll-J
h'lIJTH 400 rc.u Oil MOlle
PARKh'AY ANO CH ANNEL
EAT ON WAS H
!YIDTH300 F~ET
r E;A fC-;~ ",
-"-'"-~--~'=". _-
~
~h~ /' v "" " W ' r ' f 'C < . . g : r / / s ; . . .• . . (
, Pl A N FOil Ii I lLTOPS MTH J 'I E I t ' J 80TH W AYS -<F
SANTA MONICA MOl.lNTAIHS PV£NT£ HILLS
MOTH 400 FEET Oil MOlc
PAIi!KWAY AND CH ANNEl.
R I O H ONDO AT / " f ON T E B E L LO
h'IDTH 1000. FCCT Oil!.Motu
PARKW AY ANO CHANNEL
RIO HONDO· AND SAN GABR I EL R IVER.
MOTH 1000 F.ur OR. MOtU:
PARKWAY AND CH ANNEL
. R IO H O NDO AND SAN GABR I EL RIVE R.
MDTH 1000 F~CT OJ?MaR-£.
PLATE 4-8. Ty pical sections for park ways, showing how var ious slopes ma y b e tr eated 111a way to pro-
duce interesting variety and to protect good views and interesting scener y.
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the wester ly end of the Santa Monica Moun-
tains to the pro posed lar ge terminal park and
beach r eser vation in Dume Canyon. This chain
includ es Nos. 4 and S.
The areas consider ed have been num bered for con\-en-
ience as a ppr oximately 100 units and these have been
grouped and classified as follows:
Length
M iles
Ar ea
Acres
A. Shor e Front R oad s and Par k Ar eas --- 36.5
B. Lar ge Upland R eser vations 87.5
C. ·Large Drainage Basin Reser vations - 34.3
D. Nar r ower Drainage Basin Reser va--
tions --------------------------------------53.9E. Connecting Parkways 214.0
F. Enlar gements s pecially valuable for
athletic field s, golf, etc. 13.8
6,690
3°,57511,600
6,270
11,560
LiST OF PROPOSED PARKWAYS A ND
R ELATED LAR GE PARK S
Giving the a p pr oximate width, length and ar ea of
each, together with the class of purpose for which it is
recommend ed, and num ber ed as on the Gener al Plan
(Plate No. 46).
A ppr o x. Lengt h Ar ea
W id t h m m
in F eet M iles Acr es Class
I. Venice and Santa
Monica Shor e Par k-
way (land now pub-lic) 200-400 7.0
2. Lower Malibu Coast
Parkway (partly in
existing highway) 200-400 15.0
3. U p per Mali bu Coast
Park way (partly in
existing highway) -2°°-4°° 4.0
4. Dume Canyon Par k
(including 464 acres
U. S. water land s in
R amir ez Canyon) __ _ _ 6.0
5. Dume Canyon Par k-way and Clif f s 400-7000 6.0
6. Russell Valley Park _ 2.0
7. Triunfo Canyon
Park way and Cliff s _ 400-2500 9.0
2000 E
1400 B
A p pr o x. Length Al'ea
W id th in in
in F eet M iles Acres C lass
8. Sadd le Peak Parkway
and R eser vation 3°°-35°° 12.09. Topanga-MulholL:ld
Par k way 300-600 5.0
10. Lower Topanga Can-
yon and Clif f s (now
highway) 500- 15°° 5.0
[I. Old Topanga and Dry
Canyon Par kway and
Cliff s (now highway) 3°O-25°° 6.0
12. Cala basas Parkway ---- 300 2.3
13. Escorpion Park I. 1
14· Escorpion Park way -- 300 I.7
15. Chatsworth R eser voir
Park ( 1 170 acr es now public) 2.6
16. Chatswor th Parkway 300 9.3
17. San Fer nando R eser-
voir Park (1154 acr es
now public) ------------ 7.7
18. San Fernando Park -
way --------.----------------- 300 4.9
19. Pacoima Wash Reser -
vation (partly f or
d rainage and perco-
lation) .. _ . ... _ _ 2.1
20. Pacoima Par k way 300 3.0
2 I. Tu~ unga Valley Park
(partly for drainage
and percolation) ------ 4· 5
22. Tujunga Wash ( part-
ly for dr ainage and
percolation) ------------1200-3500 4.9
23 . San Fernand o Mis-
sion Park way (par tly
f or dr ainage) L _ _ _ 15°-4°° 4· 7
24. Lower Tu junga
Park way (par tly exist-mg park s) 300- 1200 6.0
25. Mulholland Par kway
(now, a highway) 300-600 17.0
26 . Mulholland -Tu jungaParkway 200-600 3.0
27. Franklin R eser voir
R eser vations (322
acres m r eser voir) ---- 5.0
28. Beverly Hill s Park -way 200-300 4.0
29. Culver Park R eserva-tion _
30. Culver Connection --. 225
300 E
80 E
300 B
60 E
2700 B
500 E
400 C
250 E
150 B
10 E
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Recommend ations f or Par k ways and Par k s [ 101 ]
A p pr o x. Length Ar ea A p p1·o x. Lengt h A1"ea
W idt h ~1 Z ~1Z W idth 11t I 1t
in F eet M iles Acres C lass ilt F eet M iles Acr es C lass
31. Culver R ecreation 4-9· Signal Hill Park and
Field ---------------------- 0.2 160 F Park way ------------------ 6.0 4-00 B
F· Ballona Cr eek Park - 50. Long Beach R ecr ea-way ( part f or d r ain- tion Park (now pu b-age) ------------------------ 600-1000 5·9 4-30 D lie 4-00 acr es) 3.0 4-20 B
33· Del R ey Par k and 51. San Gabriel R ivcr Bir d R efuge ( part
Mouth (Par tly f or for dr ainage) (54-9 d rainage) -------------- 1000 2·3 300 Dacr es in Gun Clu bs) __ 2.0 1000 A
Baldwin Hil ls Park- S 2. Bolsa Ch ica Par k 34-·
R eser va t ion, Bird way ------------- 225-600 3.2 90 E
R ef uge and Beach35· R ancho Cienega R ec-
(Outside Countyreation Field 0·5 125 F
limits) (220036. In-town Par k way
acr es
Jl1 Bolsa Chica Gun(includ ing Exposition
Club) ---------------------- 5·5 5000 APar k 1 14- acr es) _ __ __ ___ 200-300 8.0 350 E
Inglewood Par k way 53· Lower San Gabr iel
37· River Par k way ( par t-(Plans for acquisition
now being completed Iy for d rainage) ___ _ _ _ _ _ looo 17.2 2300 D
for souther ly por - 54-· Lower Los ~ngeles
tion) --------------- 225-300 8.2 225 E R iver Parkway (par t-
38. Alondr a Par k ( now ly for dr ainage ) _ __ ____ 1000 6.8 830 D
pu blic )-------------------- 0·5 3 I5 B 55· SQuth Gate R ecr eation
39· Alondr a-Palos Ver d es Ar ea ------------------------ 1.7 670 F
Park way (P I a ns for 56. Lower R io Hond oacq uisition now being Par kway ( partly f or com pleted ) -----~-------- 225 8·3 250 E d r ainage) ____ _ __ ___ _ _ _ __ _ 1000 6.4- 800 D
4-0. Palos Ver d es CoastWhittier Nar r ows
R oad (now in part 57·R ecr eation Par k and
d edicated) -------------- 170-300 9.0 200 ADrainage Basin 6.0 F4-1. Alondr a-Del R ey 1250
Parkway _ _ · _ __ _ _ _ ____ ____ 4 _
200 9.1 250 E 58. Monte bello Park way 225-4-00 12·5 270 E4-2. Gar dena Valley Par k
Lincoln Park and "and Park way R eser- 59·
R ecr eati on ground svation (Plans for ac-
(4-6.0 acr es in exist-q uisition now being
ing Park) ____ 0·7 230 Fcompleted) 3·9 500 B
4-3· Nigger Slough R eser - 60. Lincoln-Ar r oyo Seco
vat ion (par t f or Par k way ---_ . _------------ 225 1.8 50 E
drainage) ---------------- 3.0 2000 B 61. :\rroyo Seco Par k and
4-4-. San Ped r o Park way _ 225 10.0 300 E Par kway, includ ing-
4-5· San Ped ro Hills R es- Sycamor e Gr ove, 15er vation ------------------ 2.1 800 B acr es; Victor y Park
4-6. Dom i nguez R anch No. I, 160 acr es; Vic-
Parkway _ __ _ ------------- 225 2.6 70 E tor y Par k No. 2, 187
+7· Los Cerr itos Par kway 3.0 150 1 < : acr es; Lower Ar r oyo,
4-8. Bix by R anch Par kway 70 acr es; Arroyo Seco,and R eservation (in- 90 acr es; Br ook sid e,
eluding 680 acr es 521 acr es; Oak gr ove
water and airpor t and water land s, 334-
land s of Long Beach) 225 5·3 780 1 < : acr es ---------------------1377 11.0 14-20 B
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[ 102 ] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
Approx. Length Ar ea A ppr o x. Length Al'ea
W idth ~n ~n W id th in ~n
in F eet M iles Acr es C lass ilt Feet M iles Acres C lass
62. Elysian Park (600 79· Glend ora-Azusa Par k -acr es now pu blic) , __ _ _ _ 3.0 1020 B way ------------------------ 4.2 15° E
63· Los Angeles River 80. Azusa Golf Ground sParkway ------------------ 250-500 2.8 5° E Site _ __ ___ __ ____ _ __ _ ____ _ _ _ ___
0·5 120 F
64· Gr if f ith Park and Ad - 81. San Ga briel Wash j acen t ar eas (includ - R eser vation ( par tlying Griffith Park, f or dr ainage and per -
3752 acr es; water colation) _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ __ __ __ _ _ _ 7.2 5°00 C1and s, 443 acr es; 82. Up per San Gabrielwater lan ds, 43 R iver Park way ( part-acr es; water land s,
1y f or dr ainage) _ __ _ __ 100O-120O 5·5 75° D24acres ;water
83· San Gabriel River land s, 42 acr es; Play-
ground, 20 acres; total Golf Ground s __ _ _ _ _ ____ 0·5 360 F
4324 acr es _ _ ___ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ 4·0 433° B 84· Upper Rio Hondo
65· Upper Los Angeles Par kway (partly for
River Park way (also d rainage) _ __ _ _ __ _ ____ __ _ _ 1000 3.2 5°0 D
includes dr ainage 85· Eaton Wash Park waychannel ) ------------------22 5 - I5°° 4.0 5°0 E (partly for drainage) 300-400 6.6 360 D
66. Tur n bull Ridge Park - 86. Monrovia-Mt. Oliv.et
way ------------------------ 225-400 5·3 210 E Park way ------------------ 1.7 19° E
67· West Pu en te Hills 87· Monr ovia Par kway ___ _ 2.1 80 EParkway and R eser- 88. Monrovia Golf vation ---------------------- 12·9 17°° B Ground s Site _ __ __ _____ __ 0·5 25° F
68. La Habra Connection 3°0 1.5 50 E89· Santa Anita Canyon
69· East Puente Hills Park and Par kway __ __ 1.5 220 BPark way and R eser-
Sierra Madre Park -vation 620 B
90.-------- _ ._ ----------- 4·9 (includ ing
70. Pomona Basin R eser- way -70
acr es of pu blic water vation ---------------------- 3.0 2400 B
land s) 3.8 FPomona Parkway E
---------------------- 3°0 14°71. ---- 225 1.3 35Puddingstone R eser -
91. Sierra Madre Golf 72.
Ground s Site _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ Fvoi r Park (5°0 0.2 25°acr esnow 111 flood control 92. Eaton Canyon Wash
basin) ---------------------- 2.8 17°° B R eser vation (partly
73· Ganesha Parkway _ _ _ _ 4.2 9° E f or d rainage and per-
74· La Verne Parkway _ _ _ _ 225 1.9 50 E colation) ___ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ __ _ 2.8 5°0 C
75· San Antonio Cone 93· Mt. Ru bio Par kway _ _ 3°° 1.7 7° E
R eser vation (partly94· Altad ena Parkway' _ _ _ _ 225 1.9 5° E
for drainage and per -95· Arroyo Seco Canyon
colation) _ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ ____ _ _ 1.7 200 CPark way to Angeles
76. Live Oak Par k and Mountain Road _ ____ _ __ 3°0 3.0 100 EParkway ------------------ 3.8 5°0 B
San Dimas Cone 96. La Canad a Parkway _ _ 3°° 1.7 85 E77·
R eser vation (par tly 97· Verd ugo Creek - Tu-
dr ainage and perco- j unga Park way __ _ _ __ __ 3°0 5.0 3°0 E
lation) -------------------- 2. I 600 C 98. Whiting's Wood s and
78. Glendora-S a n D imas Brand Park R eser va-
Park and Park way tion (par k now 616
(96 acres now In acres) ---------------------- 4.0 110O F
parks) ---------------------- 3·4 165 E 99· Glendale Park way __ __ 225 2.0 100 E
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DETAILED RECOMMENDATIO NS
These areas, number ed geographically and
not in their order of r elative ur gency or im-
portance, are d escr ibed br iefly below accor d ingto the number s assigned them.
1. V enice and Sant a Monica Shore
Par k wa y.
Much of the shore at Venice and a part of
that at Santa Monica is now owned by the pub-
lic to a line just above extreme high-tid e line
in a way to pr ovid e consid er able space f or bath-
ing and beach recr eation, but not wide enough
to pr ovid e for long-shor e pleasur e travel. The
land under water is pu blicly owned , and can be
d evelo ped when the need becomes sufficientlyur gent. If gr oins or und er water longitudinal
break waters are built, the upland can be wid -
ened seawar d onto the shallow areas f ar
enough to provid e some s pace at least for pleas-
ure travel parallel to the shor e along the fr onts
of private pro perty. A possible scheme is shown
on Plate NO.3 I. Such a plan would have the,
o b jectiona ble f eature, however, of intr od ucing
a busy thor oughfare between user s of the beach
and user s of adjacent buildings. Another possi-
ble plan that would involve heavy cost but that
may in time be justified as alread y suggested
under beaches (Cha pters I and V) would be to
extend a mole out to sea at the Del R ey
marshes and to car r y it along two to f our thou-
sand f eet outsid e the bathing beaches par allel
to the shore, wher e the water is now 25 t o 40
feet d eep, to meet the shor e again a bove the
pr ivate holdings of Santa Monica. Such a plan
if developed upon a gener ous scale, would en-
close a lar ge pleasur e harbor, would provid e
r elatively still water f or bathing, would carr y
thr ough travel ar ound outsid e the throngs of
beach users and would provide a consid erable
parking sPr ce for autos as well, out of the way
of the beach cr owd s. Brid ges in the mole could
be mad e to permit fr ee flow of tides and aff ord
access to small pleasur e boats. An outer harbor
has been suggested above the pleasure bay that
would care f or sailboats and other cr aft too
large to pass und er the br idges. As a featur e in
the gener al long-shor e tr avel, such a mole
would also have great value.
2. Lower l \ ![alibu Coast Par kway.
From Santa Monica westward to Dume
Canyon, the State has acq uir ed a r ight of way
near the shor e and has o pened a thoroughf ar e
that is d estined to be a busy one, especially on
holid ays and Sundays. This thor oughfare, d e-
signed to carr y a lar ge volume of traffic, n~w
has an 80 f oot right of way for most of its
length. It is designed f or a single roadway, in
a r elatively nar r ow belt of lowland . It extend s
to pu blicly owned tideland s on the seaward
side in only a few places; ther e ar e almost no
side road s above it into which parking of car s
or congestion of traffic can be diverted , and
there is little chance for such r oads or areas to
be d evelo ped because of the clif f s a bove the
road f or much of its length.
Most of the pleasure tr avel that will follow
this route will be attr acted by the cool sea
breezes, the hope of enjoying sea views and the
d esir e to tr avel along the coast or to stop at the
beaches. Mor e than this 80 f eet of wid th will
soon be need ed, and should be pr ovid ed.
Wher e the highway is near the shore, f ew if any buildings should be per mitted to inter f ere
with the enjoyment of this r oute. Wher e the
highway is f arther back , pr ivate pro per ty can
be lef t to develop; but the right of way should
be wide enough to permit widening the road s
ver y materially in the future, or possi bly cr e-
ating two or three se par ate roads f or division
of traffic either by classes or in one-way road s.
Alr ead y the cr eation of the r oadway has led
to much activity in use of the ad jacent land s
and to lar ge increase in land values, and soon
this d evelo pment will create a serious obstacle
to any possibility for wid ening. A right of way
200 f eet or more in width would pr otect the
public traffic and pleasure need s f or all time;
and this, in connection with the acq uisition of
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PLATE 49. Air plane view of Dume Canyon and DUl1le Point, showing in dJsh the R ancho line and in
solid line the Jr eas includ ing the beach, the mesa near the shor e, the hill slo pes and the peak suited
for d evelopment of a fine oceansid e park , and showing United States land in R amir ez Canyon that
should be includ ed . (Phot o by F ail·child .)
such fr ontage as may be need ed for beach uses,
should be accomplished now before f ur ther in-
cr ease in d evelopments is permitted. The
County now owns a number of r emnants of roadway along parts of this route that might
well be exchanged f or ad ditional width in the
main shore road.
3. U pper /1 ;1alibtt C oast Parkway.
A bove Dume Canyon, still within the Coun-
ty limits but mor e remote f rom the Metropoli-tan District of Los Angeles, the highway f ol-
lows the coast f or a part of the way, then r uns
f ar ther inland on the coastal mesa. In this re-
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Recommend at ions f or Park ways and Par k s
gion also a widening of the right of way should
be made to 200 feet or more, or the route
should be d oubled f or the same r easons as f or
Section 2, and in this section St';l-teaid may be
availa ble both for that part lying within theCounty and f or the par t f ollowing the shor e in
Ventura County.
4. Dume Canyon Park .
Nor thwest of Point Dume at Zuma Beach
there is a f ine shor e, a bout three miles of sand y
beach, with the highway just above the storm
tid e-line, and a bove this beach the coastal mesa
wid ens out enough to aff or d -space f or a fine
water -front park having the ad vantages of the
cool ocean-f ront climate. It is at a reasonable
d istance f rom the city f or a lar ge terminal res-
er vation; it contains beautiful trees, canyons,
and gentle slo pes, wher e park and recr eation
f eatures in gr eat variety can be d evelo ped; and
back of this mesa the hills rise to prominent
points off ering reasonable opportunity f or hill
clim bing and more vigor ous exercises, with fine
scener y.
The ar ea as a whole is surr ounded by natural
boundaries that should be recognized, and on
the east the United States now has a r eserva-
tion und er lighthouse contr ol in Ramir ez Can-
yon that should also be acq uir ed, and, subject
to Government requir ements, be mad e a part
of the reser vation.
To acq uir e the be~ch and mesa land will
d oubtless pr ove costly, but the hills and moun-
tain land s comprising possibly 2/3 of the total
area ar e of limited value. The entire pr oject,
pro perly develo ped , would be of enormous
value to great numbers of pleasur e-seeking,
auto-driving peo ple who will come fr om the
cities and all the inland r egions, as well as to
visitors from af ar . Once acquired, the land
may well be held f or the pr esent lar gely as a
r eservation o pen to the public. Buildings can
be added, conveniences developed and various
ty pes of usage encouraged by improvements,
as the demand may warr ant.
5. Dume Can yon Park way and Cli ffs.
From the pro posed par k above d escr ibed
there should be a cross road leading inland.
This should climb the hills a bove D ume Can-yon and should be k e pt attr active by the pr es-
er vation of the canyon slopes below and the
hill slo pes above. In the small basin at the up-
per end of Dume Canyon, subdivision has
started. The valley is so attr active that it would
be d esir a ble to preserve this basin also, but that
may not pr ove f easible. The lower end should
be 7,000 feet or mor e in width to inchid e all of
Dume Canyon, but at the head of the canyon
this can be reduced to 300 or 400 f eet, and
f rom ther e to Triunf o Canyon the r oad should
d r o p down Sier ra Canyon in a reservation that
need not be over 300 to 400 feet wide in places, but up to I,OOO f eet in others. The land should
be acquired now bef or e f urther impr ovements
are started . The bound aries should pr eferably
f ollow either rid ge lines or be high enough to
protect views fr om pr o posed road s, in which
case they can well be placed on lines wher e
boundary r oad s may eventually be developed.
Dume Canyon is nar row and very r ugged,
with high cliff s especially on the east. Ther e
are huge bould ers in the bottom of the canyon,
with sycamor es in the lower r eaches and fine
oak s in the upper end. La Sierr a Canyon ismore lik e a br oad basin, less picturesq ue and
not so inter esting, but is well clothed with
shrub gr owth and has ample r oom in which to
construct a satisf actory park way, although
ther e is alread y some inex pensive develo p-
ment along the route.
6. Russell Valle y Par k.
In the northerly cor ner of the west end of
the County, the head of Russell Valley with
r olling plains and o pen areas and with fine oak s
offer s a place wher e an inland rural park r eser-
vation of large pr o portions may well be set
aside, a space wher e golf, hor seback riding,
ball field s, picnics and camping can be encour-
aged with ample o pen surr oundings. The
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southeasterly boundar y should follow the hills
500 or 600 feet higher south of Triunf o Can-
yon to includ e in all a bout 1,400 acres between
the County line, Ventura Boulevard, the old
Rancho El Conejo bound ar y and the slopes
above Triunfo Canyon.
7. T r iunf o C anyon Par k wa y and Cli ff s.
From Russell Park and Sierra Canyon east-
ward down Triunfo Canyon to Malibu Cr eek
Canyon ther e is chance for a parkway of r e-
markable scenic interest and beauty. The
boundaries should include the bottom of the
valley and so far as possible the cliffs and sid e
slopes as high as can be seen from a satisfactory
road line. A width of 400 feet to 2,500 f eet
should be r eser ved west of Sierra Canyon,
while 250 to 300 f eet may suffice in places eastfrom ther e to Malibu Lake. Around the lake
both shores should be protected, with space f or
a par k r oadway along the northerly sid e, and
possibly a second local road above that. Fr om
the lak e eastward to Las Vir genes Canyon
R oad the r eservation should includ e the nar -
row valley and some of the Goat Butte land s
on the south. The buttes have almost no value
for develo pment but are extremely bold and
picturesque and should be protected against
despoliation.
From there to Cold Creek is a charming bitof pastoral scenery and agricultural develop-
ment bordering the existing roads. Land that
has limited cabin value, but great park value,
should have the boundaries far enough back to
preserve the scener y and some of the adjacentcanyons as well.
The basin at the head of Malibu Canyon of-
fers a fine place for picnics and camping, and
there also a wid ening of the reservation should
be made. From there a reservation d own Mal-
ibu Canyon might well be made eventually,
and that too would make an interesting r eser-
vation, mor e picturesque than Topanga Can-
yon, but this has not been included. No r oad
should ever be built in the bottom of that can-
yon and a parkway up on the slopes would be
very d ifficult and ver y costly to construct.
'Where the parkway will pass through r el-
atively open ar eas it may be of limited width,
but the bound ar ies should be so chosen that
border roads can be developed. In the gor ges
the entire bottom and slopes should be ac-
quired. In some of the side valleys it is possible
that groups of coast r edwoods can be esta b-
lished and many existing trees can be pre-
served, with ample s pace for recreation and
camping and possibly f or golf and other sportsas well.
8. Saddle Peak Par llwa y and
Reser vation.
The top of Saddle Peak is the highest point
in the front r ow of hills; it is a fine outlook point and is being consid er ed as a possible site
for an o bser vator y. Alr ead y a r oad has been
built up to the peak f rom the e ast, and even
though ver y d ifficult to construct, this road
should be extended westwar d towar d Triunf o
Canyon in a strip of sufficient width to protect
the scener y and to provid e a few places at
least for automobiles to sto p. A road has been
surveyed by the County fr om Cold Cr eek at
the head of Malibu Canyon to Coal Cr eek on
the coast highway to pr ovid e a local outlet.
This road can be f ollowed fr om Cold Cr eek up
the hill to the point wher e it begins to descend
and can be continued from there to the Peak
on a suitable line.
Following the road recently constructed
from the Peak to the Tuna Canyon Road the
parkway should turn north at the point wher e
that road begins to d escend steeply, and fr om
there at about elevation 1,250 a new r oute on
easier grades and a bove the local subdivisions
should drop d own to To panga Canyon to en-
ter just above To panga Post Office.
9. T o panga-Mulholland Par k way.
From Topanga Canyon and the pr o posed
Saddle Peak route eastward there is now no
dir ect route towar ds the city, and Mulholland
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PLATE 50. R ugged and picturesq ue cliff s along Lower Topanga Canyon, where land has little value
f or houses and should be pr eserved f or scener y. (P hot o by St agg.)
Highway itself does not command any fine
views toward the ocean. Ther efor e, from a
point a bout 2,500 feet above Topanga Post
Office in Old Topanga Canyon a new route is
proposed to bridge over the Topanga Canyon
Road and to climb gradually to the ridges and
then f ollow the cr est northeastward to Mul-
holland Highway. Throughout a considerable
portion of its length wher e the side slopes are
not too rugged and steep, this reservation
should be wide enough to allow for develop-
ment eventually of border roads as well as the
central way, and in all the higher portions, at
least, the border s should be f ar enough fr om
the roadway to protect views and to preserve an
uninterrupted open for eground.
The route is f or the most part through rug-
ged mountain countr y, but near the westerly
end it passes the Trippet Ranch on rolling
hills. The mountains are covered with shrubby
growth and south of the Trippet R anch ther e
ar e fine live oak s.
10. Lower Topanga C anyon and Cli ffs.
Extending back from the Coast Highway
through an extremely rugged canyon and
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gorge the lower Topanga Canyon Road is now
one of the notable scenic features of the region.
Much of the route is still unspoiled, although
economic pressure on landowner s to realize on
the adjacent land s, and desire on the part of
others to stop amid st such surroundings is lead -ing to a kind of development that bid s f air to
destroy much of the character that now forms
the chief attraction to the canyon. Much of the
land along the lower canyon is unsuited to resi-
dential uses, is needed for possible r oadway
improvemel1.ts, paths and local stopping places,
and has some value for roadside recreation in
addition to its large value purely for scenic
purposes.The slopes a bove the road on both sid es
should be acquired up to the practical limits of
views, and should be kept undefiled. The bot-tom of the canyon also should be acquired to
be kept for general recreation, relatively free
from buildings throughout most of the dis-
tance, including all of the lowland at and near
the mouth of the canyon, where a number of
small cottages now occupy land that would
otherwise have great value for the gathering
of ver y lar ge number s of pleasur e seeker s
around camp fires and stoves and in pleasant
groves, with a f ew general buildings capa ble
of caring for ver y large numbers of people.
11. Old Topanga and Dry Canyon
Parkway and Cliffs.
. Above Topanga Post Office a new road is
now being completed to Calabasas through old
Topanga Canyon and Dry Canyon. This r oad
passes through some ver y attractive small
basins having good tr ees and local o pen spaces.
Cabins are being s pr ead over these areas, and
the public is being confined more and more to
the limits o f the r oadway. These ar eas have
ver y great recreational value for picnics and
general enjoyment and the entire canyon bot-
tom with s ome of the side slopes s be
publicly owned. Near the divid
some ver y interesting rocks an
little commer cial value, that should be in-
cluded in the pr o posed reser vation.
Along the r oute where the roadway neces-
sarily occupies one side of the canyon the land
above the r oad need be little more than 100
feet wide from the center of the road, but onthe other side the bottom of the canyon and
the slopes for some distance above form a par t
of the scenery and on that side the reser vation
should be from 200 feet or 300 feet wide to
I,200 feet or mor e in places.
12. Calabasas Par kway.
From Ventur a Boulevard northward, in ex-
tension of the Topanga Parkway, a r oute is
proposed through o pen land and a few walnut
and fruit orchard s. This should be a 300-f oot
three-road parkway, with live oak s, pe pper sand simple dignified planting.
13. E scor pion Par k.
At the extreme wester n end of the San Fer -
nando Valley the old R ancho Escorpion with
grazing land and a f ew scattered trees on r oll-
ing hills offer s a chance for an enlar gement in
the park way much lik e an English country
park, with possible s pace for golf and other
forms of open land recreation, near to but in
addition to the pr o posed r eservation at Chats-
worth Reser voir.
14. Escorpion Par kway .
Like the Cala basas r oute this section also can
well be made a simple three-road way, 300
feet or so in width, partly through citr us
groves.
15. Chatswor th Reservoir Par k.
At the Chatsworth Reservoir there is now a
r eser vation of I, I 70 acres of water land s, and
around this area there are a number of hills
and slopes that should be added to the reserva-
tion with the d efinite purpose of using the
areas f 'or recreational purposes, insof ar as that
will not interfere with reservoir requirements.
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PLATE 51. Upper San Fernando Valley with rock s of Chatsworth in the distance, along the base of
which the pro posed Chatsworth park way should extend . (Pho t o by F iss.)
The existence of a large reser vation will mak e
possible d evelo pment of park -lik e char acter ,
and the presence of water will ad d char m to
the par k scener y even though the bod y of
water itself cannot be used f or recreation.
The bound aries should be selected on r ea-
sonable lines f or bound ar y str eets, and it is
suggested that on the nor thwest the bound ary
should extend into Ventur a County. Thenorther ly bound ar y should extend to Oak -
wood Cemeter y.
The ar ea proposed should be tr eated as a
lar ge reser vation, to be k e pt undefiled and to
be planted in places, and, as d emand increases,
to be ad a pted to use f or var ious a ppropriate
k ind s of r ecreation.
16. Chat sworth Parkway.
Following north and east ar ound the head
of the San Fer nand o Valley from the Chats-
worth R eser voir to the San Fernand o Reser -voir a r oute is pro posed , to be about 300 f eet
wide and 9 miles long, to be tr eated most of the
way with thr ee road s and planting, with en-
largements f or recreation and views at the
mouth of Limekiln Canyon, at Mission Can-
yon, and on the mesa just west of San Fernand o
R eservoir Park. At the easterly end near the
San Fernand o R eser voir, the route enters Bull
Canyon, ther e to cr oss the canyon and f ollow
the easterly sid e nor thward through pastur e
land, leaving houses and citrus groves und is-
tur bed in the wester ly portion, and mak ing theexisting road along the westerly ed ge of the
bar r anca the park boundar y.
17. S an F ernand o Rese1'voir Par k.
San Fernando R eser voir is in a reser vation
of 1,154 acr es, and lik e the Chatswor th R eser-
voir this ar ea aff ords a nucleus f or a large r es-
er vation. The wester ly bound ar y should in-
clude the hills to the small valley north f r om
Bull Cr eek, with a possible r oad fr om there to
the San Fer nand o R oad. The northerly boun-
d ary should follow the latter ; the easter ly bound ary should f ollow a satisf actor y line f or
a border r oad, and the southerly line should
f ollow the bottom of the hills, where a r oad
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[ I IO ] PARK S, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGIO N
On the east the bound ar y may well follow
ranch lines and the city boundar y. With the
existence of the new d am above this wash, the
d anger of violent flood s is gr eatly reduced and
the area, while occasionally used f or per cola-
tion, can be used at other times for r ecr eationand can be planted to trees, in part at least, to
make an attr active open space.
PLATE 52. S;n Fer nando Reservoir and surround -
ing hills that should be included in a reser vation
, to be mad e attr active.
can be built near the edge of existing cultiva-
tion and should provide for an outlet toward the San Fernand o Mission. The R eser vation
should be acq uired and planted in part and
held for gradual d evelo pment as r ecommend -
ed for Chatsworth R eser voir .
18 . San F ernand o Par k way.
From the reservoir north and east ar ound
the back of San Fernand o and along the bord er
of the Olive View Sanatorium to Pacoima
Wash a parkway f ive miles long and 300 f eet
wide, with space f or three roads and planting,
is proposed. This r oute, chiefly through r ela-tively flat land, can be in part formally tr eated
with rows of lar ge growing trees.
19. Pacoima Wash Reser vat ion.
Extending f rom the forest boundar y on the
north to Mulholland Street on the south, the
Pacoima Wash should be reserved to ser ve as
a drainage channel ar id percolation basin, and
as ail inter esting park feature as well. The
bound ar y on the west of the souther ly por-
tion should follow the top of the stee p bank of
the wash far enough back to allow f or a bord er r oad in addition to a park drive. Farther north
it should be k e pt far enough west to allow f or
a border road only.
20. Pacoima Par k wa y.
From the Pacoima Wash eastward to the
Tujunga Valley a route is proposed ar ound the
base of the mountain and down the little Tu-
junga Wash. The northerly boundar y should
extend to the Edison Power Line above Mul-
holland Street to avoid leaving a strip of waste
land. From Mulholland Street east a 30o-f oot
strip is pr o posed, suitable for a three-r oad
way, to Kagel Canyon. The parkway will con-
nect with the road to the Dexter Canyon Par k
now being d evelo ped by the County. At Little
Tu junga Wash the par k way should be wid en-
ed to includ e much of the wash and possi bly to
extend into the forest, although this canyon
has relatively little park value. The wash
could ser ve in part at least f or flood contr ol and
percoiation.
21. Tujunga V alle y Par k.
Tuj1 jnga Valley, three-quarters of a mile
wide where the highway crosses, and nearly
five miles long from the Edison Power Line
at the westerly end to the forest boundaries on
the east, is a flat mostly of gravel and bould ers
with scattering bushes and a few trees. It is now
subject to occasional violent flood s, but will be
less so when the pro posed dams in Tujunga
Canyon shall have been constructed.
In addition to use f or flood control and per-
colation, this ar ea can be made useful for cer-
tain k ind s of recreation and should be d evel-
o ped as a simple o pen land scape r eser vation.The boundar ies along the north should f ollow
along or near the highway in the centr al por -
tion, leaving considera ble valuable acreage be-
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PLATE 54-. Lar ge ar ea in Tu j unga Wash that is su bj ect to occasional flooding and j, lik ely to be mad e
hid eous by costly "d evelopments" if not acguir ed as an inter esting and useful pu blic open s pace.
(Phot o by F iss.)
plicated by the existence of enormous gravel
plants that oper ate and should continue to o p-
er ate in the valley, and also by the need f or
d efinite flood control channels that are lik ely
to be ver y unattractive unless designed on a
broad general scheme for a double service of
both park and protective purposes. Already
some levees have been constructed and others
doubtless must be put in to confine flood
water s, but if these are kept far enough apart
to allow for shallow water, the possibility of
d evelo ping the area f or added park values will
be far gr eater than with narrow, d eep channels.
Along this route the question of crossing
railroad s and busy highw?-ys will doubtless
lead in time to the consideration of grade sep-
arations and probably will mean that the park drive must go over as the other routes are al-
r ead y developed down close to flood levels,
leaving little chance f or going und er them.
23. S an F er nand o Mission Par k ' 1vay.
From the Pacoima Wash near the San Fer -
nando Mission to the Tujunga Wash, plans ar e being develo ped for a drainage channel to pr o-
tect Van N uys. This channel par allels but does
not follow the two gr eat power lines and the
proposed Whitnall Highway. A parkway
should f ollow that channel fr om San Fer -
nand o R eser voir past the Mission to connect
with the Tujunga Wash, nearly 5 miles away.
At the southerly end Payton Avenue can be
made the easter ly boundar y. The d rainage
channel, to be 200 feet, should have an add i-
tional 250 feet for park roads or even more if
the channel can be widened and flattened togive it a more park -like character and bord er
road s. Nor therly fr om Pacoima Wash the park
r oad can f ollow the westerly sid e of the power '
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_ PI. ATE 55. San Fer nand o Mission, a point of inter est
on pro posed 1ine of p ar kway.
line and par allel to the vVhitnall Highway,
where an additional width of ISO f eet should
suffice.At the Mission the boundaries should be
wid ened out to provid e for pr o per str eet in-
ter sections and f or pr o per r elation to the Mis-
sion itself .
In the development of the plan space should
be available for border s of eucaly ptus tr ees
with alder s and other deciduous planting along
the channel, such as poplars, sycamores and
more brilliant autumn trees, including sour
gums and sweet gums. Possibly palms and
other semi-tropical plants should be used also.
24. LO'1ver Tujunga Par k wa y.
Passing Van N uys the drainage channel fol-
lows the nearest wash to the eastward, but will
occupy a r elatively narr ow and deep channel,
while in the wash next farther east there are
now several parks and there are other stretches
of the old wash that could be acquired. There-
for e t he best location for the next six miles
southward follows that wash and the park s al-
read y esta blished.
A width of 300 feet or 400 feet up to 1,200
feet or 1,400 feet should be acquired to allowample space for local recreation and park re-
quir ements in addition to pleasure tr avel. Near
the Los Angeles River, south of Second Str eet
and east of Tujunga Avenue, the parkway
should turn south to the Los Angeles River
and to Ventura Boulevard.
25. Mulholland Par k ' 7.vay.
From Cala basas and the To panga Canyon
road s eastward to Franklin Canyon, Mulhol-
land Highway should be made a part of the
main park system. From ther e eastward to
Griffith Park the highway becomes more of
an urban highway and pr o ba bly should be
consid ered as such, es pecially as a park way is
needed from the Franklin Reservoir to the
Los Angeles River and to the Tujunga Wash
on the north and another to connect with Bev-
erly Hills and the cities beyond on the south.
The C)uestion has been raised as to vacating
portions of the 200 foot right of way d eeded for the Mulholland Highway, since the extr a
width is not being used, and is ;10t part of any
existing plan f or use. If the highway is to be
mad e a part of the park system, however , a
definite plan should be made for ample park -
way d evelopment with proper protection of
fine views, s pace f or planting and impr ove-
ments, allowance f or widening and impr oving
the roadways, and for double r oadways in
places and with pr o per pr ovision for bord er
r oad s wher e feasible and f or other connec-
tions to adjacent lands. Such plans may per mita band oning or exchanging certain ar eas, but
in general should pr ovide rather for acq uiring
more land f or public use and enjoyment, and
land enough so that satisf actor y r oad s f or ac-
cess can be d eveloped to serve the adjacent r e-
maining private land s.
From Calabasas to the mountains, the high-
way should be made 300 f eet wid e with pr ovi-
sion f or border r oad s and central road and
ample s pace f or planting. To be of really gr eat
park value the lines of roads should be some-
what modified; in places the roadways can bed oubled to follow both sid es of small summits
and there the summits should be acquir ed also.
So much has been d one now that it would be
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unf ortunate not to car r y the work far ther to a
satisf actory completion. Where the proposed
route from Topanga Post Office joins the high-
way a r elatively large summit exists that will
be sur rounded if the junction .is mad e in both
d irections, and this might also be add ed to ther eser vation.
26 . Mulholland-T ujunga Par k way.
Fr om Mulholland Highway at Franklin
R eser voir d own to the Los Angeles River and
the pr o posed Tujunga Park way a f airly direct
r oute for compar atively easy construction
would dr op d own thr ough the corner of the
Hollywood Countr y Club land s to the str aight
portion of Laurel Canyon Road, then r ise
slightly towar d the east to pass around the
south and east sid es of the subdivid ed area tomeet the Tujunga Parkway just west of Uni-
versal City. This r oute should be 200 f eet to
600 f eet in width, wid e enough to per mit
pro per development of a central road way with
one or two bor der road s and with s pace for
tr ees and planting, and with contr ol over the
local and distant views.
27. F r ank lin Reservoir Reservations.
Ther e are now two water land r eser vations
in Fr ank lin Canyon containing 322 acr es and
there is a r oad up t hr ough the canyon toward
Mulholland Highway. The r eservoirs f orm
objects of inter est. The land r eser ved provides
d ef inite open space that can be made attractive,
and off er s a possi ble r oute for a par kway f or
par t of the distance through the canyon. Fr om
the to p of the canyon down to a point below the
lower reser voir, the park d rive should f ollow
the canyon below. the reservoir s, but back of
most of the d evelopment of Beverly Hills the
r oad should turn westward acr oss the f oothills
and d own Pea vine Canyon to the mouth of
Bened ict Canyon.
28 . Bever l y H ills Par k way.
Four miles fr om Benedict Canyon to the
Hillcr est Countr y Club, crossing the lower end
of Benedict Canyon, the route should f ollow
the westerly ed ge of the canyon floor south-
ward along the easter ly edge of the Los An-
geles Countr y Club to cr oss Wilshir e and Santa
Monica Boulevard s at the Beverly Hills west
city line, continuing along the easterly lineof the Westwood Public Golf Cour se to cross
Pico Boulevar d and cut t hrough the nor th-
east corner of Hillcr est Countr y Club and
eastward along the old ranch line to the vacant
hills beyond . The thr ee countr y clubs f ollow-
ing most of the r oute are now inter esting and
proba bly will remain so for some time to come.
As a connecting link through costly land s the
reservation may be mad e relatively nar row.
Along the golf courses ther e will be no need
f or a border r oad on that side and a two-road
way may pr ove sufficient with an understand -
ing that should the golf clubs be subdivid ed, a
service road and park strip is to be add ed by
them at that time. In crossing Bever ly Boule-
vard, the route f ollows that road f or 1,000 feet
and a s pecial plan f or cr ossing and for parallel
road s will be need ed and eventually grad e sep-
ar ations there and at Wilshire, Santa Monica
and Pico Boulevar d s res pectively may also be
requir ed. The taking of land now should be
sufficient to per mit such changes within the
park land s when req uired.
29. Culve1' Par k Reservat ion.East of Hillcr est Countr y Clu b on the va-
cant hills of the Arnaz tract, IS O acres of land
along the pr oposed r oute is now available and
is recommend ed f or a local and gener al par k .
This area may be reduced somewhat if the
area f ar ther east is acquir ed as r ecommend ed
for a large recr eation center . Bound ar ies sug-
gested are, on the north the old ranch line and
existing str eets, on the east existing streets, on
the south and west arbitrar y lines to enclose an
ar ea of about IS O acr es.
30. Culver Connection.
From the Arnaz tr act to La Cienega Boule-
vard , a little over a mile, there is now com par a-
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PLATE 56. Back Bay tid al mar shes in Boston conver ted into an attr actil-e water sid e p:lr k, such as m:lY
be possible for the Del R ey m:lr shes.
tively vacant land between Cadillac and David
Avenues that should be acq uir ed, and those
street lines should be extended eastward to
ser ve as bor d er r oads f or a parkway.
31. Culver Recreat ion F ield.
East of La Cienega Boulevard and north of
the Pacific Electric R ailway there is a tri-
angular tract of 165 acr es or so, that is still va-
cant, that would ser ve as a fine location f or a
lar ge r egional athletic field and r ecreation cen-
ter . It is low and subject to occasional f looding
and is not ideal f or building uses, but could be
used f or play. It is within a mile and a half of
the city car lines, and is on the Pacific Electr ic.
32. Ballona C1' eek Par k way.Fr om Culver City to the sea the channel of
Ballona Creek runs on a ver y flat gradient.
This cr eek will receive a very lar ge volume of
water in occasional stor ms, from paved streets
and roof s of the urban regions a bove it. The
volume of water it may be called on to carr y is
lik ely to be much larger at times than is now
possible in existing channels and brid ges. Thenew brid ge at Culver City has an o pening 80
f eet wid e by 20 f eet high. The older brid ges
ar e smaller and the channel as defined has less
ca pacity. If the city is allowed to gr ow ar ound
the channel and then wid ening proves neces-
sar y, the economic loss to the community will
be ver y gr eat. It is possible that a channel 10or
12 feet dee p and three or f our hundr ed f eet
wide may be need ed eventually, especially in
the lower reaches of the cr eek . Such a channel
if mer ely walled in is lik ely to become a ver y
ugly featur e in the district, standing empty and
dr y most of the year, a r ece ptacle f or pa persand rubbish. The channel can better be devel-
o ped as part of a parkway. The bottom can
have pools and basins in places and a r elatively
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narr ow channel f or a small r un-off with the r e-
maining floor on a slightly higher level to be
cover ed with low growth and occasional tr ees.
In a br oad, low channel it would be possi ble, as
suggested for the hujunga Wash, to have a
par k driveway within the channel, a bove allordinary floods, but subject to occasional flood -
ing, with bord er str eets on still higher levels to
aff ord access to adjacent pro perties. The big
pr oblem today is to acq uire a wid e r ight of way
600 feet 1,000 f eet wid e while much of the
land is still o pen, and to d eter mine on ultimate
lines and gr ad es for bord er roads wher e private
pr operty will certainly be saf e from flooding.
33. Del Re y Park and Bird Re f uge.
At the mouth of Ballona Creek at Del R ey,
near Venice, ther e is a lar ge ar ea of mar sh land and low upland subject to occasional flooding
and close to sea level. This ar ea might be mad e
usa ble in part for housing by filling, es pecially
if other portions are dred ged to f orm lak es or
canals and the material is thus o btained near -
by. Such wor k neces!,arily is costly and the r e-
sult would have no particular ad vantages over
equal areas on the near by upland s. The
mar shes ar e now f req uented by swarms of
shor e bird s, es pecially in rough weather, and
549 acres of the area is owned by t wo gunclu bs. The entir e area has alr ead y been con-
sider ed f or a boating harbor , lagoons and a sea-
sid e park. Any plan for a pleasure harbor at
Venice and f or attr acting additional throngs to
the seashor e will need a large inland area f or
aU,to park ing, f amily picnics, shallow water f or
small boats, and other f or ms of recreation, and
under a general plan for complete d evelo p-
ment this mar sh ar ea can be made of gr eat r ec-
r eational value asid e from but in connection
with the beaches, and some s pace can still be r e-
ser ved as a bird r efuge.
The entire ar ea should be acquir ed f or such
pur poses. The bound ar ies should include near -ly all the land s between the two railway lines
and , on the west, the rid ge and the lagoon
near the sea. with one or two broad connections
across the occupied sand y strip next t o the sea-
shor e, and with s pace enough to allow f or a
lar ge outlet from Ballona Creek to the still
water s of the proposed pleasure harbor.
34. Baldwin Hills Par k way.From Ballona Creek at Culver City east-
war d aJong the north f ace of the Baldwin Hills
a r oute is planned on a line high enough to
command views over the city and to the San
Ga briel and San Bernar d ino Mountains. This
strip should be wid e enough f or a good border
road a bove the park d r ive to ser ve the u plands
and f or another bord er r oadway f ar enough
below the drive to k eep buildings fr om en-
cr oaching on the views, and to allow space for
planting as well. The width should var y from
225 f eet to 600 f eet at the steeper places. Fromthe northeast corner of the hills a route to the
heart of the city is suggested to cross Mesa
Drive and the o pen land s beyond . Around the
east sid e of the hills the park way should con-
tinue southwar d to tak e all land between two
existing bord er streets, ~nd the line should r un
parallel to and one to two block s west of Mesa
Drive to connect with the Inglewood Parkway.
This portion of the route will r un thr ough a
built-up section and a number of houses will
have to be r emoved. The houses are of good
quality, rather a bove the aver age, but will be
less costly than any plan to wid en Mesa Driveto a suitable widt.~, even if that were f easi ble.
35. Rancho Cienega Recreat ion F ield .
East of Mesa Drive and south of the Pacific
Electric R ailway there is now a large area of
vacant low-lying flat land that would make an
id eal site for a regional athletic f ield. This area
of 125 acres should extend fr om the line of
Exposition Boulevard south to the location f or
the In-town Parkway (No. 36) and f rom near
Mesa Drive eastwar d acr oss the o pen lands.
36. I n-t own Par k 7vay.
Fr om the Baldwin Hills and the pr oposed
routes to Ballona Creek and to Palos Verdes,
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several plans have been considered for a con-
nection toward the center of the city or along
the westerly side to Hollywood and Griffith
Park or to Silver Lake and Elysian Park. Such
plans have been found to involve very gr eat
costs through the destruction of expensive buildings without r eaching the heart of the
city. Just west of the business district of the city
in a r egion of many small houses and shops of
less costly character there is a possible location
for a connection from the Baldwin Hills to Ex-
position Park, the campus of the University of
Southern California and Elysian Park. This
route should be projected at once before big
buildings on Sixth Street, Wilshire Boulevard ,
Seventh Street and elsewhere introduce still
further obstacles. For such a r oute it is possi-
ble that some aid may be obtaina ble from the
major highway fund s. The route that appear s
most f easible from a preliminar y study runs
from Baldwin Hills diagonally across Mesa
Drive and the open land to follow the south-
erly sid e of Thirty-eighth Place to Thirty-
ninth 'str eet at Ex position Park; then north
across the corner s of private pr o perty and the
park to follow the west side of Hoover and
lower Severance Str eet, and the east sid e of
upper Severance Str eet through St. James Park
and along. the east side of N oi"wood Str eet,
Oak Str eet, Albany Street and Whittier Street
to Seventh Str eet; then to f ollow the westside of lower Witmer Street, Har tford Ave-
nue and upper Witmer Street to Beverly
Boulevard; then to curve eastward across the
small blocks and steep grades to follow the
west side of Toluca Street and East Edgeware
Road and the east sid e of Marion Avenue to
Sunset Boulevard ; then to turn westerly along
the south side of Ever ett Street to the proposed
extension of Elysian Park.
This r oute will enter the proposed extension
of the park at an interesting point, where it can
bridge over the road in Chavez R avine to con-nect with park driveways beyond. _
Grade separations at Seventh Street, Wil-
shire, Sixth Street, Beverly Boulevard, Glen-
dale Boulevar d, and S unset Boulevard will
doubtless be required in time and any plan for
complete improvements should include suffi-
cient space for such possibilities.
37. I nglewood Pat -k r way.Fr om Slauson Avenue south to Alond ra
Park, the r oute has been designed to f ollow a
block west of and par allel to Mesa Drive south
to the city limits, and to remove a number of
houses now in the way. The width is planned
to be one block part of the way and half a
block farther south. At the Santa Fe Railway,
plans should provide for ultimately passing
under the railroad, but a grade cr ossing will
doubtless be necessar y at present.
South of the railr oad the Inglewood Ceme-
ter y occupies a lar ge ar ea just west of the r outeand possibly the park land s should bend west-
ward to skirt the cemeter y for some distance,
then bend eastward again to connect with the
parkway 225 feet wid e, now being d esigned
from the city line southward to Alondra Park
and beyond,'passing the Potrero Countr y Club
and f ollowing the line of Cy pr ess Str eet muchof the way.
38. Alond ra Par k.
Southwest of the city in a section where ther e
was no lar ge park of any sort, the County re-cently acquired 3 I5 "acr es of gently rolling
agricultur al land on which to deyelo p a park of
both local and regional character . A plan has
been made for complete development of the
area, to include local playgr ound s in the two
southern corner s, a gener al athletic f ield in the
central portion, ball field s in the nor theast cor -
ner and a golf course in the wester ly portion,
with walk s and drives through the area and
ample s paces for planting to pr oduce a gener al
park-like character. (See Plate 58.)
39. Alondra-Palos V er d es Par k way.Much land has been acquired, some con-
struction has been started and plans have been
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PLATE 57. Sketch for a broad, d ignif ied an d at tr active park way 225 f eet in width with thr ee r oad -
ways planned to extend f r om Los Angeles city to the sea at Palos Verd es.
lar gely com pleted for the acq uisition and im-
provement of this section of the pro posed Hollywood -Palos Verdes Parkway by the
County (known as A. & 1. No. 15). Designed
as a three-r oad parkway 225 f eet or more in
width, this bid s f air to be the first r eal par kway
in the Los Angeles R egion; one to become an
impor tant link in a pleasur e route fr om the city
to the seashore. In the plans provision has been
mad e for ultimate se paration of grad es at sev-
eral crossings.
40. Palos V er d es Coast Road.
Following along or near the to p of the cliff sof the rugged coast line of the hills of Palos
Verd es, fr om the beaches of Redondo to the
pr o posed park reser vation near San Pedro, a
pleasure road is alread y built and in use, and
in part has been d ed icated of am ple width toensure to the public for all time aroutethr ough
pleasant surroundings with fine views over the
ocean. For the fir st f our miles south of Re-
d ond o the parkway has been established 180
feet or more in width between building lines,
and for near ly half this distance the land be-
tween the highway and the ocean is established
as a quasi- public park never to be built upon.
The right of way has been restricted against
commer cial tr affic und er restrictions that ar e
designed to continue in perpetuity.
Through the unsubdivided areas farther south the pr esent Coast Road has been de-
signed to be 170feet in 'Yidth, with r eser vation
of the coastal ar eas f or a part of the way, and
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wi~h double roadways wherever possible to
afford fine outlooks for travelers in both di-
rectio11s.
41. Alondra-Del Re y Parkway.
From the Del Rey Marshes and the pro-
posed termina~ park there south and eastward,
a parkway ~connection is needed. Two routes
for this offer advantages: one following the
shore to the beach cities, then following the
hilltops back of the built-up areas to cross to
Alondra Park or some point farther south; the
other route to follow the line of proposed Sep-
ulveda cut-off that has already been surveyed
and planned as a proposed County improve-
ment, making a direct connection from Del
Rey Marshes to Alondra Park through areas
now mostly undeveloped, but Mines Field, oilwells and other activities now developing may
prove serious obstacles to this line. The shore
route offers the advantage that the city now has
about 200 acres in the Hyperion Sewer Farm,
much of which may be available fOl"the crea-
tion of a large shore front park just west of
EI Segundo, all in close connection with a
shore front parkway.
42. Gard ena Valley Park and
Parkway Reservation.
Plans have already been considered under a
County Project (A. & I. No. 15) to acquire the
bottom of Gardena Valley and the side slopes,
including border road locations, and a general
plan has been made for ultimate development
as a pleasant rural park with lakes, boathouses, .
ball fields, picnic groves and many attractive
features. The entire area should be acquired at
once, the boundary roads should be developed,
and planted; some planting should be done in
the interior and the balance can be held as a
reservation for more intensive improvement
from time to time as demand may warrant.
This valley is subject to heavy flooding at rare
intervals and the lower end is so near sea level
that it will drain very slowly. The area can be
used for park purposes even if flooded oc-
casionally, but is not suitable for other uses.
This park reservation should be materially ex-
tended through the lower valley as described
in the next section.
43. Nigger Slough Reservation.
In connection with and in extension of the
proposed Gardena Valley Reservation, the
broad flat flood plane of Nigger Slough now
unfit for residential or commercial uses should
be made a park.
Nigger Slough is one of several large areas
in the County where the elevation of the land
is so near sea level that ordinary methods of
gravity drainage by open channels and bystorm
sewers, whether undertaken at the general ex-
pense by the Flood Control District or at localexpense by local drainage districts, cannot pos-
sibly protect the land from constantly repeated
serious inundations, unless the surface of the
land is raised in a wholesale manner by filling.
(See Appendix No. III.)
This area could be developed as a large low-
land park, having interesting interior park
character with ample space for various forms
of recreation, with possible extension of lakes
and pools and water sports suggested for Gar-
dena Valley also.
44. San Pedro Parkrway.
From Nigger Slough to the hills back of San
Pedro a parkway 225 feet or more in width
as a connection from the Nigger Slough to the
Palos Verdes Coast Road is proposed. This
route should cross the lowlands back of Wil-
mington and Harbor City, skirting the slopes
north of San Pedro to the hills overlooking the
shore. The route can possibly be designed in a
way to benefit by the park reservations already
set aside in the Miraleste section of Palos Ver -
des. The south end of the reservation should
be wide enough to connect with both the up-
hill and the down-hill hairpin turns of the
existing Palos Verdes Coast Road.
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45. S an Ped ro H ills Reser vat ion.
San Pedro Hill, just back of San Pedr o and
close to the sea, rises to a height of 1,480 f eet
above sea level. It command s views in all di-
rections over the sea and over the coastal plains and the surr ounding cities back into the
mountains 100 miles or more away. The f ace
of the hill off er s s pace for park development
where the cool climate of the sea can be en-
joyed . The base of the hills includes the r ock
coast and cliff s a bove the sea and connects with
the Coast R oad toward the west and the Royal
Palms Golf Cour se and possible road s into San
Pedro toward the east.
The small amount of fair ly level ar ea on
the slopes above the sea could be developed for
picnic ar eas and parking of a large number of car s, as that will be a necessar y featur e of any
park in this r egion. Such a par k may off er un-
usual opportunities f or such public inter ests as
a marine biological station and museum, or a
botanic gar d en with ex perimental stations.
46 . Domingue z Ranch Park ' 1vay.
From Nigger Slough eastward to the Los
Angeles River a connecting route is need ed as
a link in the one main east and west parkway
between Los Angeles and the ocean. This sec-
tion off er s no particular interest and should beas d irect as possible. It will necessarily pass
through industrial areas and cross busy high-
ways. It should be 225 feet or more in width to
be ample for planting and for thr ee r oadways.
47 . Los C errit os Par k'1va y.
Fr om the Pacific ElectriC brid ge over the
Los Angeles River at Los Cerritos southeast-
ward to the Union Pacif ic Railroad at Signal
Hill a route is planned , to be 225 f eet or mor e
in width. For much of the way the location will
be on a side hill and a gr eater width will beneeded f or border r oadways at the to p and bot-
tom of the slo pes. Ther e are many oil wells
along this route which can be left to o perate
within the r eser vation und er s pecial agr ee-
ments until aband oned .
48 . Bixb y Ranch Park ' 1vay
and Reser vat ion.
The City of Long Beach now owns near ly
700 acres of airport and water land s nor th of
Signal Hill, most of which should be included
in a reser vation in connection with a parkway
eastward and as a lar ge athletic field or should
be cor related in a way to be mutually bene-
f icial f or park uses and other uses. East of
the water lands, the route crosses f lat land and
can be 225 feet or more in wid th, crossing the
San Gabriel River to the Orange County line
at a point f rom which it can be extend ed even-
tually farther eastward . Through the water
land s, two connections toward the southwestar e possible, one to Signal Hill on the south,
the other near the Union Pacific R ailroad to
the proposed Signal Hill Parkway.
49. S ignal H ill Par k and Par k wa y.
Over looking the City of Long Beach and
the plains behind it, Signal Hill stand s out
alone as a commanding hill. It is now cover ed
with oil wells and sho ps and oil sumps, but
those featur es ar e tempor ar y as compar ed to
the life of the city. The time is not far off when
activities will slack en and some of the land will be r eleased fr om oil uses, and gradually the
entire area will be o pened for other uses.
Under a plan f or gr adual d evelo pment,
much of the land could doubtless be acquir ed
now, subject to sub-sur face rights and par tial
use of the surf ace wher e needed . Possibly
much of the surf ace of the land could be o b-
tained practically without cost in exchange f or
certain pr ivileges and r elinquishments und er
pr o per negotiations.
The fir st need on the hill will be f or a
through east and west r oadway as a link in the par k system, and it is possible that this could
be develo ped among the derrick s and shops
while they ar e still in active use. At the easter ly
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end, ther e is a r eser voir that should be included
within the limits of the plans.
The park dr ive should f ollow one or both
sid es of the hill high enough in places to afford
f ine views over the country, the city and the
har bor . The hill itself eventually can be mad e
a strik ing f eature in the land sca pe with f orest
trees in place of the pr esent oil d errick s, with
possi bly a bowl f or concer ts, and other park
featur es.
50. Long Beach Recreatjon Par k.
The City of Long Beach has a park of 400
acr es in the line of the proposed main park way,
extending f rom Anaheim R oad to the San Ga-
briel River near the County line. The par k con-
tainswithin its bound ar ies several pr ivate hold-
ings that should be eliminated . The width of the easter ly end is scarcely sufficient to aff ord a
satisf actory location f or a through road way
toward the coast unless the water ar ea be r e-
duced or add itional land be acquir ed . The park
dou btless should continue chiefly as a local
par k and some for m of agr eement should be
mad e between the city and such authority as
may be established to d eal with the lar ger
problems of regional pleasur e tr .avel.
51. San Gabriel Rivet· Mouth.
Below, Anaheim Str eet, the San Ga briel
River has been r elocated to flow between d ik es
in a re~atively narr ow channel 300 feet to 330f eet ~Id e. A par k str ip should be add ed along
each sid e, sever al hund red feet in width and so
designed that the entir e river mouth can be
tr eated as a' br oad, openparkway. ,
The southwester ly bound ar y should extend
to the east line of R ecreatiol~ Park and ' the
south ' bound ar y sho'uld extend to Alamitos
Bay, and a col1nection toward the southeast
should extend to the County line and the BolsaChica Mar shes.
52. Balsa Chica Par k Reservat ion)
Bird Re f uge and Beach.
Just outsid e the southeast County line the
lar ge mar sh ar ea of Bolsa Chica and Los Ala-
mitos and the beach fr om Anaheim Landing to
Huntington Beach off ers a fine location for a
big water -fr ont reser vation similar to that pr o-
posed for the Del R ey Mar shes, but more ex-
te'nsive, and to includ e more actual ocean front.
This area, lying in Or ange County, but on the
main diagonal coast road fr om Long Beach
and the Los Angeles R egion southward, off er s
gr eat possibilities for the d evelo pment of a
lar ge and impor tant r ecreational area, pleasure
bays, picnic gr ound s, and wild reser vations all
within easy access of a very large pr o portion of
the peo ple of the metro politan r egion.
The beach (as discussed in Cha pter V on
beaches) is being cut u p into small lots and has
a number of small houses upon it, but its gr eat-
est value would be attained if it were kept o penfor lar ge num ber s of the general public. The
marshes have little value, except at the back
where oil has been f ound, and the bound ar ies
should either exclud e the oil wells or includ e
them subject to the life of their operations.
Five and one-half miles long by a mile and
a half wid e, the area that could r easona bly be
set asid e f or pu blic use and enjoyment includ es
a bout 5,000 acr es.
A ' part of this ar e'a, a bout 2,200 acres, is
owned by the Bolsa Chica Gun Clu b, and that
par t might reasona bly be acq uir ed subject to
cer tain r ights and r eservations f or a definite
per iod of time t o permit them to continue to
occu py it until the public requir es the ar ea.
This r eser vation should be of much value
not only to Los Angeles and Or ange County,
but also to R iversid e and San Ber nar dino
Counties, as it is one of their nearest shores,
and one that can be r eached without passing
through busy urban areas.
53. Lower S an Gabriel River Par k way.
Fr om the San Ga briel River mouth below
Anaheim Road, nor thward to the Whittier N arr ows, a distance of over 17 miles, plans are
now being consid ered for acquiring a channel
f or flood contr ol for the San Ga br iel R iver .
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PL ATE 60. San Ga br iel River near the Narrows, showing ar ea need ed for d r ainage that has park value,
es pecially if the border vegetation can be preser ved . (Photo by F i.rs .)
The river bed is several hundred feet wide but
und er control may be narrowed and deep-
ened, thus destroying the not unpleasant tr ee-
bord ered wash that now exists. For a parkwayit would be f ar mor e attractive to preserve
much of the character of the present bed, to
develop border roads and dikes farther apart
in a less formal manner and to make some uses
of the land in the bed of the stream during
most of the year when little or no water is
runnmg.
Just what plan can be develo ped to bring to
the community the most interest and enjoy-
ment from the river treatment will depend on
many factor s, but of these the first and most
important will mean the acquisition of a stripnot less than 1,000feet wide outsid e which pri-
vate property may be encour aged to develop,
and to hold the centr al area for car efully d e-
vised plans for use and control, and not to
change the pr esent character until a d efinite
plan f or a satisf actor y r esult has been ad opted.
Any plan f or develo pment will be some-what complicated by the existence of electr ic
power lines and railroad lines along the bank s
in places, and the boundaries should be adjust-
ed to r elate pro per ly to these also.
Alr ead y a few subd ivisions have extend ed
into the line of d esired r eser vation, but not ex-
tensively. In places th e boundaries should in-
chide existing streets subject to right of use.
The most serious question in any plan for
impr ovement will necessarily be that of pro-
viding satisfactor y and effective revetments or
other for ms of river control without ser iouslyinjuring the land scape value of the river bed.
The prospect of a d am in the mountains to con-
trol the river off ers a possi bility of materially
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PLATE 61. Riverway in Boston, once a pestilential d rainage channel but r ed eemed und er a joint plan
for d rainage and park uses.
r educing the size of r evetments required.
The river bank s offer o ppor tunities for s pe-
cial ty pes of tr ee gr owth and special effects of
f oliage with cottonwood s, sycan~ores, willows
and po plar s, wild gra pes and even sweet gumsand sour gums. The alr ead y interesting foli-
age masses can be kept and made a striking fea-
ture of the district instead of giving way to an
ugly vacant channel.
At the norther ly end on the east bank is the
old Pio Pico Adobe House, owned by the
State, that should be included within the park-
way r eser vation.
54. Lower Los Angeles
River Par k wa y.
From Long Beach northward to the RioHondo at South Gate the Lower Los Angeles
R iver offer s much the same pr o blem as the
Lower San Gabriel. Below Los Cerritos the
river has already been confined between revet-
ments 300 feet apart and commercial use of the
edges has been encour aged and made possible
so that parkway construction of an inter esting
char acter would be difficult and costly if at-tempted, but a bove ther e wher e a right of way
400 f eet or 500 feet wide is needed for flood
control a width of 1,000 feet or so should be
acquired, and a bove Center Str eet wher e the
channel is broad and meandering a width of
1,500 feet or so in places seems desir a ble.
55. South Gat e Recr eat ional
Ar ea at the C ount y F arm.
Between the County Farm and the Rio
Hondo and in the point of land between that
and the Los Angeles River for a distance of nearly two miles to the Stewart and Gr ay
Road, and for a width of 4,500 f eet or so, there
is an ar ea that should be acquired f or a public
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PL ATE 62. Gorge in Montebello Hills not yet invad ed by d evelopment, where a par k way can be
located . (P hot o by F iss .)
reservation in connection with park and drain-
age problems and to serve as a large athletic
fiele j. as well. This area should be acquired in
advance of intensive development and held asa reservation to be made more and more usef ul
to the public as the need for it increases. It is
possible that the area might be acquired by the
County and used as an extension of the County
Farm in part at least, but held as a public trust
to become available for recreation when de-
mand for its use becomes sufficiently urgent.
As the Region grows and values increase the
time may come that a part or all of the County
Farm of 480 acres may be diverted to other
uses, or may be available as an extension of the
proposed recreation area and it is quite possiblethat a portion of the farm may be made acces-
sible to the general public in connection with a
general plan for the development of the park
and recr eational features, and that on the other
hand a part of the r eser vation may be used f or
grazing by the County live stock in a way to
improve the pastoral type of scener y and toadd interest to the reser vation itself .
56. Lower Rio Hondo Par kway.
A bove the County Farm to Monte bello and
the Whittier Narrows for a distance of 6 miles,
the same flood channel problem exists. Ther e
again a width of 1,000 feet or mor e would
afford ample space for a satisfactor y d evelop-
ment. North of Telegraph Road the west shor e
rises in steep bluffs and offers some inter -
esting problems in locating park drives and
border roads. Some small private houses in-Montebello should be removed . On the west
bank south of Telegraph Road is one of the
original adobe r anch houses of the great S pan-
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ish grant to Don Antonio Maria Lugo. This
house, which was later the home of Henry T.
Gage, one of Calif or nia's notable governor s,
with its ad jacent ground s, should be includ ed
in the r eservation.
57 . Whitt ier Narr ows Recr eation Par k
aJ~dDrainage Basin.
Between the hills at Whittier and at Monte-
bello, the San Ga br iel and the R io Hond o Riv-
ers run parallel and little over a mile apart.
Ther e the und ergr ound r iver water s come to
the sur face for ced up by the natur al d ik e that
crosses the narrows. In this ar ea, two proposed
routes f rom the south, two from the north and
one each f rom the east and the west converge,
so into this ar ea a lar ge amount of pleasure
travel will be brought from all directions.
Ther ef ore, the entire area should be made a
public reser vation and r ecreation field. The
bound aries should includ e both r iver s and ex-
tend to Lincoln Avenue on the west and to
Durf ee R oad on the nor th, and should includ e
und er agreement the 49 acr e water reser ve of
Pasadena in the valley and extend south to the
existing cross street.
In the nor thwest por tion, ther e ar e oil wells
that should be includ ed in the area but may be
allowed to continue to o perate .under a suita ble
agr eement.In this area it may be possi ble to d evelop la-
goons f or bathing and boating and to aff or d
var ious other f orms of recreation.
58. Mont ebello Par k way.
Fr om Whittier Narrows west to Lincoln
Par k a par k way just a bove the base of Monte-
bello hills is proposed . This route will r un
thr ough o pen land most of the way, although
plans ar e being mad e now for the su bdivision
of one large tract that should be crossed.
Oil f ields will be crossed near the easterlyend where s pecial concessions 'may pr ove nec-
essar y. Just south of Third Street, west of
Montebello, a cut 60 or 80 feet in d epth will be
PLATE 63. Plan for parkway thr ough gorge in
Montebello Hills as prepar ed by R egional Plan-
ning Commission.
necessar y thr ough a nar row r idge. West from
there to Coyote Pass and Garvey Avenue a
side hill par k way is pro posed wher e three r oad s
should be planned, the middle park drive high
enough a bove the lower bord er road to protect
f orever a view out over the city, and another
border dr ive above on a satisf actory location.
In this section a width of 250 feet to 300 feet
at least will be need ed. West of Coyote Pass
the r oute should tur n nor thward in the deep
canyon alread y consid er ed by the RegionalPlanning Commission f or a parkway, then
turn west at the Pacific Electric tracks, cross
the track s thr ough the pass and then cr oss Al-
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[ 128] PARKS, PLAYGR OUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los A NGELES REGION
hambr a Avenue to the back of Ascot Speed way.
This r oute will involve consid era ble heavy
construction and some costly land takings, but
it f ollows the most f easi ble line to enter Los
Angeles city f rom the east, and it offers some
inter esting scenic features along the route.Plans should provide suf ficient s pace f or pos-
si ble gr ade se parations wher e lik ely to be
need ed in the f uture.
59. Lincoln Par k and Recr eat ion
Grounds.
Los Angeles City now has 46 acres in Lin-
coln Par k d evelo ped as a neigh borhood par k.
Just east of this park is a lar ge area as yet
und evelo ped or slightly used , includ ing the
Ascot Track . The entir e area, containing possi-
bly 180acr es, should be acquired as one of sev-eral pro posed r egional athletic fields, to be
develo ped for intensive use by a large number
of athletic teams and players in var ious games.
North of Lincoln Park is the Selig Zoo that
should be ad ded to the par k as a city feature if
it can be o btained on ad vantageous terms. The
city now has no satisf actor y zoo within easy ac-
cess and a well-organized public zoo would
afford pleasure to many people.
60. Lincoln- An'oyo S eco Par kway.
From Lincoln Park to the Ar royo Seco and toward the city a connection is needed, and for
that a satisf actory route is not easily f ound.
The best location seems to be to cross Mission
Road f r om Lincoln Par k on a viaduct and to
sk ir t the base of the hills nor thward to the
Ar royo. Possi bly the small hill o pposite Lin-
coln Park should be included in the taking to
provid e material for f ill and location for an
overhead crossing over Mission Road and over
North Br oad way also. The r oute if k e pt east
of Pasadena Avenue can dr op d own into the
Arr oyo to join with other park road s toward the city. Part of the way the width may be less
than 225 feet; in other portions it should be
wid er to meet existing str eet and lot lines.
6 1. Arro yo S eco Park and Park way.
Fr om the Los Angeles River at ~lysian
Park to the mountains, alread y much of the
land f or a park and par k way system up the
Ar r oyo Seco has been acquir ed, includ ing Syca-more Gr ove, two Victor y Par k s, Lower Arr oyo
Par k, Ar royo Seco Park, Br ook sid e Par k , Oak
Grove Par k, and the water land s, 1,377 acr esin all. A bout 43 acres more will be need ed to
eliminate various small hold ings and to com-
plete the route, or mor e if boundaries are ad -
justed to allow space f or r eally am ple par k d r iveways wher e narrow streets now exist.
From River sid e Drive at Elysian Par k the
park road should either cross on the Dayton
Avenue br id ge or dip down and follow the
river bed, or both, then follow the ed ges of Arroyo Seco low enough to pass und er brid ges,
with connections u p to the streets in places.
Through the par ks f rom Victory Park to the
mountains some r emnants of private property
should be acq uired and par k dr ives and bord er
streets of ample wid th are needed to aff ord
pleasant continuous tr avel from the city to the
mountains. At Devil's Gate Dam there is need
for a good connection ar ound the d am on one
or both sid es and possibly for some additional
land s to protect par k views and park featur es.
Under the Colorado Street bridge there is
still some vacant land in pr ivate ownershi p
that should be publicly owned.
62. El ysian Park .
The City of Los Angeles now owns 600
acr es in Elysian Par k hilltops, but does not own
the enclosed valleys toward the south. About
420 acr es more should be acquir ed to incr ease
the value of this close-in public pr operty and
plans ar e now being consid er ed by the city to
acquire a lar ge ad d itional area. This additional
area is par tly vacant and should be acquired be-f ore lar ge sums ar e s pent to d evelop it f or
other uses. A street has been suggested thr ough
Chavez Ravine, but it will. be much better if
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that entire r avine can be d evoted to r ecreation
and mad e a part of the park. From the pr o-
posed In-town parkway at the southwest cor -
ner a drive should extend along the westerly
rid ge through the pass at the head of Chavez
Ravine to connect with the' proposed Los An-
geles River Parkway in both directions along
the nor ther ly f ace of the hills.
With the proposed extension of the area,
various ty pes of park scener y can be developed
within the park itself, and recreation can be en-
cour aged in a way not possible in the hilltops
alone. Insofar as possi ble, the steep slopes sur-
rounding the r avine should be included in the
park extension to control the park scenery and
to k ee p pr ivate develo pment fr om detr acting
fr o~he park value.
The bottom of Chavez Ravine near the
easter ly end is easily accessible from the city
and would mak e an ideal place for athletic
field s of lar ge size to serve large crowds, and
on the slo pes a golf course may be possible.
63. Los Angeles River Parkwa y.
R iver side Drive fr om Elysian Park to Grif-
fith Park has been consid er ed as a possible
route for a parkway. It is now being developed
as a busy str eet and is destined to become sim-
ply another traffic artery. The south bank of
the Los Angeles River on the other hand is aregion of low valuations and poor develo p-
ments, and fr om the Dayton Avenue bridge to
Griffith Park the bank of the river and the
river bed should be acquired with enough up-
land to aff ord ample s pace for park-like treat-
ment. This route should connect with the Ar-
r oyo ~eco under t~e Dayton Avenue bridge,
and wlth the Elyslan Park entrance wher e it
now enters R iver side Drive northwest of the
park.
6 4. Gr iffit h Par k.
Griffith Park is the largest public area in theLos Angeles Region, outside the National For-
est reser ves, available for par k and recreation
purposes. The park contains nearly 4,000 acr es,largely in steep mountain lands of r elatively
limited recreational value. A bout one-quarter
of its area, however , is level enough to be used
f or active r ecreation. Of this intensively usableland near ly one-fourth has recently been cut
off fr om the main park by Victor y Boulevard,
a busy highway along the r iver bottom through
the park.
In addition to Griffith Park lands there are
now also sever al other ar eas of adjacent water
lands in public owner ship, having high value
for park and recreational uses, that should be
and doubtless can be made a part of the park
r eser vation. Nearly 600 acres of such land s
might be made available and thus ser ve to al-
most d ouble the intensively usa ble area of this
gr eat park reser vation.The park and water land s also are unfor-
tunately cut in two by the highway a bove re-
ferred to, so that ther e is little possibility for
creating a single large ar ea having a fine qual-
ity of interior park scenery and unity unless
that road can be diverted around the park, but
in the northwester ly section where much of the
water land lies there is still space that can pos-
sibly be dedicated to a high ty pe of park use if
properly guarded. Victor y Boulevard can be
and should be r elocated east of the r iver along
the power line and the inter vening small par-
cels should be publicly acquired.In Griffith Park itself there are possibilities
for the development of par k featur es and park
scener y of far greater value than have' as yet
been brought out. In time, space should be
found elsewhere on land of less value for the
propagating houses and shops and work yards
so that the interior of the great park area can
be made mor e park-like and beautiful and
those fine open s paces can be kept free from
o bstructions as o pen scener y for public enjoy-
ment. The valley sections of the park itself can
be made finer and finer as time goes on by the
gradual d evelopment of suitable enclosing and surr ounding foliage masses, and by develop-
ment of interior groups and masses of vegeta-
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[ I 30 ] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
tion with finely proportioned, varied and in-
teresting open spaces where most appropriate.
There is an enormous value to the people at
large in a simple, quiet, beautiful open space
screened in and kept free from all evidences of
commercial activities and from the less attrac-tive conditions of the outside world. This value
can be created and developed only in such an
area as Griffith Park or other large reserva-
tions, and it is worth creating even to the ex-
clusion of some of the many kinds of activities
that~nsist on finding a place in the best part of
every large park.
65. Upper Los Angeles River Parkway.
Four miles from Griffith Park westward to
the Tujunga Wash, the upper Los AngelesRiver with adjacent water lands and necessary
drainage channels offers a good location for
a parkway westward . Already the river is being
constricted to an ugly deep channel and the
channel is being crowded on both sides. A strip
wide enough to provide reasonable space for
border streets, and a pleasant roadway should
be from four or five hundred feet wide to
twelve or fifteen hundred feet in places. Near
Griffith Park all of the pleasant valley on the
south side of the river should be included in
the boundaries. Farther west the present pri-
vate road may well serve for the south bound-
ary as a park drive and border street. Through
Universal City and west to the sharp bend in
Ventura Boulevard the local street should
form the south boundary.
The banks along the river range from five
to· thirty feet in height and are higher along
the south than the north shore most of the way.
The park drive doubtless should follow the
southerly shore.
66. Turnbull Ridge Parkway.From the Whittier Narrows eastward up
the Puente hillsides to Turnbull Canyon Road,
several possible routes for a parkway two
hundred and twenty-five to four hundred feet
or more in width have been considered, but
the most practical and most attractive route
climbs the southerly face of the hills from the
Workman Mill Road along the route recently
surveyed for a roadway by the County. A
width of two hundred and fifty feet along
Workman Mill Road is needed to continue
that road as a fairly wide traffic road on the
easterly edge of the parkway. This ro~te would
make a veritable skyline drive overlooking
the valley and plains to the south'f
67. West Puente Hills Parkway. ,
From the Turnbull Ridge Parkway an ex-
tension nearly thirteen miles long and from
three hundred to four thousand feet in widthis proposed to include the hilltops down to
reasonable locations for side roads. This route
following along or near the line recently sur-
veyed by the County for a ridge road from
Turnbull Canyon to Brea Canyon Road, passes
through some interesting canyon tops and up-
land valleys with attractive native growth and
with the finest views toward the mountains.
A few oil wells will be encountered and land
acquisition can be made subject to existing
operating privileges. This is one of the routes
where the owners of large areas might well
be persuaded to set aSIde land f or a really fine
public parkway and reservation as a splendid
monument to the donors. The plan should be
so designed that the remaining property along
the sides can be developed to the best advan-
tage and will benefit by being near a really
fine public way.
68. La Habra Connection.
From the proposed parkway above men-
, tioned, a branch toward La Habra as far as
the County line should be acquired to meet the
possible location that may seem best in Orange
County for future extensions.
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6 9. E ast Puent e Hills Par k way
and Reservat ion.
East of Brea Canyon R oad acr oss the Dia-
mond Bar Ranch to the big basin southwestof Pomona, a route is pro posed following the
r id ge line as sur veyed by the County f or a
shor t distance, then tur ning northwar d across
the head of the broad upland valley of the
Diamond Bar Ranch to enter the big basin
f rom the west.
A num ber of f ine upland features along
the route should be pr eser ved and bound aries
have been suggested to includ e these.
A r the head of Rodeo Canyon, two miles
east of Brea Canyon Road, wher e the r oute
tur ns nor th, a rugged and picturesq ue gorge is
encountered that will involve heavy constr uc-tion.
This par k way should be ample in wid th as
pr oposed for the West Puente Hills Section,
and this is another section that might possibly
be acquir ed by gif t on the same basis as that
suggested for West Puente Hills ( No. 67
above).
70. Pomona Basin Reservation.
Southwest of the City of Pomona at the east
end of the Puente Hills lies a large basin sur -
rounded by rolling hills. The basin with theslo pes to the r im of the hills includ es about
2,400 acres. The entire area with one f arm
group and with f ine oak s and sycamores in the
canyons would mak e a complete self -contained
unit f or an extensive rur al park of the f inest
ty pe, with ample s pace for all sor ts of r ecrea-
tion activities, such as golf , ball games, picnic
groves, auto cam ps and hiking tr ails. The area
should be acq uired and reserved f or later de-
velopment. It is apparently now in only one or
two large ownershi ps and should be acq uired
bef ore it may be brok en u p.
71. Pomona Parkway.
From the Pomona basin nor thwatd to the
Pud dingstone R eservoir to cross the u pper end
of the Spad r a Valley at its narr owest point a
connection is planned to d r op gradually f r om
the rim of the a bove mentioned basin along
the f ace of the slo pes among existing native
walnut trees and in f ine command of views of
the mountains. Cr ossing the valley, where two
highways and the railroad ar e in close prox-
imity, plans for the parkway should provid e
f or ultimately br idging over all of them, even
though gr ad e crossings may be necessar y at
present. Nor th of the railroad , walnut groves
on flat lands ar e to be crossed and a thr ee- t road park way 225 f eet or 250 f eet wide should
be mad e. Fr om there the r oute should clim b
nor theaster ly towar d the Pud d ingstone Reser-
vOIr .
7 2. Puddingst one Reser voir Pa1' k .
The Pudd ingstone d am now subjects 500
acres or so of land to flooding and may cr eate
at times a f air ly lar ge lak e, fluctuating with
rainy conditions and, ther ef or e, of limited rec-
reational value. The r eservoir lies in a basin
at the east end of the San Jose Hills. A reser -
vation sur r ounding the basin and extending to
r easona ble lines f or boundary str eets is sug-
gested. Most of the land is unim proved , ex-
cept some ar eas lying so low that they will be
flooded by the r eservoir .
73. Gctnesha Parkway.
East of the Pud d ingstone Reservoir , the
County owns 73 acr es of f air ground s, and
south of that the City of Pomona owns 6 I
acres in Ganesha Par k. Fr om the proposed
r eser vation at Pud dingstone Reser voir a con-
nection to these two areas may well be made,
although not an essential link in the proposed
park system.
74. La V erne Pm·kway.
From Pud d ingstone Reservoir nor thwar d
to the mountains across the upper end of Wal-
nut Creek and of San Dimas Valley a route is
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pr o posed as a shor t link between the hills and
the mountains. This connection, involving no
particular local pr o blems, can best be acquired
along the east sid e of Artesia Avenue, leaving
that street for the westerly road of a three-road
parkway.
75. S an Ant onio C one Reser vat ion.
As the easterly unit of the pro posed r oute
along the base of the mountains, the San An-
tonio Cone extending fr om the County east
line to the flood contr ol basin a t Palmer Can-
yon off ers a peculiar ty pe of land scape scener y.
At the mouth of the San Antonio Canyon a
. perfect cone has f or med as a half cir cle sever al
miles acr oss, extending into Claremont and
f ar into San Ber nar d ino County. High up on
this cone against the base of the mountains, the parkway is planned to cross the cone, and
on the cone a br oad strip of land having rela-
tively low commer cial value should be in-
cluded in the plan, wide enough to preser ve a
bit of the natural char acter of this ty pe of
countr y and wide enough to k eep a fairly open
view in both dir ections over t h e length of the
route. This area may d ou btless have some
value for absorption of water as well. The
northerly bound ary may well includ e the ex-
isting road along the base of the mountains
and an extension of its line westerly. The width
should be not less than 1,200 feet to 1,500 f eet
for much of the distance, to be in scale with the
countr y.
Oak s, sycamor es, yuccas, holly and other
native gr owth should be develo ped to f r ame
the scener y along this route.
76. Live Oak Park and Park way.
From the Palmer Canyon Flood Basin
westward to San Dimas \Vash the route should
pass above the foothills around the branches
of Thompson Creek and across Live Oak Creek
and Marshall Creek thr ough most interesting
rolling uplands of wild and rugged waste
lands. The reser vation should be br oad enough
to control local scener y and to include many
interesting local f eatur es; the boundar ies
where pr actical should f ollow lines where bor-
d er r oad s can be made to encourage favorable
d evelo pment of the adjacent ar ea.tl. Both sid es
of Mar shall Creek should be included in thetaking, and west of these Wheeler Str eet can
for m the southerly boundar y ·of the pr oposed
reservation; a wid th of 800 feet to 1,000 feet
is d esira ble.
Along this section ample s pace should be
available for picnic ground s and many forms
of recr eation for auto par ties. This will form
one of the most picturesque and attractive sec-
tions of the f oothills chain of parkways .
7 7. S an Dimas Cone Reser vat ion.
Fr om the San Dimas Canyon two mileswestward to Artesia Avenue a reser vation is
pr o posed on the San Dimas Cone. This cone
is less cons picuous as a geological featur e than
the San Antonio Cone and it has been deeply
er oded. The plan pr o poses to acq uir e the wash
and some of the land to the north of it u p to
the f or est bound ar y, and to includ e the 16-
acre County park at Artesia Avenue and the
80-acr e park on the hills a bove. The main par k
d r iveway may f ollow one or both of two
r outes, one along the San Dimas R oad to the
small park, then turning northwest; the other to cr oss on the f oothills higher up and to con-
nect also with the route from La Verne (No.
74)·
7 8 . Glendor a-S an Dimas Par k ceva y.
Fr om Artesia Avenue the route should r un
west to the Dalton Washes across the f oothills
high a bove most of the pr esent developments.
This is another pictur esque and attr active link
in the pr o posed system, thr ough gr azing and
wild land s, having much natur al char m along
the way that should be preserved, and com-
manding fine outlook s and views over the
valley.
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79. Glendora-Azusa Parkway.
From the Dalton Washes across the f oot-
hills a bove Glend or a and Azusa to the San
Ga briel Wash, a straight line location has beensurveyed by the County for a main highway.
This line should be followed, taking a width
of 300 feet or so f rom Sier ra Madre Avenue
southwar d to pr ovid e for a three-road attrac-
tive formal parkway. This route crosses land
well develo ped in citr us orchard s, and it is pos-
sible that the land can be acq uir ed for thr ee
r "oads to be d eveloped when need ed and the
citrus groves can be continued in use for many
year s.
80. Azusa Gol f Ground s Site.
Northeast of Azusa the hilly spur pro ject-
ing from the mountain mass and lying south
of Sierra Madre Avenue, off er s an unusually
interesting site for golf gr ound s and picnic
grounds, and for local park uses as well. The
land is now und eveloped and should not be
costly.
81. San Gabriel Wash Reservation.
From the south bound ary of the f or est at
the mouth of San Ga briel Canyon southwest-
ward to the Whittier Nar rows) the San Ga briel
River has s pr ead out acr oss a basin thr ee or four miles in width, forming an enormous
wash in which the r iver is now partly confined
to a limited channel. In the wash are large
gravel pits and gravel washing machines, and
in places houses and cultivation have spr ead
into the wash, but there is still a large area of
waste land su bject to possible flood ing at long
intervals and unsuitable for agricultural or
residential development. In this area a spread-
ing basin of several thousand acr es is need ed
for f lood waters, and around this area d efinite
boundaries for a good type of develo pmentshould be established. Within the bound ar ies
of the wash, plans should be made for the
most satisfactory development of basins, d ik es,
gravel pits, highway crossings, recreation ar eas
and gener al park scenery of a type suited to
the situation and attractive as a f oreground
over which to enjoy views of the mountains
fr om bor d er str eets and par k drives. A plan
has~een stud ied to includ e within the wash
f rom the Forest on the north to Los Angeles
Street west of Bald win Park a str ip 4,000 feet
to 9,000 f eet wide and seven miles long, con-
taining 5,000 acres, within which ar ea the land
should be definitely withd r awn f rom real es-
tate development to f or m a pu blic reservation
to be used und er a well-d evised and a ppr o-
pr iate plan f or the various pur poses it can best
be mad e to serve. In places gr avel pits ar e be-
ing sunk to a tremendous d epth so close to ex-
isting highways and r ailways that trouble will
cer tainly arise, and conditions are lik ely to be-come still worse in time unless pr o per ly con-
tr olled .
While it is evident that a plap f or broad and
extensive d evelopment is need ed to lead to-
ward a satisf actory per manent result in this
gr eat ar ea, such as can be prod uced only under
general public control, it is difficult to say
just what that plan should be until f ar mor e
time and stud y has been given the problem
than is possible in a preliminary survey. That
such a plan is need ed is evident and it is be-
lieved that a large reservation such as is here
pro posed should be mad e at once su bject to j oint planning by flood control authorities,
par k author ities, and suita ble agreements regu-
lating the gravel removal that can be and
should be permitted or encouraged to continue
to operate within the area.
In the area the County alread y owns gravel
pits, various road plans are alread y being de-
velo ped and flood contr ol dik es have been
built, but so f ar there is yet no d efinite plan
designed to lead to a complete and satisfactory
solution of the problems of t he entire area
und er the many more or less conflicting inter-ests. At the up per end the mountain-sid e park -
way should cross, and bor d er streets and park
drives along both sid es of the wash should
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[ 134 ] PARK S, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGIO N
eventually serve as important north and south
routes.
8 2. Upper S an Gabriel River Par k way.
From the wash a bove d escr i bed southward for five and a half miles to the Whittier Nar-
rows the river wash becomes mor e constricted .
A few hundr ed f eet of width will be r eq uir ed
for flood water s and a f ew hundred f eet more
should be add ed f or park drives and bor d er
streets, making a total of 1,000 f eet to 1,200
feet that should be acquired, within which the
flood channel can b e left rather ir r regular in
outline and less sluice-like than would be
necessary within a narr ower s pace.
8 3. S an Gabriel River Golf Ground s.Between the Wor kman Mill R oad and the
river north of the Puente Hills, two miles
a bove the Whittier Narrows, there is an area
of 360 acres that would make an excellent golf
site on rolling mesa land that could well be
made a par t of the reservation to be reached by
pleasant par k ways f rom various dir ections.
The lowland is f ar med and the upland is d ry
farm or pastur e land with some fine tr ees and
with room f or gener ous planting when d evel-
oped.
84. Upper Rio H ond o Par k wa y.
From the Whittier Narrows northwar d to
Eaton Wash, a distance of three miles, a chan-
nel400 feet to 500 f eet in width is need ed f or
flood contr ol with thr ee channels enter ing
from the nor th. Along that wash a strip 1,000
feet or so in wid th should be acquir ed f or park-
way develo pment similar to that pr oposed f or
other lik e channels.
Near the southerly end the west boundary
should be k ept u p on the high bluff s overlook -
ing the valley, where a number of oil wellsexist that may be allowed to continue under
proper r egulation as pro posed f or other sec-
tions also.
85. E at on Wash Parkway.
Six and one-half miles f r om the R io Hondo
to Villa Avenue, Pasadena, a r ight of way 50
feet to 110 f eet wid e will be needed f or flood
contr ol. Along the northerly por tion of thiswash the Edison Com pany has a power lihe
and along the high bank s and existing streets
the d evelopments suggest a ver y irr egular
bou¥r y f or a parkway 300 feet to 400 f eetwid e, just wid e enough to include those f eat-
ur es of interest and of necessity, and to aff ord
room for a park d r iveway, and on each sid e for
border streets.
A car ef ul stud y of the route has shown that
a plan can be d evised to mak e a satisf actory
park way along the wash of varied and inter - .
esting character, but need ing much d etailed study to d etermine the exact bound ar ies that
can best serve for the needed right of way.
86 . Monrovia- M ount Olivet Parkway.
From the u pper end of San Gabriel Wash
for nearly two miles westwar d f ollo~ing
along or near the line surveyed hy the County,
the r oute should rise grad ually to the top of
the mesa back of Mt. Olivet Station. In the
upland section, a broad ar ea of the rougher
land s should be included to pr otect the scenery
along the par kway and to pr otect fine views
out over the valley f rom this elevated location.
Fine oaks and pines ar e included within
proposed boundar ies and afford excellent
places for picnics and par k enjoyment.
8 7. Monrovia Parkway.
From the canyon above M t. Olivet west-
war d f or the next two miles to the line of
Myr tle Avenue in Monrovia the r oute should
f ollow a line higher u p than the line surveyed
by the County. The right of way should be
250 f eet or 300 feet wide and the lines should
be ir r egular to f ollow good grades and avoid
existing im provements where feasible. For
much of the way the route passes through one
lar ge estate, and passes along the upper edge
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of some f ine citrus groves. Heavy grading will
be necessar y in crossing Monr ovia Canyon.
88 . M onrovia Golf Ground s S it e.
Northeast of Monrovia on one large estate
there ar e rolling hills, partly used for gr ain
field s and par tly in citrus gr oves, that would
mak e an id eal site f or a countr y park and golf
site, from 120 acr es to 250 acr es or mor e in
extent. In locating the par kway thr ough this
r egion it may pr ove mor e practical and better
economy to take much or all of the estate than
to pay dear ly for a part of i t and in that case
this ad ditional area most certainly should be
includ ed .
89. Sant a Anit a Canyon Park
and Parkway.Behind the mountain s pur , between the
Myr tle Street line and Santa Anita Canyon f or
a d istance of a mile and a half thr ough upland
valleys, pr actically f ollowing the line surveyed
by the County, the park way should wid en out
to include most of the beautif ul basin at the
easter nly end, and all of the smaller valley
d escending westwar d to Santa Anita Canyon.
Some heavy grading will be necessary in en-
tering the canyon, but that seems unavoidable.
Live oak s, sycamor es and eucalyptus tr ees
mak e this route es pecially attr active. Somesmall orchard s of d oubtful value will be in-
clud ed in the bound aries.
90. Sierra M ad re Par k way.
Fr om Santa Anita Canyon westwar d to
Eaton Wash, near ly four miles, the pr o posed
route f ollows the line surveyed by the County
par t of the way, but rises a bove it i n Sierra
Mad re and f alls below it f ar ther westwar d .
In order to get a f air width the parkway should
includ e some land a bove Grand view Avenue.
Through Sierr a Madr e a number of houseswill necessarily be involved and a num ber of
streets should be included , but as a link in a
long line the additional cost f or this section
will be justif ied and the length of the im-
proved ar ea to be crossed is not great as com-
pared to the length of the total scheme.
Several vineyar d s will be involved and some
heavy gr ading is necessary to cr oss the many
canyons that penetr ate the mountains a bove.Just west of the center of Sierra Madre the
70 acr es of publicly owned water land in
Bailey Canyon that has been consid ered f or a
possible botanic gard en joins the par k way on
the nor th and that ar ea should cer tainly be
ke pt as a pu blic holding with its f ine canyon
mouth and bit of o pen land.
91. Sierra Madre Golf Grounds Site.
South of the par k way, par tly west of but
chiefly east of Sierr a Mad r e Villa Avenue, 120
to 250 acr es of r olling f oothills land nowmostly in vineyards or vacant may well be in-
clud ed in the r eser vation to contr ol the view
out over the valley f rom the pa,r k way and to
aff or d s pace f or a bit of country park and pos-
si bly golf gr ound s.
92. E aton Canyon Wash Reser vat ion.
Fr om Villa Avenue, Pasadena, and Eaton
Wash to the mouth of Eaton Canyon pr oper,
a distance of near ly thr ee miles, the wash wid-
ens out fr om 2,000 feet to 3,000 feet in width,
forming a br oad basin that should be entirelyincluded in a reservation. A d rive should f ol-
low the wester ly r im of the basin, the f oothills
parkway should swing into the basin f rom the
east on the f ace of the bluff s to r each the bot-
tom near the head of the basin where the
reservation will be r elatively narrow, and from
ther e it should f ollow the norther ly face just
a bove the floor along the line surveyed by the
County to the upper end of the wash, and cross
the Mt. Wilson Toll Road.
The u pper end of the wash above New
Yor k Avenue is beautifully wood ed with oak s
and sycamor es, and off er s a fine place f or pic-nics, regional recreation, and local park inter-
ests as well. Extr emely fine views over the
valley are f ound f rom the high mesa along
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o pen basin should be includ ed to mak e an at-
tr active local par k. At t h e head of the valley
the route should cr oss diagonally over to the
mountains to wind d own around the nor th side
of the City of Tujunga to the sad d le wherethe canyon r oad now crosses over into Tu junga
Canyon. From ther e the road way should win.d
down the H.orth f ace of the small butte west-
ward to the canyon floor to connect with pro-
posed road s in the Tujunga Wash and with
road s into the f orest area.
98 . Whit ing' s Wood s and Brand
Park Reservation.
On the south sid e of Ver d ugo Hills there
is now a public ar ea of 6 I6 acres in Brand Park
that is und evelo ped and little used. Nor th of this park on the nor therly slopes is an attr ac-
tive wooded canyon and basin at Whiting's
Woods that has been suggested f or par k pur-
poses. The lower portion of the wood s offers a
Dne place for picnics and a small wood land
park . The basin back of it aff ords space f or a
pleasureway on wind ing lines and easy gr ades
up to the summit in Brand Park 3,000 f eet
above the sea with a connection through the
saddle a few hund r ed feet lower, f rom which
the park d r ive can again wind d own the south-
erly slope in Brand Par k to the canyon in its
southwester ly bound ar y to meet the proposed
Glendale Par kway to Gr iffith Par k. This pro-
posed road over the hill having the advantage
of large par k reservations along the r oute and
fine views from the summit will form the
only practica ble cross connection f or a par k way
.in a distance of ten or f ifteen miles between the
Tujunga Wash and the Ar royo Seco. Much
heavy constr uction will be involved in making
a satisfactory road .
99. Glendale Parkway.
From Brand Par k to Gr iffith Par k across
Glend ale a par kway connection is pr o posed toloop westward , then southeastwar d back of
Glendale, then to cross Grand View Avenue
PLATE 64 -. Whiting's Wood s, a shad y s pot in the
nor th f ac e of Verd ugo Hills that should be in-
cluded in a public r eser vation. (Phot o by F iss.)
and to turn south par allel to the avenue to thenor theast cor ner of Griffith Park . Some im-
provements will have to be crossed thr ough
Glend ale to r each Griffith Par k , but the most
f easible route should be acq uir ed or made a
par t of definite plans .
ESTIMATE OF COSTS
A detailed estimate of pro ba ble cost for ac-
q uisition and f or impr ovement has been mad e
for each unit of the system on the basis of
present selling values for acreage and lots in
each neighborhood, on the assum ption of pur -chases and of improvements ad a pted to the
conditions near each section.
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TABLE OF ESTIMATED PROBABLE PURCHASE COSTS A ND IMPROVEMENT COSTS FOR
EACH TYPE OF PARK A ND PARKWAY
Lengt h Ar ea C ost o f C ost o f
T y pe o f Pr o ject Pr o posed in Miles in Acres Acquisit ion I mpr ovements T ot al C ost
A. Shor e Front R oads and Park Ar eas (notincluding costs estimated und er Beaches) 36.5 6,690 $ 7,4-00,000 $ 18,4-00,000 $ 25,800,000
B. Large U pland R eser vations _____ _ _ _____ _____ _ __ 87·5 30,575 22,670,000 6,260,000 28,930,000
C. Lar ge Dr ainage Basin R eservations ________ 34-·3 11,600 9,250,000 2,4-10,000 11,660,000
D. Narrower Drainage Basin R eser vations _ _ 53·9 6,270 12,800,000 3,150,000 15,950,000E. Connecting Par kways ____ __ __ _ ____ __ _____ ___ _ ___ _ 214-.0 11,560 39,830,000 13,610,000 53,4-4-0,000
F. S pecial sites f or large athletic field s, or
golf cour ses or other uses (not includ -
ing costs included und er R egional Ath-
letic Fields) ---------------------------------------- 13.8 4-,515 7,220,000 850,000 8,070;000
TOTALS ------------------------------------------ 4-4-0.0 71,310 $99,17°,000 $4-4-,680,000 $14-3,850,000
CONCLUSIO N
The above list of park and parkway pr o-
jects covers the complete system proposed f or
the Los Angeles Region south of the National
For est and the mountains. It d oes include
many but not all the existing park s, some of
which are fairly large and impor tant. It d oes
not include beaches, strictly local parks and
playgrounds, or the mor e remote reservations
in the mountains, deserts and islands, which
are d iscussed in other chapter s.
A lar ge number of u nits involving a lar ge
total acreage has been discussed , extending
over a great variety of kinds of land and in-
volving many problems. No at tem pt has been
made t o indicate the order o f urgency or pre f -
erence f or t hem) as such a selection must d e-
pend upon local factor s that ar e constantly
changing, and that should be d eter mined asthe work proceed s and as conditions affecting
the various plans call for action.
Two d istinct pr o blems are involved in the
plans, fir st the acq uisition of land s and second
the impr ovement of the pro jects to meet exist-
ing demand s. The need f or acquisition of lands
is urgent now f or nearly all pr o jects bef or e
further obstacles make acquisition more diffi-
cult. The need f or improvement in a general
pr eliminar y way is f airly ur gent now for most
of the plans, but a ppar ently is not realized by
the public in gener al pr o bably because thegreat possibilities for better things that might
be done here and the immense opportunities
for better things that ar e being lost thr ough
lack of plans and action have not yet been
made sufficiently evident.
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PPENDI ES
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List o f S chools in the Los Angeles Region Having Mor e Than F ive Acr es E ach of
Available Pla ygr ound Space
Dis t ric t Unit
No. No.
A-2
A-5
A-6
A-8
Area of Ar ea of
Site in Recr eation
Acres Space in Acr es
Owensmouth High _
Van Nuys High _
Lank ershim High _
Br oadway High, Glen-d ale _
New High (to be
built), Glend ale _
Eleanor Toll Junior
High, Glendale _
Santa Monica High _
Venice High (]r . & Sr.)
Fairf ax High, L. A. _
John Bur roughs Junior High _
Los Angeles High. _
Bever ly Hills High _
J. A. Foshay Junior
High, L. A. . _
El Segundo Elementar y
El Segund o High. _
Inglewood Union High,
Lawnd ale _
Wise burn Elementary,
Hawthor ne _
Jef f erson High, L. A. _ _
George Washington
High, L. A. _
John C. Fr emont High,
Lo s A ngeles _
Hyd e Park Elementar y
Enterpr ise Elementary,
Compton _
Compton High _
25.2
23.2
18.2
9.23
13.78
24·95
24·3
10·4
18·518. I
9·
13·7
10.32
14.0
8.
6.89
14·9
9·5
5.28
9·3
7-
6.86
6·3
6.85
Di st ri ct U nit
No. No.
Area o f Ar e a o f
S ite in Recr eation
Acres Space i n Acres
A br aham Lincoln,
Compton 8.4
Narbonne High, Lomita II.I
Phineas Banning High,
Wilmington ------------ 9.5
Valmonte Elementar y
Site, Palos Verd es __ __ 11.23
Montemalaga Elemen-
tar y S it e, Palos Ver -
d es ---------------------------- 9.67
Zur ita Elementar y Site,
Palos Verd es 10.15
Cor onel Park High Site,
Palos Verd es __ _ _ _ __ _ _ ___ _ 45.83
Lunad a Bay Elemen-tar y Site, Palos Ver -
d es 10.58
Mar gate Elementary,
Palos Verd es -------- _ __ _27.73
Huntington Park High 20.
High School Site, Hunt-
ington Par k 18.
Lindber gh Elementary,
Compton 8.6
Poinsettia Elementar y,
Com pton ------------------ 7.5
East Whittier Elemen-
tary 8.48
Whittier High -------------- '3.4
Excelsior Union High,
Norwalk 18.66
Lowell Elementar y,
Long Beach 12 _02
5.88
9.38
5·94
6·7
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[ 142 ] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGIO N
Area of Area of Area of Area o f
District Unit Site in Recreation District U nit Site in Recr eation
No. No. Acres Space in A cres No. N o. Acres Space in A cres
D-5 Wilson High, Long F-3 San Marino Elemen-
Beach ---------------- '3.56 6.78 tary ... _ .... _ ................. 12. 6.
J)-5 27 Long Beach Polytechnic F-3 Garfield Elementar y,High ------------------------ 19. I 6 9.58 Pasadena .................. I I. 5 8.05
E-2 617 Hollenbeck Junior F-3 12 High School, Alhambra 17.82 8·9
High and Boyle F-3 21 Alhambra High ---------- 8.66 6.1H'eights School, L.A. 9.86 6. I
F-4 High School, Monrovia.
23.6 II.8II
E-3 30 James A. Garfield Jun-F-4 17 Huntington Elemen-
ior High, L. A ..... _... IS· 11.5tar y, Monrovia __ _ _ 7·3 5. I
E-3 Washington Elemen-F-4 T8 Monrovia High .. 8·5 5·95
tar y, Los Angeles.. .. 7·5 5.25F-4 Woodrow Wilson Jun.24
E-3 4 Montebello High 12.0 6.ior High, Pasad ena. 14.98 '3·73
F'T 2 Eagle Rock High ....... 12·5 6.25F-5 El Monte High ..______ _ .2 17· 9·
F-2 9 Pasad ena High SchooL 38.0 12.66
F-2 McKinley Junior High, F-s Columbia Elementary,
I I
Pasadena _ .._ _ __ . _ ___ _ ___ .. 8.05 6.05 El Monte ---------------- 12. I 8.47
F-2 15 John MuirTechnology, F-6 4 Citrus Union High,Pasadena -------- 15· II. Glendora _ _ 15.68 7.89
F-2 17 Thos. Jefferson School, F-6 19 Puente High ---------------- 10.7 I 5.85
Pasad ena ---------------_ ..- r o·57 7· F-8 Bonita High, San Di-
F-2 T8 John Marshall Junior mas ---------------- 22.41 II.25
High, Pasad ena ------ 14·37 10.8 F-8 4 La Verne Elementary .. 8.6 6.
F-2 21 Henry W. Longf ellow F-8 6 Claremont High ..... __ _ ___ 18.22 9. I
School, Pasadena ...... 7·75 5· F-8 '3 Pomona High ------------ 7·9 5·53F-2 22 Washington Junior Y-4 Torrance High 18·75 10.58
High, Pasadena ------ 12.64- 10·5 Y-4 Torrance Elementary .. 7·55 5·3
F· 2 41 South Pasadena City
High ------------- 15· 7·5 Total ------------------------ -------------------- 636.82*
*Since the above was written the Red ond o Union High has acquir ed a 22-acre athletic f ield.
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List o f E xisting Public and Quasi-Public Open Spaces , E ach o f One Acre or More,
in t he Los Angeles Region ( N ot I ncluding School Grounds)
Dist rict Unit
No. No.
Ar eas
Class in Acres
No. of No. o f
Ar eas Acres I I San Fer nando R eservoir Land s _ G I, '54
12 Olive View Sanatorium, San
Fernando I 656
14 San Fer nando Mission . I 4
'S San Fernando Mission Gar d ens _ I 38
16 Maclay R eservoir Site, San Fer -
nando G 6
'7 Gravel Pit on San Fer nand oRoad - _ __ _ __ __ ____ _ _ ______ _ _____ _ _ _ _ ___ ____ 40
18 Dexter Par k , near Little Tuj un-
ga Canyon ___ K 40
9 Sher man Way, San FernandoValley _ _ 2-l-
10 Whitley Park Countr y Club,
North Hollywood F 210
II Hollywood Countr y Club,
North Hollywood F 104
'3 Eagle Airport , North Holly-
wood ------------------------------- J 3,
14 Hollywood Heights Polo and
Hunting Clu b F 78
9 Pioneer Par k, Bur bank _ _ C 35
22 Nor th Hollywood Par k and
Playgr ound _ . C 90
26 Burbank Par k , Bur bank A 2
28 Lak esid e G olf Club, Nor th
Hollywood F 100
30 Glendale Airpor t, Glendale J 20
3 I Burbank Civic Center _ B 20
32 Lockheed Airport, Bur bank _ _ J 16
33 Panor ama Airpor t, Burbank J 38
34 Valhalla Cemetery, Bur bank _ II '35
35 Hollywood Aero Corpor ationField, North Hollywood J 40
37 Fernangeles Park, North Holly-
wood B 10
A. Park s a nd playground s I to 5 acres each _ _ 95 247
B _ Park s and playgr ound s 5 to 25 acr es each 69 839
C. Park s and playground s 25 to 100 acres
each ------------- ----- _ __________ _ ___ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _________ I 9 93-l-
D. Park s and playgr ound s 100 to 1,000
acres each I 2 3 ,8 96
E. Par k s and playground s over 1,000 acres 3,752
Quasi-P uhlic Recreation A l-eas.-
F. Golf Clu bs and Country Clu b, (outsid e
of park areas) 42
Qttasi-Public Areas H aving Possibl y
Some Recr eational Value.-
G. Water Lands ---------------------------- 53
H. Cemeteries ------ '7
1. Public Institutions a nd other quasi-public
land s (County, City, State and private) _ _ 36
J. Airpor ts (not including small land ing
fields) ---- ----- _______________ __ ___ _ 3 I
6,523
',347
A-6
A-6
District U nit
No. No.
Ar eas
Class in Acr es
A-I 4 Chatsworth R eservoir Land s G ',309
A-I 5 Oak wood Cemetery, Chatsworth H 200
A-2 8 Encino Park, Ventur a Blvd. A 4
A-2 9 _ El Caballer o Countr y Club F 120
A-2 10 St. Andr ews Golf Club F 120
A-4 6 Brand Par k at San Fer nand oMission B 6
A-4 8 County R ock Quarry at Pacoima
on Sa n Fer nando R oad I '91
A-6
A-6
A-6
A-6
A-6
A-6
*Since this table was compiled, Metropolitan Airport, near Van Nuys, Boeing Airport, in Burbank, Western Air Express Field, in Alhambra, and possiblys om e o thers, have been opened, while some airports have been discontinued. Areas included in this table under one ac re i n e xt ent are shown asone acre; oth er fractions have also been omitted.
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District Unit
No. No.
1'1.-6 38 Stonehur st Par k , near S an Fer -
nand o . B
1'1.-6 39 Lopez Wa te r Land s 111 Burbank G
1'1.-6 40 Lopez Water Lands 111 Bur bank G
1'1.-6 4 I Lopez Water Land s 111 Burbank G
1'1.-6 ,p Pomeroy-Hook er Water Land in
Bur bank . G
1'1.-6 43 Los Angeles Water Land inBurbank G
1'1.-6 45 Victor v-Van Owen Par k , North
Hollywood D
1'1.-7 2 Monte Vista Park, Sunland B
1'1.-7 1·1 Flintr id ge Country Club F
1'1.-7 13 Oak mont Countr y Clu b,
Glend ale F
1'1.-8 13 Ni bley Par k , Glend ale A
1'1.-8 16 Brock mont Park , Glend ale A
1'1.-8 3 I Hawley Playgr ound (leased ),
Los Angeles B
1'1.-8 32 Gr if f ith Park Playground .. B
1'1.-8 34 Verdugo Par k Site, Glend ale B
1'1.-8 35 Gr if fith Park Air por t, Los
Angeles -----.--------- ---------------- J1'1.-8 37 R aymond R eser voir Site, Glen-
d ale G
1'1.-8 39 Gr and view Cemeter y, Glend ale H
1'1.-8 45 Glend ale R eser voir Park . A
1'1.-8 49 Cam pbell Str eet R eser voir Site,Glend ale G
1'1.-8 52 Glend ale R eservoir Site G
1'1.-8 57 Hunter s Highland Tract-L.A.
Water (San Fer nand o R oad ) G
1'1.-8 58 L. A. Water Land on Los An-
geles River G
1'1.-8 59 L. A. Water Land on Glend ale
Boulevard ~ G
B-1 2 R ivier a Golf Club at SantaMonica F
B-1 Br entwood Countr y Clu b at
Santa Monica F
B- I 7 U .C.L.A. Campus _
B- I 10 Los Angeles Countr y Clu b at
Beverly Hills F
B-1 I[ Westwood Golf Clu b at Bev-
er I y Hi 115... _ _.__ __ ____ __ _ _ _ ____ ____ ___ F
B-1 12 Hillcr est Countr y Club at B~v-er ly Hills.. F
B-, '3 R ancho Countr y Clu b at Bev-
er ly Hills F
B-, '7 Sawtelle Playgr ound . B
B-, ,8 Clover Field Air por t, Santa
Mon i ca ---------------------- ------------ JB-, 19 Santa Monica Golf Cour se, D
AI' eas
Class in A cr es
' 40
43°
Dist rict U nit
N o. No.
Ar eas
Class inAcres
B-1 24 Palisad es Avenue Par k , Santa
Monica _ _ A
B-, 26 Palisad es Park , Santa Monica _ C
B-, 27 Lincoln Par k, Santa Monica BB-, 34 Santa Monica Playground A
B-1 40 Machado Park , Venice A
B- [ 47 Westward Ho Country Clu b atVenice __ F
B-, 49 Lindber gh Par k , Culver City A
B-1 50 Victory Par k , Culver City A
B-, 53 California Country Clu b' at
Culver City __ ___ __ _ _ _ ___ _ F
B-, 57 South Sid e Park, Santa Monica _ A
B-, 58 Holmby Par k , near Bever ly
Hills . .___ B
B-, 6, Lindber gh Park , Santa Monica A
B-1 62 Santa Monica Park A
B-, 63 Wood lawn Cemeter y, SantaMonica H
B-, 64 Venice Beach . _.. B
B- I 66 Soldier s' Home, Sawtelle I
B-1 68 Santa Monica R eser voir Site " G
B-'! 7 I Centinela Sewer Land s, Mesmer Ci ty I
B-'! 73 Del R ey Gun Clu b, Venice F
B-1 74 R ecr eation G un Clu b, Venice F
B'2 Beverly Hills Park .. __.. A
B-2 3 Bever ly Hills Par k .. __. A
B-2 9 Poinsettia Playgr ound, Holly-
wood . .. ._.__ __ B
B-2 14 De Longpr e Par k , Hollywood .. A
B-2 19 Wilshir e Countr y Clu b .. _ _ F
B-2 22 Los Angeles High School Me-
mor ial Par k ; Wilshir e Distr ict A
B-2 25 Hancock Park , Wilshir e District B
B-2 27 La Cienega Playgr ound, Bev-
erly Hills.. . B
B-2 29 'Roxbur y Playgr ound , Bever ly
Hills .... .___ _ __ _ _ _ _______ B
B-2 38 Queen Anne Playgr ound, Wil-
shir e DistricL A
B-2 +' Ver mont Avenue Par k way,Hollywood . B
B-2 42 Vineyard Playground, Wilshir e
Distr ict A
B-2 46 Hollywood Cemetery if B-2 47 Calif or nia Aer ial Trans por t
Field , near Benrly Hills ----- JB-3 5 Yale Playground , Los Angeles .. A
B-3 " Echo Park Playgr ound, LosAngeles .____ _ A
B-3 64 Barnsd all Park, Los Angeles B
B- 3 6 5 Silver Lak e R es~r voir Land, LosAngeles .. G
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District Unit
No. No.
Echo Park, Los Angeles C
Everett Park , Los Angeles A
Old U.C.L.A. Campus, Los
Angeles ILa Fayette Par k, Los Angeles B
Westlak e Par k , Los Angeles C
Terrace Park .. _ A
University of Southern Cali-
f ornia Campus .
Occid ental Boulevard Park , Los
Angeles .. . __.. _ _ A
St. James Park, Los Angeles A
Rosedale Cemeter y, Los An-
geles ... _ . _.. c •• H
Belleview R eservoir Land , Los
Angeles .. . ... _ _ .__.. G
R owena R eservoir Land , Los
Angeles G
Darby Str eet R eservoir Land,Los Angeles G
EI Segund o Park . _ .... A
Los Angeles Univer sity Land s,
Del R ey Hills . . I
Loyola Univer sity, Del R eyHills _ _. . _ _ ___ _ _________ I
Del R ey Beach Park B
Hy per ion Sewer Land , near El
Segund o . .....
Mines Field A ir port, near In-
glewood ----------------------------.--- J
Fox Hills Countr y Club, near
Culver City . _ _ . _ .. . _ _.. F
Inglewood Par k . __.. __. C
P otre ro Country Cl ub, Ingle-wood . ._ _ _ __ __ _ ___________ _ _ F
Wester n Avenue Golf Coul'se,
ne ar I nglewood _ _.. F
Alond ra Par k, near Lawnd ale __ D
Grevillea Avenue Park, Ingle-wood . . . _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _____ __ __ _ _ A
Inglewood Cemetery . H
Los Angeles Airways Field,
near Inglewood J
Master Air craft Corporation
Field , n ear Inglewood _ _ _ _ _ __ _ ___ _ J
Aero Cor por ation of California
Field, nea I' Inglewood _ .____ JK elly Air port, Hawthor ne _ .. J
Belleview Golf Course, near Inglewood .. F
Dycer s Airpor t, near Gard ena _ _ J
Centr al Playground , Los An-geles . A
Areas
C lass in Acres
District U nit
No. No.
C-3 67
C-3 75
C-3 80
C-3 87
C-+
C-+ 2
C-4- 14-
C-+ J 8
C-+ 19
C- + 20
C-+ 2 I
C-4- 22
C-+ 26
C-j 13
C- j J+
C- j 16
C-6 9
C-6 12
C-7 1 to 4 -
C-7 7
C-7 9
C-7 10
Areas
C lass in A er e!
R oss Snyd er Playgr ound, Los
Angeles ._ _ _ _ _ _ ___ __ B
Slauson Community Play-
gr ound , Los Angeles __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ ASlauson Playground, Los An-
geles _. ... A
Manchester Playground, LosAngeles .____ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ __ B
Har var d Playground, Los An-geles _ .. .. B
Chester field Sq uar e Park, Los
Angeles .. A
Sou th Pa rk , Los Angeles. B
Vermont Squar e Park, Los An-
geles ._ _ _ _ _ __ ____ _ ___ __ _ __ _ _ __ A
Ex posit ion Park, Los Angeles __._ D
Pacific Air Trans por t Field , at
Bald win Hills .. J
Lincoln Air Line Field, at Bald -W1l1 Hills -----------------------------. J
Amer ican Air cr aft Field , at
Baldwin Hills .. .__ J
R oger s Air por t, at Bald win
Hills ------------------.------------------- J
Sunset Golf Cour se, Baldw inHills F
Manhattan Beach Park A
Manhattan Beach Par k B
R edondo Beach City Par k .. B
Vincent Par k , R edond o Beaeh _ A
Her mosa Beach Park . A
R ed ondo Beach Country Clu b __ . F
County Beach at Manhattan
Beach .. . .__ A
City B~ach at Manhattan Beach A
Hermosa and R ed ond o Public
Beaches .. B
Palos Verd es Air port, near Palos
Ver des ------------.-----.--------------- J
Southwest Airpor t, near Gar -
d ena ----------... --------.------ JShor t Ai rport, near Gardena --- J
Compton Airport ----------- J
R oosevelt Cemeter y, Gard ena _ 1-1
Banning Par k & Playgr ound,
Wilmington . . ._ _______ B
Wilmington Water Land G
Val Monte Park, Palos Verd es __ C
Val Monte Par kway, Palos
Verd es . .._. . .__ A
Malaga Str ip, Palos Verdes B
Malaga Park , Palos Verdes D
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Dist r ict U nit
N o. No.
D-3
D-3
D-3
D-3
D-3D-3
D-3
D-3
D-3
D-+
A" eas
C lass in Acr es
1 + Malaga Hills Park, Palos
Verd es C
16 Mar tins Park , Palos Verd es A2 I Zurita Canyon Par k , Palos
Verd es B
23 I'llar gate Canyon Park , Palos
Verd es ._ _ C
2 + Douglas Hillsid es, Palos Verd es C
26 Del Sol H illsid es, Palos Ver d es _ B
27 La Costa Hillsid es, Palos Ver d es A
28 Malaga Bluff s, Palos Verd es B
29 Bluf f Cove Shor es, Palos Ver des C
30 Mar gate Parkway, Palo s V er d es A
3 I Estudillo Hillsid es, Palos Ver d es A
J2 Land etta Hillsid es, Pa los Verd es B
33 Cor onel Canyon, Palos Verd es _ B
3+ Mir ola Hill, Pa los Ver d es A37 Zumaya Trail, Palos Verd es B
38 Zumaya Canyon Park, Palos
Verd es A
+0 Lunad a Canyon Par k , PalosVerd es C
+ 2 Paseo Lunado, Palos Verd es A
++ R esor t Point Bluff, Palos Verd es B
+5 Lunad a Bay Shor e, Palos Verd es B
+6 R ock y Point Bluff, Palos Ver d es B
5 Averill Par k, San Ped r o B
8 And er son Playgr ound, San Pedr o A
10 Alma Park, San Ped r o___ _ _ _ _ __ __ ___ A
1+ Point Fermin Park , Sa n Pedr o _ B
15 Leland Par k, Sa n Pedr o B
18 Harbor Playgr ound s, San Ped r o B19 San- P ed r o Cemetery, San Pedr o H
20 Fort McAr thur , San Pedr o I
23 R oyal Palms Golf and Country
Club, San Ped ro _ _ F
City Park, Huntington Park B
5 Rio Hondo Country Clu b, near
Downey F
7 Security Airport, Montebello J8 Pasad ena Water Land s, Monte-
bello G
6 Alta Par k, Whittier . A
7 Centr al Park, Whittier A
9 Loftus Par k , Whittier A
25 Br oad way Park , Whittier A
27 Whittier Water Lan d, Whittier .. G28 Pio Pi co Mansion, Whittier .. I
J2 Mt. Olive Cemeter y, ¥-'hittier _ H
3+ State Hos pital, at Nor walk I
36 State School f or Boys, Whittier I
10 Houghton Park, Long Beach C
Dist r ict Unit
N o. N o.
D-+
D-+
D-+
D-5
D-5
D-s
D-,D-,D-5
D-S
D-5
D-5
D-5
D-5
D-5
D-5
Areas
Class in Acr es
Vir ginia Countr y Club,Long Beach F
Long Beach Water Land &Air por t G
Long Beach Water Land G
Long Beach Water Land G
County Farm, near Downey _ I
R ecr eation Par k, Long Beach __ D
Bluff Park, Long Beach B
Bix by Par k , Long Beach B
Lincoln Park, Long Beach A
Los Cerritos Park, Long Beach A
Knoll Par k , Long Beach A
Santa Cr uz Park , Long Beach _ A
Look out Park, Long Beach _ A
Ocean Avenue Par k s, Long
Beach B
Alamitos Beach Park, LongBeach A
Long Beach R eser voir Land _ _ ___ _ G
Long Beach Water Land G
Long Beach, Beach A
Long Beach Pu blic Beach and
Auditorium B
Downey Playground, Los An-
geles A
R ecr eation Center Playground ,
Los Angeles ____ _ ___ ___ _ _ ____ _ A
Whittier Playground , Los An-
geles A
Ever gr een Playgr ound, Los
Angeles B
Pecan Playgr ound, Los Angeles A
Pr os pect Park, Los Angeles A
State Str eet Playgr ound, LosAngeles A
Hazard Park and Playground,
Los Angeles C
Hollenbeck Park, Los Angeles _ _ B
Hostetter Playgr ound, Los An-geles A
Lincoln Park, Los Angeles C
Ever gr een Cemeter y, Los An-geles H
New Calvar y Cemeter y, Belve-
d er e Distr icL H
B'nai B'rith Cemetery, Belved er e
District H
Calif or nia Air ways Field, Bel-
ved er e DistricL _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ ___ __ _ JCounty Hos pital, Los Angeles _ I
l.O.O.F. Cemeter y, Belved er e
District H
Monte bello Golf Cl ub F
Monte bello Park B
95
+82
+00
710
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District U nit
No. No.
E-3 11
E-3 14
F-l 16
F-I 18
F-2 50
F-2 51
F -2 53
F-2 54
F -2 55
F-2 56
F -2 57
F -2 59
F-2 61
F-2 62
F-2 63
F-2 64-
F -2 65
F-2 66
F -2 68
F-2 69
F-2 70
F -2 73
F-2 82-85
F -2 97
F-2 98
F -2 99
F-3 2
Areas
C lass in Acres
Montebello Playground A
Belved ere Park , Belved er e Dis-trict A
Monar ch Air port, near Monte-
bello --------------------------------------JVail Field Air port, near Monte-
bello, -- - -- -------------- -- JYosemite Playground, Eagle
R ock .. B
Occid ental College Cam pus,
Eagle R ock _
Sycamor e Grove Par k, Los
Angeles ,_ _ _ _ _ B
(Ar royo Seco) Victory Park
NO.1 and No.2, Los Angeles D
Garvanza Park , Los Angeles A
Arroyo Seco Playground , LosAngeles A
Oak Gr ove Park & Water Land,
Altad ena D
Garfield Par k, South Pasad ena A
R aymond Golf Cour se, South
Pasad ena F
American Legion Park, Pasa-dena A
Singer Par k , Pasad ena A
Central Park, Pasad ena B
Memor ial Park, Pasad ena A
La Pintor esca Park , Pasad ena A
Washington Park , Pasad ena . A
Pasad ena Country Club, Alta-
dena ... ... _ _.. . . _ .... _ F
California Institute of Tech-
nology, Pasad ena ..__ .... _ . . I
Tournament Park , Pasadena B
San Mar ino Park , San Marino _ C
Arroyo Seco Park, Sou th Pasa-d ena C
Mission Par k , South Pasad ena _ _ A
Brook sid e Par k , Pasad ena D
Carmelita Park, Pasad ena B
Lower Arroyo Par k , Pasad ena _ C
Huntington Estate, San Mar ino I
Los Angeles County Nur ser ies,Altad e-na . I
Yard R eservoir Site, Pasad ena _ _ G
Pasad ena Civic Center .. ._.. B
Casitas Wells, Altad ena . G
Mt. View Cemllter y, Altad ena _ H
Pasad ena R eser voir Site G
San Ga briel Country Club, SanGabr iel F
Alhambr a Park B
District U nit
No. No.
F-8
F-8
M-l
Areas
Class in A cns
Midwick Country Club, Alham- bra F
Savannah Par k , R osemead A
Air por t, San Ga br iel _ _ ___ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ JSan Ga briel Mission I
Pasad ena Sewer Far m, San.Ga-
briel __ . . __ I
Besse Playground, Lamand aPar k A
Sier ra Mad r e Park _ A
R oss Field Air port, Etc. (U. S.),Ar cadia . I
Arcadia Par k A
Monr ovia Li br ary Park ._ A
Monrovia Park B
Santa A nita R iding & Hunting
Club, Ar cad ia F
Pr eci pice Canyon Water Land ,
Altad ena G
Eaton Canyon Water Land , Al-tad ena _ _ . G
Sierr a Mad r e Water Land G
Sierra Madr e Water Land . G
Michillind a Par k , Pasad ena A
Monrovi a Water Land , Ar cadia G
Ar cadia Water Land s G
County Quar ry, Azusa I
- Temple Park, Ar cadia __ ____ _ __ __ _ _ _ A
Sierr a Madr e Water Land s G
Monr ovia R eservoir Site, Ar-cadia G
Monrovia R eser voir Site,
Ar cadia G
Covina Park BCounty Quarry, Azusa I
Morgan Park, Bald win Par k B
Pomona College, Clar emonL I
County Fair Gr ound s, Pomona _ I
Lincoln Par k , Pomona A
Wash ing to n Park , Pomona A
Garf ield Park, Pomona A
Central Par k , Pomona A
R odger s Field Airport, near
Puente ---------------------------------- JPomona Airport ------------------------ JSan Dimas Pa rk I
Bel-Air Countr y Club, near
Santa Monica F
Occid ental College Site, near
Santa Monica _
California Botanic Gar d ens, near
Santa Monica I-
Hollyw ood Bowl I
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Dist rict U nit
No. N o.
M-I
M-T
M-[
M-I
M-I
M-I
M-5
M-5
M-5
M-5
M-6
M-6
M-6
M-6
M-6
M-8
M-8
A" eas
Class in Acr es
Encino Countr y Club, Ventur a
Boulevard _ F
Gir ard Countr y Club, Girard F
U pper Fr anklin R eser voir Land,
Bever ! y Hills G
Lower F ra nklin R eservoir Land,
Bever ly Hills G
Stone Canyon Water Land s, Bel-Air G
Encino R eser voir Site, Encino G
Stone Canyon R eser voir Site,
near Santa Monica _ _ __ _ _ G
Gir ar d R eservoir Site, Girar d G
U . S . Lighthouse Water Land s,
Malibu R anch _ ___ _ ____ _ __ G
Stough Par k , BIll· bank D
Sunset Canyon Gol f C lub, B ur- bank F
Br and Park, Glend ale D
Burbank R eser voir G
Chevy Chase Golf Club, Glen-d ale F
Glendale R eservoir Lands G
Chevy Chase R eser voir Land s,
Glend ale G
Vacant Water Land, Glendale _ _ G
Annand ale Country Clu b, Pasa-d ena F
Ver d ugo Playground s, Los An-
geles B
For est Lawn Cemeter y, Glend ale H
Ascot R eser voir Land s, Los An-geles G
Elysian Par k , Los Angeles D
Elysian Par k Playground , Los
Angeles _,__ ____ _ _______ _ _ _ ____ _ _ B
Di_ ,t rict Unit
N o. No.
M-8
M-8
M-8
M-8
M-9
M-9
M-TT
M-q
Y-I
Y-I
Ar ea;
Class in Acr es
Victory Heights Water Land ,
Los Angeles G
Catholic Cemetery, Los Angeles H
Pest House, Los Angeles I
Jewish Cemetery, Los Angeles _ _ H
Yale Playgr ound, Los Angeles _ A
Gr iffith Park , Los Angeles E
Hollywood R eser voir Land s G
EI Tesoro Canyon Park, PalosVerd es B
Lor raine Bound ar y P a rk, PalosVer d es A
Fr ascati Canyon Park , Palos
Ver d es B
Mir aleste Canyon Par k, Palos
Verd es . B
Haciend a Country Club, LaHabr a . _ _ __ _ F
Mountain Mead ows Countr y
Clu b, Pomona F
Ganesha Park, Pomona C
Plaza, Los Angeles A
A pablasa Playgr ound , Los An-
geles _ ,-------------------------- A
Per shing Squar e, Los Angeles B
Wall Str eet Playground, Los
Angeles A
Civic Center, Los Angeles A
Silverad o Park , Long Beach B
Plaza Pa rk, San Pedro ____ _ ____ _ __ _ _ A
Ter minal Island Playgr ound B
Allen Field Airpor t, Ter minal
Island ------------------------- --------- J
Long Beach, Beach B
Prad o Park , Torr ance ___ _ A
Tor r ance Air port ------------- -------- J
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C o py o f Lett er on Nigger Slough and Other Lands L ying Below Possible Drainage
Levels, Submitted by Olmst ed Brothers on May 21st, 1926, to the Board
of Supervisors of Los Angeles County
GENTLEME N: Our preliminar y studies of the
Nigger Slough portion of Improvement No. 15
und er the Mattoon Act have r aised certain problems of drainage and f illing, our consid era tion of which has
d r awn attention to certain fund amental questions of prin-
ciple and policy aff ecting also other large areas of land
in Los Angeles County lying wholly outsid e of the pr es-
ent southwestern im provement district.
These q uestions are of such far -r each ing importance
to the County and the need of adopting a sound general
method f or d ealing with them is a ppar ently becoming
so ur gent that we feel bound to su bmit this brief outline
of them to you, and to ad vocate their pr ompt and thor-
ough consider ation apart f rom, but c oncurrently with,
the development of plans for Improvement No.1 5.
Nigger Slough is only one of sever al lar ge areas in the
County wher e the elevation of the land is so near sea
leve l tha t or dinary method s of gr avity d r ainage b y open
channels and stor m sewer s, whethe r und ertak en at thegeneral ex pense b y the Flood Control District or at
local ex pense b y local dr ainage distr icts, cannot possibly
be mad e to protect the land from constantly repeated
ser ious inundations, unless the surface o f the land is
r aise d in a wholesale manner by f illing.
For some kind s of par k uses, land may be subj ect to
occasional flooding without serious d etriment, provided it
can be pro perly dr ained in the inten'als between flood s,
and the same is true of most agricultur :ll uses. But it is ob-
vious that cond itions ought not to be allowed to a rise
which will subject land used for streets and for build-
ing purposes to r ecurring inund ations.
In the absence of d ef inite engineer ing d etermination of
the elevations to which flood water s can be limited in
these low ar eas b y method s which ar e pr actica ble f rom
an engineering and fr om an economic stand point, and inthe a bsence of pr oper legal contr ol of building operations
on such land s, it is as cer tain as anything can be that, par tly
through ignor ance and par tly through unscr upulousness,
these ar eas will be largely d evelo ped in such a manner that
in ever y per iod of heavy rainfall not only will streets be
submerged but the water s will r ise over the f loor s of houses
and other buildings, causing enormous inconvenience and economic loss, creating seriously unsanitar y conditions,
and tending to pr od uce the most ob j ectionable of slums.
And the wor st of it is that wher e this cond ition ar ises ther e
will be no practicable r emed y short of r aising bodily the
elevation of entir e districts after gr eat sums of money may
have been s pent in build ing streets, houses and other im-
provements below the irr educi ble f lood lel'el.
The principles involved can be r ead ily und er stood
f rom the enclosed d iagr ams r elating to the Nigger Slough
basin, With var iations of d etail the same pr inciples a pply
to other lar ge ar eas, notably in the surround ings of the
cit y of Long Beach and in the Ballona Creek Valley.
Diagr am I is a pr ofile along the line of the Nigger
Slough drainage canal of the Flood Contr ol Distr ict.
The solid line shows the natur al surface of the ground.
The shad ed line indicates the a ppr oximate elevation of extreme high tid e. The d otted line shows the bottom of
the canal as pr o posed, and as constr ucted a t a tempor arily
r educed wid th, by the Flood Contr ol District, with a
gr adient rising at the r ate of only one foot to the mile
fr om tidewater .
The dot a nd d ash line shows the elevations of f lood
water in the canal computed by the engineer s of the Dis-
trict, as it would be if the canal we re completed as
planned and f or a flood d ischarge of only 1,050 second -
feet. W ith tlu imt allat ion o f sheet s , buildings) and ot her
impr ovement s ilt the tributary drainage ar ea a ver ' Y much
lar gu flood nm-o ff t han t his is absolutel y cer t ailt . 'We ar e
inf ormed that the City Drainage District De par tment has
com puted the d rainage ar ea above Main Str eet at 7+
squar e miles and the run-off as 2,000 second f eet, on the
assumption that 107"0 of the d rainage area wil l be builtu p as industrial, 50 7 " 0 as r esid ential, and 40 r o will r emain
in its pr esent cond ition. Sel'enty-four into 2,000 gives a
run-ofl' of only 27 second -f eet per sq uar e mile, the eq uiv-
alent of 1/2+ of an inch of rainfall per hour . While
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. : .' "
~~
~~~,~~,~ ~-,- -.1
bOTTOM f Y CAN AJ AS Pr R.rL ooOl awT.('Ol OI~TRlcT P LA " NJ
O~ / 9/1 .7i.OPI! IFoor ~Jl MILE .
I I4 ~ 6 7 Q 9
..I!PPROXlM AT£ CJ/~rANCE:5 IN MILE5 nON N£ARE~r PO/NT I N IIARlJOIi!?
70 ~MPf?NY LETTER OF
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PLATE 6 5. Profile of Nigger Slough drainage basin, show-
ing assumed flood profile.
such an assumption may be entir ely reasona ble as a basis
for any immed iate constr uction, it seems unreasonable to
assume that after urban development shall have contin-
ued f or (say) two or thr ee generations there will not oc-cur , at rather f r eq uent intervals, a r un-off ver y greatly
exceed ing 27 second -f eet per sq uare mile. It would not be
sur prising if the maximum run-off in rainy year s should
in time grow to be five or ten times that f igure, and by
that time the r ight of way for the d rainage outlet fr om
the basin to the har bor will certainly have become walled -
in by innumer able industrial plants, an d w ill have been
crossed by many str eet and railroad embank ments, the
o penings thr ough which will tend to limit the possible
capacity of the channel and i ncr ease the gr adient of f lood
water discharge.
The down-str eam portion of the f lood pr of ile could be
consid erably lower ed by dr edging the bottom of the canal
below high tid e level, permitting tid ewater to ebb and
flow in the canal. This raises questions as to the probablesanitar y conditions which would ar ise in such a long, nar -
row, semi-stagnant tid al canal; but even if such a d ee p-
dr edged channel proved to be feasible without cr eating a
nuisance, it seems o bvious that limitations of cost upon the
depth and width of the channel, and upon the size of the
PLATE 66. Plan of Nigger Slough d rainage basin, showing
ar eas likely to be f looded .
numer ous street br idges across it will make it a matter of
v'er y gr eat, if not of insuper able, cost to lower the ultimate
flood prof ile in the neighborhood of Main Str eet to an
elevation a ppreciably lower than t hat assu med by theFlood Contr ol District when they figurtd on a chan-
nel 20 f eet wid e at the bottom for a run-off of less than
14 second-f eet per sq uar e mile-to say nothing of the
chance that f lood s may in time back u p to even higher
levels than the prof ile shown.
Diagram 2 shows the approximate extent of the land s
East o f Main Street which wou ld be put und er water by
flood s r ising to that profile. Their area is a pproximately
1,500 acr es.
If this and similar ar eas ar e not tak en f or par k r eser va-
tions, it seems to us that it is the clear duty o f the County
author ities, fir st, to d eter mine by painstaking engineering
studies the lowest elevations at which it will be practicable
to hold the f lood s in such low ar eas by provid ing reason-
able sizes of main drainage channels; second , to tak e suchste ps as ar e necessar y to ensur e the reser vation of rights of
way for such channels and f or their ultimate construction
at the pro per time (presuma bly at the general ex pense by
the Flo od Co ntro l District); t hir d, to d etermine at
what minimum elevations, in r elation to the pr os pective
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contr olled flood levels, str eets can be establ ished and
houses er ected without cr eating cond itions prej udicial to
the pu blic health, saf ety and gener al welfare; and f inally,
to establish, und er pr oper enabling legislation, regulations
prohibiting the opening of new str eets not graded u p to
the minimum safe elevation and pr ohibiting the construc-tion of buildings exce pt at safe elevations, with proper
exceptions to allow for agricultural and other improve-
ments of a non-r esid ential char acter which could be in-
und ated without serious pr ej udice to t he pu blic welfar e.
Agricult ure and r ecreat i01~ are tlt e pr inci pal uses t o
wlt iclt suclt lou' land can pr o perl y be put witlt out tlte large
expense f or filling tltem u p t o a level sa f e f r om d isa.rt l" ouS
fiood in:;.
As the sur r ounding ar eas fill up with industr ial and r esi-
dential develo pments on higher ground it will be exped i-
ent and economical to acq uire consid er able areas of these
land s for the r ecr eation of the sur r ounding population,
and this can be done at t he price of agricultural land if ,
and only if, s peculator s ar e r estrained f rom d eveloping
and mark eting build ing lots on low land s without fir st
filling them sufficiently to mak e them permanently fit f or
human ha bitation.
It is interesting to note that somewhat compar able co n-
ditions have been encounter ed in some of the easter n sea-
boar d cities. In Boston and the Boston Metropolitan
District there ar e thousand s of acr es where the land is, or
originally was, at a bout the elevation of mean high tid e,
and ther efor e su b ject to fr eq uent, though usually ver y
shallow, inundation. In Boston f or a bout the last seventy
year s, and for various shorter period s in the sur rounding
territor y, no streets have been permitted to be opened at
elevations lower than the standard, computed to be saf e
f rom flooding in case of coincidence of a maximum high
tide with a heavy rain-storm, and n o d wellings or other
ordinar y urban structur es ar e permitted und er the build -
ing laws exce pt upon str eets at or above the standard mini-
mum elevations and when themselves constr ucted at such
elevations and in such manner as to make them safe and
sanitary in view o f t he pr edicta ble maximum water level.
Throughout the whole of the "Back Bay" r esidential
and business d istr ict of Boston, and on other areas totaling
many square miles in extent, all the str eets have been
filled six f eet or mor e above the natur al surf ace and any
basements extend ing below street grad e ar e r equired to be
water tight and provid ed with artificial dr ainage depend -
ing on pumps or e j ector s. In Boston and es pecially in the
sur r ounding metr opolitan district, a consid er a ble fraction
of the l ow land s sub j ect to inundation in their natur al"
state have been acq uir ed for park purposes at very reason-
able prices compared with values on adjoining upland s,
because such low land s cannot b e used f or building pur -
poses without the costly f illing necessar y to fit them for such use.
It is to be noted fur ther that the d anger s of uncon-
trolled pri,'ate d evelopment on land s too near sea level
to be economically capa ble of pr otection f r om inundation
are much mor e insiduous in the Los Angeles d istrict than
in easter n sea board cities because extreme fluctuations in
rainfall here make most of these l ow land s during drv
seasons much less unattr active for build ing operations than
in the East, wher e they ar e generally wa ter-soak ed a"
often as once or twice a month even though maximum
flood s may occur no mor e often than they do her e.
Park plans for the portion of Nigger Slough abOl-e
Main Str eet have been mad e on the assumption that the
land will be permanently su b j ect to flooding in wet
seasons up to levels a ppr oximately as high as the flood pro-
file originally assumed by the Flood Contr ol District,
frank ly r ecognizing that if these levels ar e not to be
gr eatly exceed ed the capacity of the outlet channel will in
time have to be enor mously incr eased beyond that pr o-
vid ed for in the Distr ict's original plans; but we can-
not t oo str ongly urge t he impor tance of pr omptly facing
the ultimat e engineering solution of tlt e whole problem
as aff ecting not mer ely the Nigger Slough Basin both in-
side and outsid e the Southwest Improvement Distr ict, but
also the other extensive low ar eas of the County where
subdivisions ar e steadily cr ee ping in to mak e untold
troubles for the future.
If the permanent deter mination of the economically
practicable water levels, during dr y weather and during
flood s, which can b e permanently ensur ed in the Nigger
Slough Basin is not made bef or e the park improvements
are actually installed in the ar ea between Normandie
Avenue and Main Str eet, these par k im pr ovements will
have to b e c onstructed on a gam ble, which will involve
either the expenditur e of a lot of money in constr uction
that may later prove to have been unnecessar y or else
taking a ser ious risk o f unsatisf actor y r esults and later
reconstr uctions, or both.
Respect f ull y submitted ,
OLMSTED BROTHER S.
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APPENDIX NO. IV
Table of Comparat ive Powers, Duties, and Resour ces of Various M e"" o politan
A ge n cie s of Cal i forni a and El . rewltere
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[ I 54 ] PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
Los Angeles C ount y
F lood -Control Dist r ict
DI S TR I C T
( I) Date of Legislation
( 2) How established
( 3) Ar ea com prised
1915
Special Act
Par t of County
( 5) Vote r eq uir ed
GOVER N I NG BODY:
( 6) Consists of Boar d of Super visor s of
Los Angeles County
( 7) Term of Service
( 8) Ap pointed by
Count y S anit at ion
Dist r icts
1923
*Enabling Act
Cities and parts of
County
County Board of
Supervisor s unless
2% d emand election
*Ma jority
Board of Dir ector s, consist-
ing of Executive of
County and of each city
M et r o politan
W at er Dist ricts
1927
*Ena bling Act
Cities
Boar d of Dir ector s,
r e pr esenting each city
POW ER AN D DUT IE S:
( 9) Acquisition, d evelo pment and
control of land Yes Yes Yes
([0) Eminent domain Yes Yes Yes
([I) Sale of surplus land Yes Yes Yes
([2) Assessment of benef its
( 13) Police contr ol
R E S OU RCE S :(14) Per centage of assessed valuation
allowed in bond s Not limited Not limited 15%
PROGR E SS M A DE:
(17 ) In oper ation since 19 15.
Bond s issued and
author ized a bout
$40,000,000
Nine such d istricts in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles and [[
other cities f ormed a
distr ict in 1928
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Appendix No. IV [ 1 5 5 ]
PARK LEGISLATION I N OTHER STATES
(Boston) Westchester New Jer sey Chicago Illinois County Missouri
Metropolitan County County Park Sout h Park Forest Preser ve Public Reservat ion
Park District (New York) Districts District Distr ict Districts
( r)
( 2) Special Act S pecial *Ena bling Act S pecial *Ena bling Act *Ena bling Act
( 3) *Several Counties One County One County Local One County *Several Counties
( 4) Act Act Vote, in County Act *Petition of 500 * 5 % petition
of over 200,000 f or election
( 5) None None *Major ity None *Ma jority *Major ity
( 6) *Commission of *Board of S i x *Commission *Boar d of five *Boar d of five *Commission
f ive of five of .f ive
( 7)
5 years 3 years 5 years *4 years 5 years
( 8) *Gover nor County Board Pr esiding Jud ge Fir st f ive by Chairman of *Gover nor
of Su per visors of Supreme Governor , there- County Board
Court of Count)' af ter by Judge of Su pervisors
of Circuit Court
( 9) *Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(10) *Yes Thr ough Yes Yes Yes Yes
Su pervisors
( I I) *Yes Yes
(12) *Yes Yes Yes
( 13) *Yes Yes Yes Yes
( 14) Special Acts *s% a. $2,SOO,000 Was 5%; now a. To acq uir e "l. Y z of r %
b. $2,800,000 not limited 35,000 acres b. Ad d itional
c. $800,000 Y z of 1%
b. r %
(r 5) Not r eq uir ed Not r eq uired a. Not req uired Major ity a. Not r eq uired a. Not required
b. Major ity b. Major ity b. % votec. Not req uired
(r6) Annual Not limited Not limited r oc per $100 Not limited 20C per $100
Legislation
(I7 ) Large System Large system Essex and Union Finest small 35,000 acres of
Com pleted. being com pleted . Counties have par k s and some forest landsCost about Estimated cost, systems fairly lar ge ones acq uired ;
$25,000,000 $60,000,000 com plete; others com pleted now being
star ting extend ed
*Details suitable f or Los Angeles Parks are shown with a star. (*)
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Shor e Land Rights in Cali f ornia: An Opinion S ubmitt ed t o the Cit izens' Committ ee
In 1928 b y O' M elveney , T uller & M yer s, Att or neys at La'IV
I. Shor e land r ights in gener aL _
II. Natur e of California's r ights _
III. Grants of t id eland s and of land s und er naviga ble
"'a tel'S in general . ~ _
A. Purposes for which grants may be mad e:
I. In ai d of navigation _
2. For purposes which do not interf er e with
na v j ga tion . . _
3- For purposes which may interf er e with
na v j ga tion . . .
IV. Agencies through which such land s have been
leased and conveyed into private hand s _
V. Title to submer ged and t id eland s cannot be per-
fected by ach-er se possession _
VI. The r es pective rights of the State, and incor po-
rated cities and towns, littoral or r i parian own-
er s, and the public:
I. The rights of the state in general _
(a) Title by ad verse possession _
(b) Title of the S ta te to tideland s within the
limits of incor porated cities and towns
has been conveyed to such cities and to\vns .. .. _
2. The rights of littor al pr oprietor s in and to
ti d e la n d s : _
(a) Enumeration of their rights:
(I) Right to passage over such land nec-
essary to access to naviga ble water s
(2) Littoral propr ietor s ar e entitled to
accr et io ns ad ded t o their land s _
(3) Littoral proprietor s possibly have
seashor e rights of an esthetic natur e
( b) Extent of the rights of littoral proprie-
tor s _
(1) R ights may be pr otected by in j unc-
tion wher e inter f er ed with by an
unlicensed individ ual or p rivate
co rpo r ati 0n _
PAGE
156
156
(2) \\Ther e the State or an incorpor ated
city o r town in car rying out some
pro ject in aid of navigation inter -
f eres with such rights, the propr ie-
tor will not be granted r elieL _
(3) Also, wher e pr ivate inter ests with
the permission of the State per form
cer tain acts in aid of n av igation
which interf er e with suc b r ights,
such proprietor s have no legal or
equitable r emed y _
(4 -) R ights of littoral pr o prietor s to en-
join acts of individuals not in aid
of navigation, but wit h the ex pr ess
permission of the State u pon tid e-
land s, has not yet been d etermined _
(5) The r ight o f a li ttor al proprietor to
enjoin as a nuisance acts on the
for eshore and tid elad ns by the
State, and individ uals with the
State's per mission, to r emove oil or
other miner als belonging to theState, has not yet been d etermined
The rights of the public in submerged and
tid eland s _ _
(a) The extent of t his r ight : _
(I) Includ es the r ight of navigation,
impr oving har bor s, and build ingwhar ves _
(2) R ight of f ishing _
(3) Right of hunting. _
(4-) The r ight of bathing is not f ully
established and is subject to the su-
perior right of navigation and
f ish e r y _
(~) Mod ern d ecisions seem to in-
dicate a tr end toward r ecogni-t ion o f such a r ight in the
p ubli c _
( b) However, there is no right in
the public to cross private
pr operty to r each the oeean _
159
159
3·
159
159
159
159
160
160
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OPINIO N ON SHORE LAND RIGHTS IN
CALIFOR NIA
1. T he Stat e succeeded to Rights S imilar t o
T he Rights o f t he Ot her States in T id elands
W hen California W as Admit t ed t o t he Union.It is clear ly esta blished by statute that the State owns
the land " below tidewater and below ord inar y high-
water mark bord ering upon tid ewater wit hin the State"
(C. C. Sec. 670), and by the Constitution that the
owner ship of the State extend s out into the Pacific
Ocean "thr ee English miles" (Constitution, Art. XXI).
The cases clear ly hold that title to such land is in the
State. See:
Teschemacher v. Thom pson , 18 Cal. II, 79 Am. Dec.
151.
W ard v. M ul f ord, 32 Cal. 365.
Long Beach L. &W. C o. v. Richardson , 70 Cal. 206.
The United States acq uired title from Mexico to all
land s below navigable and tid ewater s in t he present
State of California by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
in 184-8, with the exception of such su bmer ged land s as
had been pr eviously conveyed to pr ivate owner s by the
Spanish or Mexican governments.
War d v. M ul f ord, 32 Cal. 365.
After the admission of Calif ornia to the Union, it be-
came the owner of all land s within its bor d er s below navi-
ga ble and tid ewater s by vir tue of its sovereign character
and not by vir tue of dir ect grant from the general govern-
ment as in the case of other pu blic land s.
Oak land v. Oak land W ater F l' ont C o. , 118 Cal. 160.
W ar d v. M ulford , 32 Cal. 365.
Peo ple v. Davidson, 30 Cal. 393.
Gu y v. H el'mance, 5 Cal. 73.
Bu t this sover eign char acter of the State is qualif ied by the par amount right to control navigation which is
r eser ved t o the United States und er the commer ce
clause and other provisions of the Constitution of the
United States.
Gibson v. U. S ., 166 U. S. 269.
Since the title to such land is in the State, if ther e
be any authority to lease o r gr ant it, such authority must
be exer cised either by the State or some agency of the
State. However , it should be noted that the courts ar e
ver y r eticent in construing statutes to author ize sales of
tideland s. In Peo ple v. M o n-ill , 26 Cal. 3 36, it was
decid ed that und er the Acts of Apr il 2 I, 1858, and May
13, 186 I, regulating the sale of swam p and overf lowed
and tid eland s, the shor e of the ocean between ordinar y
high and low-water mar ks, and which was not suscep-tible of r eclamation, so as to be mad e usef ul for agr icul-
tur al pur poses, could not be entered and converted into
private owner shi p. Also the cour t in K imball v. M ac-
pherson , 4-6 Cal. 104-, came to the same conclusion as to
the Act o f M ar ch 28,1868. See also, F an-ish v. C oon ,
4-0 Cal. 33.
The matter is ver y well st at ed by Shaw, J. in the
opinion of the court in People v. Cali f ornia F ish C om-
pany , 166 Cal. 576, 591."The tid eland s em br aced in these statutes, und er the
gener ally accepted meaning o f that term, includ es theentir e sea beach f rom the Oregon lin e t o Mexico and shores of ever y bay, inlet, estuar y, and navigable str eam asfar up as tid ewater goes and until it meets the land s mad eswampy by the overflow and see page of fr esh water str eams. It is no t t o be assumed that the State, which is bound by the pu blic tr ust to protect and preserve thi~ public easement and use, should have intentionally a bdi-cated the trust as to all land not within the very limited ar eas of the r eser vations, and should have dir ected the saleof any and every other par t of t he land along the shor esand beaches to exclusive pr ivate use, to the d estr uction of the paramount pu blic easement, which it was its duty to pr otect and for the protection and r egulation of which itr eceived its title to such lands."
11. T he N ature of the St ate' s T it le to Tide
and Submerged Lands.That the State of Calif or nia hold s the title to such
land s su bject to the pu blic right of navigation, com-
mer ce and f isher y. In W e bel' v. St at e H ar bor C oml's.,
Mr . Justice Field in delivering the opjnion of t he cour t
said :"Upon the admission of Califor nia into the Union
u pon equal f ooting with the or iginal States, absolute pro p-erty in and d ominion over, all soils und er the tid ewater swithin her limits passed to the State, wit h the consequentright t o d is pose of the title to any part of said soils in suchmanner as she might d eem proper, sub ject only to the
par amount r ight of navigation over the water, so far assuch navigation might be r equir ed by the necessities of commer ce with for eign nations or among the severalStates, the r egulation of which was vested in the gener al
gover nment."This statement appear s t o b e a clearly cor r ect state-
ment of the law, unless ther e be vested pr ivate r ights
in such land s, subj ect to which the State hold s its title.
But if such r ights exist and ar e vested they would be
pr otected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal
Constitution and similar provisions o f t he fund amental
law of the State. A per son may also, because he is a
mem ber of the pu blic, have rights in such land which
must be secur ed to him. But assuming that no such
pr ivate r ights in tid eland s have vested, the State and
f ed er al gover nment possessing all-sovereign power ,
would seem to have complete authority to dis pose of
such land as seems fit.
This view seems to be suppor ted by the court in one
of the earliest cases dealing with the State's disposition
of tideland s. In d ef ining the State's authority the cour t
used the f ollowing language:"She hold s the com plete sover eignty over her naviga ble
bays and r iver s, and although her ownership is by the lawof nations, and the common and civil law, attributed to
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her for the purpose of pr eserving the public easement or right of navigation, there is nothing to pr event the exer-cise of her power , in certain cases to d estr oy the easement,in ord er to preserve the gener al good, which, when done,subjects the land to private pr o pr ietor shi p."
E ldridge v. C owell , 4- Cal. 80.
It is dif ficult to d iscover the basis of the followingstatement in W ard v. M ul f or d , 32 Cal. 365.
"The land which the State hold s by virtue of her sov-
er eignty, as i s well und er stood, is such as is cover ed by thef low and e b b of the neap or ordinar y tid es. Such land isheld by th e State in tr ust and for the benef it of the people.The right of the State is su bser vient to the public r ightsof navigation and fisher y, a nd theor etically, at least, the
State can mak e no d is position of them pr e j ud icial to theright of the public to use them for the purposes of navi-gation an d fisher y, a nd whatever dis position she doesmak e of them, her grantee tak es them upon the same termsu pon which she hold s them, and o f c our se subject t o t he
public rights a bove mentioned . But this r estr iction d oesnot pr event her f rom d is posing of them so as to ad vanceand pr omote the inter ests of navigation. On the contrar ysuch a dis position of them would be in k ee ping wit h the
purposes of the trust in which she hold s them. Nor of r e-claiming them fr om the sea, wher e it can be done without
pr e judice to the pu blic right of navigation, and applyingthem to other pur poses and uses."
But this doctrine has to a cer tain d egree at least been
incor por ated into our law by the Calif or nia Constitu-
tion of 1879, Article XV, Section 2, which provid es:"No individual, partner ship, or cor por ation, claiming
or possessing the fr ontage or tid al land s of a harbor, bay,inlet, estuar y, o r o ther navigable water in this State, shall be permitted to exclud e the right of way to such water whenever it is r eq uir ed for any public purpose, nor to d e-str oy or obstr uct the fr ee navigation of such water; and the legislatur e shall enact such laws as will give the mostli ber al constr uction to this pr ovision, so that access to thenavigable water s o f this State shall be always attaina ble"for the people thereof."
It has been held that the pr ovisions of this section
operate as a limitation upon the power o f the legislature
in the matter of the d is position of tid eland s and are
to be consid ered as incor por ated in any grant or patent
of such land s, and as a r esult the grantee must leave the
navigable w ater s open for pu blic use.
F or est ier v. J ohnson , 164- Cal. 24-.
In this case i t w as held that the phr ase "navigation"
- includ ed hunting and fishing as incid ental ther eto.
Fur thermor e, this section of the pr esent organic law
d e prives the legislature of the power to d is pose of the
tid eland s fronting upon navigable water s so as to entitle
the gr antee to d estroy or inter fer e with the public ease-
ment for navigation, and it to that extent r e peals all laws
which theretofore may have purported to authorize such
al ienation.Peo ple v. C ali f or nia F ish C o., 166 Cal. 576, 587.
"The pr ovisions of the constitution ar e mandatory and prohibitor y. They ar e bind ing u pon ever y d e partment of the State gover nment, legislative, executive, and jud icial.(Ar t. I, Sec. 2 2.) All pr evious laws inconsistent therewith
ceased to be effective upon the adoption ther eof . (Ar t.XXII, Sec.!.) The effect of the section above q uoted isthat, no matter what ef f ect a subseq uent sale of tid eland s
may have to pass title to the soil of the tid al land s of anaviga ble bay such as that of San Pedr o or Wilmington, itcannot be ef f ect ive to give the patentee a right to d estroy,o bstruct, or in j ur iously aff ect the public r ight of naviga-tion in the waters ther eof . S ince tlte adoption of that con-
st itution in 1879, if not before , grants of suclt land s b y the
S tate carr y , at most , onl y tlte t it le to tlte soil sub ject t o tlte
public right of navigation."
T he Code Sect ion Dealing with Tideland s
A ppear s t o be a M ere Stat ement o f the Com-
mon Law:
Civil Cod e, Section 670. Proper ty of the State. The
State is the owner of a ll land below tid ewater, and below
ordinar y high-water mark, bordering upon tidewater
within the State; of all land below the water of a navi-
gable lak e or str eam; of all pr o per ty lawfully appr o pri-
ated by it to its own use; of all pr o per ty ded icated to the
State; and of all property of which there is no other owner .
III. Grants o f T id elands and o f LandJ
Und er N avigable Wat er s.
Any gr ants of such lands to private interests within
two miles of an incor por ated city or town, whether
d etr imental to the public easement or not, is prohibited
wher e "fr onting on the water s of any har bor , estuary,
bay, or inlet used for the pur poses of navigation."-
C onst it ut ion 1879, A I ·t . XV, Sec. 3.
However, the State, through its legislative authority
may valid ly lease such land s with pr oper r estr ictions of
time and proper r egar d to pu blic use.
Smt Ped ro R. R. C o. [I. H amilt on, 161 Cal. 610.K o yer v. Miner, 172 Cal. 4-4-8.
Further more, gr ants of such land s mav be mad e to
munici palities where such gr ant is for a p'urpose in har-
mony with the trusts upon which the State was invested
with title to the same.
C im pher v. C ity o f Oak land , 162 Cal. 87.
C ity o f Los Angeles v. Pacific C oast Steamship C o.,
4-5 Cal. App. IS.C ity o f Long Beach v. Lisenly , 175 Cal. 575.
Also, such munici palities may in turn mak e valid leases
of such land s for "all purposes which shall not interfere
with navigation o r co mmerce but for no pur pose which
would inter f er e with navigation or commerce."
Oak land v. Larue W hatf etc. C o. , 179 Cal. 2°7.
Mor eover, the Constitution of 1879, Art. XV, Sec. 2, provid es that no rights shall be obtained by pr ivate inter -
ests w hich shall curtail the pu blic easement of navigation
or access to naviga ble water s, in and to tid eland s on a
har bor , bay, inlet, estuar y or other navigable water in
this State.
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[ 160 ] PAR K S, PLAYGR OU NDS AND BEACHES FOR THE Los ANGELES REGION
A. PUR POSES FOR WHICH GR ANTS MAY BE MADE.
I. In Aid of Navigation.
Oak land v. Oakland HI ater F 1' 01# C o. , I 18 Cal. 160,
18 3.Here the power of the State to gr ant such land s in aid
of navigation was thus stated:
"** * ** the State might alienate irr evoca bly parcels of its submerged land s of r easonable extent f or the er ectionof dock s, pier s, and other aid s to commer ce. It was f ur ther conced ed to be a pr o per exercise of the power o f the Stateto esta blish harbor lines and to authorize the r eclamationof mud flats and shoals wher e that could be done withoutd etriment to the public r ights. The filling u p of suchland s, it was said, was often an im pr ovement of naviga-tion and ther ef or e land s susce ptible of r eclamation may
be alienated irrevoca bly."
K oyer v. M iner , 172 Cal. 448.
Her e the city of San Pedro mad e a lease of tid eland s
to d efendant in consider ation of his build ing a sea-wall
in front of it which clearly was in aid of navigation. The
court said:"The State had the undoubted r ight to mak e the lease
in q uestion in or d er to pr ocur e the er ection of a sea-wallwith d ock s and slips and the improvements to be mad e toobtain pu blic access to d ee p water, the better to fit the har - bor f or navigation."
See also, Peo ple v. K er ber , 152 Cal. 73 I.
2. Gr ants of Such Land s for Pur poses Which Do Not
Inter fer e With Navigation. .
E 1c1r id ge v. C owell, 4 Cal. 80.
In the plan and sur vey of the city of San· Francisco
lots and str eets extend ed into tid eland s so as to r each f ar
enough into the water f or the convenience of shi p ping.
Def end ant f illed u p this tid eland to the line fixed by the _
city.
Held that d efendant had a good title to such land by
grant fr om the State. This may have been in aid of navi-
gation but cer tainly d id not interfer e ther ewith.
W ard v. M ulford , 32 Cal. 365.This d ecision u pheld a gr ant of salt mar sh land which
was cover ed and uncover ed by the e bb and flow of the
tid e and which was of no possi ble use f or navigation, but
could be mad e valuable for agricultur e or other purposes
if r eclaimed.
Oaklmtd v. Oakland W at e1' F ront C o. , 118 Cal. 160,
185.Here Beatty, C. ]., after a car ef ul r eview of the
author ities thus stated the principal adopted by the Su-
preme Cour t:
"A gr ant by the State of California, ther ef or e, of mud flats and shoals between high and low tid e on the mar ginof the bay of San Fr ancisco cannot be held to be in excessof the legislative power , in the a bsence of any pr oof thatsuch gr ant has seriously impair ed the power of succeed ing
legislatur es to r egulate, impr ove, or d evelop the publicrights of navigation or f isher y. * * * "This statement a p pear s to give the legislatur e too exten-
sive power s in view of Constitution of 1879, Art. XV,
~ec. 2, and to that extent is not corr ect. See Peo ple v.
C ali f ornia F ish C o. , 166 Cal. 576, which hold s that the
legislatur e now d oes not possess the power to dis pose of
tid eland s fronting upon naviga ble water s so as t o entitle
the gr antee to destr oy or int erfer e with the public ease-
ment o f navigat ion.
3. Gr ants for Purposes Which May Inter fer e With
Navigation.Su bseq uent to 1879 when our pr esent Constitution was
adopted gr ants f or such purposes would seem to be invalid .
Art. XV., Sees. I, 2 and 3.
However, pr ior to the adoption of this Constitutional
pr ovision such grants a ppear to have been valid , subj ect to
r evocation u pon payment of the fair value of the im-
provements mad e. The rule is stated in Oak land v.
Oakiand W ate1'F 1" Ont C o., 118 Cal. 160, 183.
" No gr ant of land s cover ed by naviga ble water s can bemad e ' Which 'Will impair t he po' W er of a subsequent legis-lat ure to r egulate the en jo yment of the public 1·igltt."
The more swee ping statement in H lar d v. M ul f or d , 32
Cal. 372, is couched in such language as to pr actically
admit its inaccur acy."The right of the State is su bser vient to the public r ight
of navigation and fishery, and theor eticall y , at least , theState can mak e no d isposition of them pr e j ud icial to theright of the public to use them f or the purposes of navi-gation and fishery."
The ,unlimited power of the legislatur e to gr ant tide-
land s pr ior to the year 1879 when the pr esent Consti-
tution was adopted was rather clear ly enunciated in the
ear ly case of E ld r idge v. C owell , 4 Cal. 80, wher e the
cour t says:
" * * * there is nothing to prevent the exercise of her power, in cer tain cases, to d estr oy the easement, in or d er to pr eserve the general good , which, when done, subjectsthe land to private pr o prietor ship."
I V . Agencies Through Which Such Land s H ave Been Leased and Conve yed I nto Privat e
H ands.In the fir st place all titles to such land s acquir ed und er
Mexican rule would be pr otected . Also wher e the
United States has confirmed the title to land in this State
acq uir ed f rom Mexico, during Mexican rule, and which
the State would other wise have owned by virtue of its
sover eignty, the State has no power to convey.
W ar d v. M ul f ord , 32 Cal. 365.
The legislatur e by statute has conveyed to incorpor ated
cities and towns the tid eland s within its bor der s. Stat-
utes, 185I,P. 309.
San F rancisco v. St rmt t , 84 Cal. 124.
Statutes 1852, p. 181.
C impher v. Oak lmtd , 162 Cal. 87.
Patt 01t v. C it y of Los Angeles , 169 Cal. 52 I.
Peo ple v. C al. F ish C o. , 166 Cal. 576.Ther e ar e many other cases d ealing with these legisla-
tive gr ants of tid eland s t o the d iffer ent cities of the
State. Also, ther e have been s pecial commissions a p-
pointed to convey certain s pecified tr acts of tid eland s,
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as f or instance, the commission ap pointed to examine and
mak e sales of the inter est of the State of property within
the water -line of San Francisco.
Guy et al., v. H enna/ t ee, 5 Cal. 73.
The great bulk of the State gr ants, however , have
been made by the State Boar d o f T id eland Commission-er s cr eated by the Statutes and a bolished by Amend ments
1875-6, page 15, and after February 4, 1876, by the
Sur veyor -General who at present is the officer who
makes such gr ants of tideland s. See Act. 8418, Gen.
Laws 1923, Vol. 2, Stat. 1923, p. 677 as to swam p and
tid elands. Cha pter 303, Statutes 192 I, appr oved Jan-
uary 25, 1921, d eals with Oil and Gas Permits and
Leases. See Amend ment approved June I, 1923.
Also, the diff er ent cities to which such land s have
been granted may mak e valid leases of such land s.
S an Ped,' o R. R. C o. v. H amilt o?z, 161 Cal. 610.
K oy er v. M iner , 172 Cal. 448.
Oaklmzd v. Larue V V hat f etc. C o., 179 Cal. 2°7.
Fr anchises f or whar ves, chutes and pier s ar e gr anted
by the board s of su pervisor s of the sever al counties, u pon
a ppr oval of t he Railr oad Commission.Pol. Cod e, Cha pter V, Sec. 2906, et. seq .
Within their corpor ate limits the municipal author i-
ties of any incor porated city or town, exce pt San Fr an-
cisco, may gr ant authority to construct whan-es, chutes
and pier s instead of t he board of super visor s.
Pol. Cod e, Sec. 2920.
V . T itle to Submerged and T id eland s Can-
not be Perf ect ed by Ad verse Possession.
Parish v. C oon , 40 Cal. 33.
The location of such land s with school warrants held
to not amount to such a color of title as would form the
basis of a claim by ad ver se possession.
Land &W at er C o. v. Richardson , 70 Cal. 206.
The plaintif f was in possession of a r anch lying imme-diately in front of the ocean, using the land as a "seasid e
resor t." They had a hotel on the u pland and on the
beach a bath-house and benches f or the patr ons. They
considered themselves in possession of all the beach and
on several occasions had their em ployees or d er of r
"camper s" and r emove structur es er ected bv other per -
sons.
Held that it d id not appear that plaintiff was in pos-
session o f the beach so that it could not maintain an
action of forci ble entr y and d etainer .
People v. K erber , 152 Cal. 731.
This' was an action und er Pol. Code 2578 to recover
possession of tid eland s of the bay of San Diego. Defen-
d ant plead ed the t en year s statute of limitation on the
theor y that it had o btained title by ad ver se possession.
The tid eland involved was back of the harbor I ine as
f ixed by the Har bor Commissioner s, but the wall had
never been built. The cour t rever sed the jud gment
which had been for d efendant on the gr ound that title
to such land could not be gained by ad ver se pos3ession.
The cour t thr ough Shaw, J., said :
"Tid eland s of this char acter vest in and belong to the
State by virtue of its sover eignty * * * and when such tid e-land s ar e situated in a navigable bay and constitute a par tof the water front thereof, as is the case here, they consti-
tute pr o perty d evoted to a pu blic use, of which private per sons cannot obtain title by pr escri ption, found ed uponad ver se occu pancy for the pr escr i bed per iod. * * * Thisis the settled rule in this State with r es pect to all propertiesso d evoted to pu blic use, and tid eland s, und er lying water sf orming par t of the water s o f a navigable bay used f or navigation, ar e not, in this r espect, to be d istinguished f rom pro per ty used f or other public pur poses."
Cimpher v. City o f Oakland, 162 Cal. 87.
To the same ef fect. This d ecision was more sq uarely
based on Constitution 1879, Ar t. XV, Sec. 3.
Patt on v. Los Angeles , 169 Cal. 521.
Held that no char acter or per iod of ad ver se possession
can terminate or af f ect the pu blic easement of navigation
and f isher y. Her e by the. constr uction of railroad em-
bankments in fr ont of plaintiff's land under license from
the State, the land pr eviously tideland was divested of that char acter istic. The court r efused to ado pt the
theor y of plaintiff that by adver se possession plaintiff
had procur ed the j us privatum of the State and when the
easement for navigation was d estroyed by the er ection of
the embankment plaintiff had the whole f ee ther ein.
Also see:
Peo ple v. Banning , 169 Cal. 542.
V I. T he Res pect ive Rights of the St ate} and
I ncorporated Cities and Towns} Littor al or
Riparian Owners and the Public.
I. The rights of the State in gener al are f ully d ealt
with und er main heading No. II.
(a) Title by ad ver se possession cannot be per fected
against the State. See main heading No. V.( b) As alr ead y ind icated the title o f t he State to
tideland s situated within t he limits of incor por ated
cities and towns have been conveyed to such cities and
towns.
2. The r ights of littoral proprietor s in and to tide-
land s.
(a) Enumer ation of their rights.
(1 ) Such owner s and possessor s have a r ight of
passage over such land which is a necessar y incid ent
to their right of access to navigable water s.
E ld,'idge v. C owell , 4 Cal. 80.
S an F r ancisco S av. Union v. R.G. R. Petr oleum C o. ,
144 Cal. 134·
H enr y Dalt on &S ons Co. v. Oakland , 168 Cal. 463.
l' Veber v. H at'bor C ommissionel' S, 18 Wall. 57.(2) Littor al pr o pr ietor s ar e entitled to the accre-
tions add ed to thei r land .
Dana v. J ackson St . W . C o. , 3 I Cal. I18, 120.
F Vr ight v. Seymour , 69 Cal. 122, 126, 10 Pac. 323.
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S t r and I mpr oveme11t C o. v. Long Beach , 173 Cal.
765.
Her e the court in constr uing Section 10 I 4 of the
Civil Code held that it did not abrogate the common
law rule of accretion along the ocean shor e. The cour t
r efused to follow the contr ar y decision of the United
States Circuit Cour t of Appeals in West er n Pac. R y.
Co. v. S o. Pac. C o., 151 Fed . 376, 397.
It should be r emem ber ed, however, that a riparian
or littoral pro pr ietor has no vested r ight in f utur e
accr etions.
C ohen v. U . S . , 162 Fed . 364, 370.
Similarly the title to futur e accretions may not be
quieted .
T a ylor v. U1~d erhill , 40 Cal. 471.
The doctr ine of accretion ap pear s to be limited to
gains made little by little, " by small and imper ce ptible
d egr ees."
Dana v. J ackson Str eet W harf C o. , 31 Cal. 118.
The court indicated that add itions due to d r iving
piles in tid eland s did not accr ue to t he littor al pro-
prietor .
"This shows d ecisively that in cases of purpr esture,
the r ight of entry is not in the adjacent land -owner butin the cr own."
In Patt on v. Los A1~geles , 169 Cal. 521, it was
held that land located in the city of Los Angeles and
bor dering on the navigable bay could not benefit by
an accretion to the mainland caused by the erection
of an em bank ment lead ing from the u pland by the
Southern Pacif ic Railr oad along the line o f its road
leading from the mainland across a part of the bay.
The cour t said , in holding that the city still owned
the r eclaimed land ,
"that it was once tid eland and that this being so, it wasr eser ved f rom sale, and was not aliena ble by any State
officer und er any law, during the time when the alleged accr etions occur r ed, and , t her efor e, no ar tificial em- bankment, mad e by third persons, or mad e or suf f ered by State officers or agents, nor any accr etion to the ad - jacent upland caused ther e by, could o perate to divestthe State of its title to the tid eland so r eser ved."
(3) It is po ssible that littoral pr o prietors have cer -
tain rights in the seashor e o f a p ur ely aesthetic natur e,
although this is dou bt'ful. However, the existence of
such a r ight has been intimated in at least one Su preme
Court d ecision.
S. F . Sav. U nion fJ. R.G. R. Pet. C o., 144 Cal. 134.
This action was brought to o btain an in junction
and to have abated as a nuisance a platf or m con-
str ucted by d ef end ant in front of plaintiff 's land on
the seashore below the or dinar y high tide. Plaintiff
is the littor al pr o prietor . Defend ant evid ently was
pr epar ing to bo re f or oil.
The cour t quoted with ap proval the language of
the jud ge below d efining the r ights of the littor al
pro pr ietor in tid eland s and seashor e.
"Fr om time immemor ial the sea has been tr eated as 3
vast waste not susce pti ble of occupation or private and individual owner shi p, exce pt as her ein indicated. Na-tions, gover nments and peo ples have all been of one ac-
cor d in tr eating it as exempt f rom appr o pr iation byind ividuals. The occu pation by d ef end ants is in d isr e-
gard of this univer sally conced ed cond ition. U pon thestrength of univer sal custom, conduct and tacit consentand und erstand ing ind ividuals and communities haveacquir ed pr o perties and rights, and have located land ;, built homes and . cities along the seashor e, because notalone f or its commercial ad vantages, but f or the per -manent and ind estr ucti ble beauty of the environment.Unlik e the location of the inter ior, wher e the incid entsof private owner shi p may permit encr oachments byway o f u nsightly and d isagr eea ble str uctur es, the pros-
pect of ocean view is sacred fr om individual obstruc-tion and contamination. So thor oughly has ,his beenund er stood and acted upon by the whole wor ld that noobstruction-not even whar ves and dock s-not built bythe a butting owner s have ever been attem pted , exce pt
und er license and contr ol o f the State. * * * This policyand mod e of d ealing had inur ed to the pr o perty-owner
a butting ther eon as an additional pr o perty right whichthough not involved in this case * * * I think is explan-atory, if not the f ound ation of the principle enunciated by the cour ts that the a butting landowner has pr opertyin the sea by way of access ther eto."
( b) Extent of the rights of littor al pro pr ietor s.
(I) Where an ind ividual or a pr ivate corpor ation
without any license or per mit f rom the State or any of
its agencies, inter feres with the r ights of littor al pr o-
pr ietor s, such propr ietor s may have their rights as
such pro prietor s pr otected by inj unction.
S. F. S av. U nion v. R.G.R. Pet . C o. , 144 Cal. 134.
(2) Where the State or an incor por ated city or
town in carr ying out some pr oj ect in aid of navigation
inter feres with such right such pr o prietor will not be
gr anted r elief by the cour ts.People v. C al. F ish C o. , 166 Cal. 576.
Henry Dalton & Som C o. v. Oak land , 168 Cal.
463.Her e plaintiff had for many year s load ed small
boats in f r ont of his proper ty. The city of Oak land
now thr eatens to er ect a sea-wall in front of plaintiff's
land and thus cut o f f plaintiff 's access to d ee p water .
Plaintiff sought to enjoin the erection of the wall.
The injunction was r ef used and the court d istin-
guished S. F . Sav. U. v. R.G.R. Pet . C o. , 144 Cal. 137,
on the gr ou nd that ther e the obstr uction was er ected
by a private individ ual and not in aid of the pu blic
easement of navigation and f isher y.
(3) Also, wher e pr ivate inter ests with permission
of the State per f orm certain acts in aid of navigation,
but which inter fer e with the r ights of littoral pro-
pr ietor s, such pr o prietor s have no legal o r eq uitable
r emed y.
K o yer v. Miner , 172 Cal. 448.
Def end ant was er ecting a sea-wall m consid er ation
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of r eCelVIng a 50 year s lease to the land r eclaimed
und er contract with the city.
(4) Our Su preme Cour t has not yet d etermined
what are the r ights of littor al proprietor s to enjoin
acts of individuals not in aid of navigation but with
the ex pr ess per mission of the State u pon tideland s.
In Dalton &S orts C o. v. Oak land , 168 Cal. 463, 468,the co"urt indicated, however , that befor e the littor al
pr o prietor could be compelled to su bmit to an inter -
f erence with his right of access to naviga ble water ,
this inter fer ence must b e in aid of navigation. The
cour t said :"If such impr ovement have the ef f ect of cutting of f
access over said tid eland s fr om the u pland lot of the
plaintiff , it is no ground of com plaint because, as pointed out, i t had no r ight as an upland owner to thef ree and unobstructed access to naviga ble water s over said tid eland s as against the r ight of the State to at anytime d evote them to the impr ovement of the harbor of Oak land in aid o f the public easement of navigation and
C01n1Jtet'ce * * * "(5) Another und ecid ed question is the right of
the littoral propr ietor to en join as a nuisance acts onthe for eshore and tid eland s by the State and ind ivid -
uals with the State's permission to remove oil or other
minerals belonging to the State.*
Cha pter 303, Statutes 192 I.
See also, Amend ment a pproved June I, 1923.
Boone et al., v. K ingsbury, Surveyor -General, No.
S. F. 12707, 12708, 12728, 12729, 1273° and
12743 now bef or e the Su pr eme Cour t.*
3. The r ights of the pu bl ic in submer ged and tide-
land s.
It is well settled that the public has lar ge rights in
submer ged and tid eland s. In fact it has been ear ly
r ecognized that title to such land was in the State f or the
expr ess pur pose of c ar r ying out the pu blic tr ust and pro-
tecting the rights of the pu blic. The rule was thus wellstated in one of the ear liest Califor nia cases d ealing with
tid eland s.
E ld ridge v. C owell , 4 Cal. 80.
" * * * her owner shi p is, by the law of nations, and thecommon and civil law, attr i buted to her f or the purposeof pr eser ving the public easement, or r ight of naviga-
tion * * *nSee also Guy &Others v. H er mance,s Cal. 79.
Mor eover , this pu blic r ight was recognized and se-
cur ed by Ar ticle XV of the Calif or nia Constitution of
1879. But pr ior to this constitutional pr otection the
State thr ough its legislature had the power to abandon
and d estroy the pu blic trust. This is made a ppar ent by
the d ecision of S an F l" ancisco v. Shaut, 84 Cal. 124,
where the cour t held that the inter est of the city and
county of San Fr ancisco in its beach and water -lot· pro p-er ty is a legal estate f or ninety-nine year s und er Statutes
of 185 I, p. 309, and the r ight of the city for that ter m
is as a bsolute a title, and as fr ee f rom public trust as if
*This question has since been determined: 77 Cal. Dec. 94.
held by a private proprietor, and may be extinguished by
ad ver se possession, und er the statute of limitation.
See to the same effect, H olladay v. F r isbie , 15 Cal.
63 I, holding that the inter est of the city may be sold
und er execution. Field, C. ]., s peak ing for the cour t
said :
"In that pr o perty the inter est of the city is a bsolute,q ualif ied by no conditions and subj ect to no s pecific uses.It is ther efor e a l eviable inter est, subject to sale und er exe-
cution * * * "K nudson v. K earney , 171 Cal. 250.
W ard r '. M ul f ord , 32 Cal. 365.
Also, wher e the legislatur e by improving the water-
fr ont r end er s cer tain tid eland inaccessi ble and useless
f or navigation, it may ir r evoca bly and absolutely alienate
such land fr ee f r om any pu blic trust, under the pr esent
Consti tution.
Peo ple v. C al. F ish C o. , 166 Cal. 576.
Other wise, it would seem that the legislature has no
power to cur tail or d estroy the pu blic easement or r ight
of navigation.
Peo ple v. C al. F ish C o. , supr a.(a) The extent of this pu blic right of navigation.
(I) This right or easement clear ly includ es what
is commonly und er stood by the term navigation. This
includes the r ight to b uild o r author ize the build ing
of whar ves, chut es and pier s. See Cha pter V of Pol.
Code. Also, of im pr oving har bor s, and ex pending
pu blic money ther efor .
H enry Dalt on & Sor t s C o. v. Oakland , 168 Cal.
463.City o f Long Beach v. Lisenly, 175 Cal. 575.
The city may issue its bond s for impr oving a har bor
within its limits.
Weber v. H arbor C ommissioner s, 18 Wall. 57.
Held that a littor al pr opr ietor cou ld not enjoin the
Har bor Commissioner s f r om erecting a sea-wall in
f r ont of plaintiff 's land, and a wharf he had erected
out f r om his land.
Pr imar ily, of cour se, the public has the right to
pr o pel shi ps over naviga ble water s, and tid eland s may
be used f or that pur pose. The cour t in People v.
K er bel· , 152 Cal. 73 I, said that
"for all practical pur poses the bay is o pen to n avigationto the actual shor e line of high tide over the land in
question * * * "(2) It has been r e peatedly stated that the pu blic
easement or right includ es the r ight of f ishing.
F or estiel· v. J ohnson , 164 Cal. 24.
(3) The easement, also, has been held to includ e
the hunting of wild game.
F or est ier v. J ohnson, 164 Cal. 24.
Her e the plaintiff claims title fr om the State und er a sale of the land as ti deland , a patent being issued to
him. Def end ants claim that as citizens of the State
they have the right to go upon the premises for the
pur pose of hunting, fishing and navigation. The
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land involved was k nown as Fly's Bay: and was a sid e
channel of Napa River . The court found that at
mean tid e the whole of the premises is used by vessels
of small burd en f or the purpose of navigation and
hunting. Held that the plaintif f could not exclud e
the pu blic. The court said in r egard to hunting that
"the author ities d o not d esignate the hunting of wild game as an o b ject for the pr ot~ction and pr omotion of which the State hold s title to a~d dominion over thetid eland s and naviga ble wat~r s. Ne"ertheless, it is a privilege which is incid ental to the public right of nav-
igation."
(4-) The cor r ect view would seem to be that this
easement or r ight includ es the pu blic right to use the
tideland s for the pur pose of bath ing. The cour ts,
however , have not always been unanimous in d eclar-
ing such a r ight. It has been indicated by the Supr eme
Court of Calif or nia that even wher e tid eland has
been granted to a city f or the purpose of pu blic
bathing that such pu blic r ight is su b ject to the su pe-
rior r ight of public navigation and f isher y.
Sant a Cru z. f l.S o. Pac. R. R. C o. , 163 Cal. 538.
Held that the Act of Mar ch 21, 1872, pr ovid ingthat
"all of the tid eland s within the corpor ate limits of said town, between the line of high and low tid e, ar e her e byd ed icated as public ground s, and the title ther eto isgr anted to the town of Santa Cr uz in tr ust f or the use
of the public * * * but nothing her ein contained shall inany manner be constr ued so as to prevent· the constr uc-
tion * * * of whar ves over, in and thr o·ugh said lanus by authority of the laws of the State of Calif ornia, or
the f ree use ther eof f or fishing purposes"
was enacted in r ecognition of the fact that Santa Cr uz
has always been a summer r esor t, es pecially adapted to
sea bathing and other s por ts and it was its pur pose to
d ed icate the tid eland s to such public uses, su bj ect to
the use f or navigation and f isher y. But the city's
title is, ther efor e, subject to the paramount r ights of navigation and fisher y. An in junction was r ef used
against the im pr ovement of the whar f so as to inter -
f er e with the use of the beach f or bathing and other
lik e s por ts and uses.
"The pr inci pal thing com plained of is th~ thr eat-ened act of the a p pellants in f illing in the s pace und er the wharf so as to prevent the use of that par t of the
bgach for pleasur e gr ound s. It may be conced ed that if the appellants should place any o bstr uction u pon the
beach that was not a ppr opr iate f or beach pur poses and was not useful in aid of navigation, the city, havingchar ge of the subordinate tr ust, r elating to that land ,would have the right to r emove it or cause its r emoval,on the ground that it was an unnecessar y pur pr estur eupon that particular pu blic use. This is the extent of
the r ight and power - of the city. It is not claimed or as-ser ted that the filling in of this s pace is unnecessar y tothe use or pr eser v~ti0nof the whar f , or that it o bstr uctsor pr events the use of the beach f or other pur posesmor e than is necessar y f or the pur poses of navigation.
It a p pear s to be an a ppr opr iate method of str engthen-ing the str uctur e. Hence it f ollows that the city hasshown no right to inter f er e with such impr ovement of the wharf ."
The early cases which ind icate that there is no
pu blic r ight of bathing in the ocean are r eally not in
point as they go on another ground , namely, that of
cr eating a nuisance in a pu blic place. Re x. v. C r und en , 2 Cam p bell's R e por ts 89 (1809).
Reg. f l. Reed &Others , 12 Cox Cr . L. Cases I.
Br inckman v. M atle y (19°4-) L. R . 2 Ch. Div. 3 13.
In an ear ly Pennsylvania case it was indicated that
if such a r ight exists it is a qualif ied right. This case
also, was com plicated by pr o blems of negligence.
H lmt v. Gl'aham , 15 Pa. Su per ior Ct. 4-2.
"The r ight to bathe in a pu blic str eam is not an a b-solute r ight. It ·is qualif ied by fi.xed r ules as thosewhich d eter mine the pr ivilege. It is permitted only atcertain places, and is of the same character as the r ightto use or tak e water fr om the str eam."
In T i ff an y v. T own o f O yst el' Bay , 182 N. Y. Supp.
738, plaintif f , a littoral proprietor filled in the f or e-
shor e in fr ont of his pr operty. The cour t in another
action held that the title to the for eshor e and this
r eclaimed land belonged to the town. Plaintif f then
of f er ed to r emove the fill. The town contracted to
have bath-houses er ected on this f illed in s pace and
plaintiff sought an in junction on the theor y that it
in j ur es his r i parian right of access t o navigable water s.
The inj unction was gr anted on a ppeal to the A p pel-
late Division. The cour t said :
"A public bath-house incid entally raises anothel'question. The public has no r ight to pass over the f or e-shor e in England to bathe in the sea. Brinckman ' V .
M atle y ('904) L. R . 2 Ch. 3' 3. The pu blic r ight to bathe, save at d esignated places, is d oubtf ul in this coun-tr y. Hunt ' V . Gr aham , '5 Pa. Super. Ct. 42."
The mor e mod er n decisions seem to indicate a t r end
toward recognizing such a right in the pu blic. TheSu pr eme Cour t of Florida in Brick ell v. T l'ammell ,
82 So. (Fla.) 221, says:
"The r ights of the peo ple of the States in the navig-a ble waters and the land s ther eund er , includ ing theshor e or s pace b etween high and low water mar k , r elateto navigation, commer ce, fishing, bathing, and other easements allowed by law."
And in Bames v. M idlmtd R. T er minal C o., ' 85
N. E. ( N. Y.) 1093, there was a like hold ing. Her e
both plaintif f and d ef endant wer e littoral pr o prietor s.
Plaintif f alleged that d ef end ant by the er ection of
cer tain pier s and build ings extending out from his
land obstructed " the rights of the pu blic in the f or e-
shor e. The in junction was gr anted on a p peal. The
cour t said :
"The same r easons which und er lie the d ecision in theBr ook haven case as to the r ights of littor al and r i pa-rian owners a pply with even gr eater for ce to the r ightsof the pu blic to use the f or eshore upon the mar gin of our tid ewater s f or fishing, bathing, and boating, to all
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• of which the r ight of p assage may be said to be a nec-essary incid ent."
The injunctio n w as modified in Barnes v. M id land
Railr oad T er minal C o., I 12 N. E. 926, but the r ule
as above stated was in no res pect limited.
(b) However, ther e is no right in the pu blic to
cross pr ivate property to reach th e o cean.
Bolso Land C o. v. Burdick ., 151 Cal. 254-.
In this case plaintiff sought an injunction to r estr ain
d efendants crossing its land to r each a navigable bay.
The in j unction was gr anted . The cour t here squar ely
held that the pu blic has no right to invad e and cross
pr ivate lan d in o r der to r each navigable water .
F. A. H ilm C o. v. C ity o f Santa Cru z, 170 Cal.
436.Action by plaintif f to q uiet title to beach between
ordinary or mean high tide and extr aordinar y high-
tid e line. This was about 200 f eet wide and cover ed
with sand . N ex t t o the tid eland this was not built
upon, but back of that the city had constr ucted a paved
r oad and park. The city was held to have pr ocured
title to the latter par t by adver se user, but not the
sand y por tion next to the or dinar y high-tide line.
Held that the State did not get title to t his strip as
tideland and so its grant to the city was invalid . Also,
although the public had long used this strip in con-
j unction with the tideland beach below, it was held not to be ded icated to the pu blic use, nor was title
obtained by the city by means of ad ver se user . The
court said:
"But where land is uninclosed and uncultivated , the
fact that the public has been in the ha bit of going u ponthe l and will ordinarily be attr ibuted to a license on the
par t o f the owner rather than to his intent to d edicate(13 eyc. 484). This is mor e par ticularly true wher ethe use by the public is not over a d efi.nite and s pecified line, but extend s over the entire sur face of the tract
(IJ eye. 484). It wi ll not be pr esumed , fr om mer efailure to ob ject, that the owner of such land so used intend s to cr eate in the public a r ight which would
practically d estr oy his own r ight to use any part of the pro per ty."
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E xt r acts fr om a Re por t M ad e in 1924 by the Los Angeles Superint end ent o f Par k s,
Wit h Recommend at ions S imilar t o Those o f This Re por t
DURI NG the per iod of near ly fifteen year s in
which I have been associated with the Los Angeles
Park Depar tment, I have from time to time given con-
siderable thought and attention to the need of a com-
prehensive par k system.
Fifteen year s ago the city cover ed an ar ea of 85 sq uar e
miles, with a population of 300,000 and a park ar ea of
4,000 acres, consid erably over the acce pted ar ea of one
acre to ever y 100 inhabitants. The system was only par -
tially developed. The bound aries of the city had just
embraced Grif f ith Park , which was so f ar f rom the center
of population and without any means of tr ans portation
·that no attempt had been mad e to d evelop it and ver y few
peo ple patronized it; but ad equate provision in par k ar ea
had been made at that time.
Today (1924) the city cover s an area of 415 sq uar e
miles, with a population of over 1,000,000, while the
par k area has increased less than 1,000 acr es. I t is true
that the present park ar ea o f 5,000 acr es is extensively
d evelo ped and portions of it used to the point of abuse,
but ther e ar e large ar eas of the city closely built up and
thickly populated that have no provision f or park s, and
the present par k ar ea is less than one-half acre per 100
inhabitants, and poor ly d istributed.
The city ought to make provision for the futur e popu-
lation by securing an ad ditional 45,000 acr es of land f or
park purposes before the pr ice becomes excessive, and
befor e other permanent im pr ovements occupy the land .
Ther e is an immediate need of 5,000 acr es additional
par k land to accommod ate the present po pulation.
In July, 1925, the method of pr oviding money for
park maintenance will be changed. Instead of ind ef inite
amounts ap propriated by the City Council, the new char -
ter pr ovid es a d ir ect levy of 7c per hund red dollar s assessed
valuation. Und er this plan the Park Board can intelli-gently estimate and for ecast ex pend itures, and they can
outline a policy of park d evelopment year s in ad vance.
Und er the 7c rate the Par k De par tment will r eceive about
$1,000,000 annually or near ly $ 1 per ca pita, almost 40
per cent more than the pr esent allowance. The cost of
pr oviding all f orms of par k service f or the past fiscal year
was 57c per ca pita. O n account of the incr ease in la bor er s'
wages gr anted this year by the bud get committee of the
City Council, the per ca pita cost will be about 60c.
Sever al attem pts have been mad e by f ormer park boar d s
to carr y out a program of park ex pansion, notably the
effor t to acquir e the Ar r oyo Seco and the Silver Lak e
Park ways, which was star ted in 1910. This was the fir st
attem pt in Los Angeles to create a parkway along a d rain-
age channel from the mountains to the sea. Evid ently the
tax payer s within the assessment ar eas did not realize the
necessity or advantage of acq uiring this valuable ad dition
to the park s, for both proj ects wer e protested out a fter
several year s s pent in negotiations.
In 1914 a movement was started to esta blish a compr e-
hensive system of park s and boulevard s. This was intended
to pr ovide: mountain and beach reser vations; par kways
and s pecial ar eas classed as rural or countr y park s; together
with a system of neigh borhood parks that would pr ovid e
the same ser vice in each r ad ial mile, giving each four
sq uar e miles a park; the system to be link ed up by s pecially
improved and tr af f ic-regulated streets to f orm a boulevar d
chain ar ound and through the city. Sur veys wer e made,
numer ous ma ps wer e drawn, a com pr ehensive re por t was
pr e par ed , and ste ps wer e being tak en to secur e by legisla-
tion an ad equate park law und er which to function. And
then Amer ica went to war , and for several year s park
proj ects wer e of minor consideration.
In 1920 the Los Angeles Planning Commission was
cr eated as an official ad visory bod y, and , af ter a year 's
stud y and investigation of o ur civic problems, d ecid ed that
in or der to adeq uately meet the situation the political
bound ar ies of Los Angeles would have to be ignor ed and
co-operation br ought about through the County gover n-
ment, with the r esult that R egional Planning Confer encewas called by the County Boar d of Super visor s in 1921.
Committees of five wer e appointed to investigate and re-
port on each physical civic pr oblem, and were selected
f r om the northeast, nor thwest, southeast, southwest, and
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centr al districts of the County, the central d istrict repre-
scnti.ng the City of Los Angeles. I was accord ed the ver y
gr eat cour tesy of being selected to ser ve on the Park s and
Boulevar d s Committee r e pr esenting the Centr al District.
After eight months' f ield stud y and investigation, to-
gether with the pr e par ation of a ma p, the Park s and Boule-
vard s Committee su bmitted their r ecommend ations in thefor m of a r e port so brief that 1 will r epeat it:
Sec. 1. That all par k ways and pleasur e boulevard s beesta blished as se parate f eatur es f r om tr af fic highways.
Sec. 2. That all par kways and pleasur e boulevard swhen located along r iver channels, arr oyos, canyons, and the sea coast be established so as to pass under all other lines of tr af fic, and when located on r idges and mountaincr ests that they be esta blished so as to pass over all other lines of tr af fic by brid ge or viaduct. Briefly, no gr ad ecr ossings should be per mitted to exist.
Sec. 3. That park ways and pleasur e boulevard s whenesta blished along channel enbankments can be beautified economically, artistically, and with gr eat scenic eff ect atlow cost; and as a utility they provid e easy means of con-str uction for trunk sewer s and storm dr ains, and a r apid means of trans portation in case of flood -contr ol work .
Sec. 4. That par kways and pleasur e boulevards whenesta blished along rid ges and mountain cr ests should belocated so as to r each the most ad vantageous view points,and as a utility they will pr ove extr emely valuable in
pr o\'iding r a pid means' of trans portation in case of f or estf ir es.
Sec. 5. That as a further consider ation these park waysand pleasur e boulevard s serve to link up all beach reserva-tions to be established , these r eser vations to be f or the fulluse of the pu blic and not contr olled by private parties.
Sec. 6. We r ecommend that picnic par k s and camps beestablished throughout the d istrict.
Sec. 7. We r ecommend that all principal drainage chan-nels be acquir ed and controlled by the community for thehig-hest public use.
Sec. 8. That patents to land in th~ f or est r eser vations bed iscour aged . .
As a r esult o f the conclusions and r ecommendations of the var ious committees of the R egional Planning Conf er-
ence, the Boar d o f S u per visor s, in 1921, established as an
ad\Tisor y bod v the Los Angeles County Regional Plan-
ning Commission, who in their fir st report laid par ticular
str ess on the entir elv inad eq uate provision for local park s
sup plving neigh borhood s in the City of Los Angeles . ...
Dur ing the past four year s the City Planning Commis-
sion has been endeavoring to solve the pr oblem, and
has now reached the point where, assisted by the County
Regional Planning Commission, the legal machiner y is
being built u p to permit the esta blishment of a metro poli-
tan par k distr ict. ...
Und er the jurisd iction of a metropolitan par k com-
mission, it will be possi ble to secur e park ter r itor y lying
outsid e the boundaries of municipalities within the metr o- politan ar ea, and the activities of the commission will be
financed by a mill tax f or acq uisition and maintenance of
such proper ties. The ultimate area of the park system will
be gover ned by the amount of IlJoney a\'ailable f or main-
tenance, the size of each par k, ill1d th e r elative ser vice
demand ed by the locality, together with the ty pe of im-
pr ovement introduced .
R ef erring to the pr ice of par k land , it may be inter -
esting to estimate what it will cost Los Angeles to acquir e
immed iately the park land necessar y to provid e f or alimited increase in po pulation.
The 415 square mile ar ea of the city contains 265,600
acr es, which, su bd ivided into 5 lots per acr e, will mak e
1,300,000 lots, exclusive of str eets, the assessed valuation
amounting to $1,368,000,000. The City Planning Com-
mission, af ter an exhaustive stud y of the problem, esti-
mates that a d istrict bond issue amounting to about 2
per cent of the assessed valuation would be the pr oper
ratio of expend itur e for park pur chase. The 2 per cent
ratio would wor k out alik e on high and low priced pr o p-
erty, as the same pr o rate ar ea can be secur ed in each case.
Two per cent of the assessed valuation amounts to $27,-
360,000. Assuming that r ecently subdivid ed pr o perty,
selected wher e least desira ble for residence purposes, can
be secur ed f or $1,000 per lot o r $ 5,000 per acre, and out-
lying acr eage in and ar ound the dr ainage channels can be
secured at $ [,000 per acr e, a fair average p;ice would be
$3,000 per acre, with variations in pr ice accord ing to lo-
cation and surround ings. A 30-year district bond issue of
$27,000,000 would secur e a p pr oximately 9,000 acr es of
par k land -the eq uivalent of 90 park s of 100 acr es each,
or 180 park s of 50 acres each, or any modification of that
amount to suit the ind ivid ual case. The 415 squar e mile
ar ea of the city, divid ed into sections of 4 squar e miles
each, mak e 104 neigh borhood park districts; and 9,000
acr es provides the eq uivalent of 86.5 acr es for each neigh-
borhood par k requir ed, leaving the s pecial ar eas , par kways ,
and l' egional parks to be acq uir ed by the Metr o politan
Par k Comm ission. Add ing 9,000 acr es to the existi ng 5,000
will pr ovide 14,000 acr es of par k land , or an allowance
of par k ar ea consid era bly over one acr e to e~'er y 100 in-habitants. To payoff the 2 per cent bond issue in 30 year s
would r equire an average tax annually of 12.YzCper $100
assessed valuation f or sinking fund and inter est at 6 per
cent-ver y easy ter ms on which to acq uir e adequate s pace
for neigh borhood park s. Ther e is no case on recor d wher e
an ex penditur e for par k purposes ever d e pr eciated the
value of the pr o perty assessed . If r eal estate su bd ivider ;;
k ee p on cutting up the acr eage into lots without mak ing
ad eq uate pr ovision for par k s, and the people who ulti-
mately pur chase and occu py the subdivisions per sistently
r ef use to meet the cost of acquiring the necessar y terri-
tor y, then some d rastic legislation will have to be enacted
for the protection of the individual and to secure the wel-
far e, health, and safety of the community.
Ver y res pectfully,
FR ANK SHE ARER,
Super intend ent o f Parks.
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IN X
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Accessibility, athletic f ield s, 8 I, 1 15; local park s, 657;
school playgr ound s, 47
Acquisitions, by the County, 103-137 passim 117 -120 ,128; o bstacles, 103-137 paSJim , 114-117; r ecommen-
d ations (Q.V.)
Act of legislatur e, proposed, 36
Ad ministr ation, functions, 3, 7,10,35,36,53, A pp. IV;
centr alization, "7,35,53,58; r egional, 10, 35; over -
la p ping, 1-4, 3 1,35,36,42,47,53; units, 7,35,36,
58
jurisdiction, 1-4,31,35,36
Ado be houses, historic, 125, 126, 127
Adults, recr eation f or , 6
Age gr oups, 2 I, 22,47, 53, 54, 8 I
Agencies, power s need ed, 16; local, 43; beach, 64; cen-
tr al ized, 36; commer cial, 3; overla pping, 1-4, 31, 35,
42,47, 53; table of comparative power s, duties, and
r esour ces of various metro politan agencies of Calif or -nia and elsewher e, A p p. IV
Agr icultur e, r evenue, 4 I
Alamitos Bay and Channel, 69, 80, 123
Alondr a Park , 8 I, 98, I17
Alondr a-Del R ey Parkway, 120
Alond r a-Palos Verd es Parkway, 118
Altad ena Par k way, 136
Amusement Zone, 69, 79
Anaheim Landing, 123
Angeles Mountain R oad , 136
Angeles National For est, 10,85,9°,93,97; r ecom-
mend ed acq uisitions in, 93
Antelope Valley, 86, 90
Apartment house (see M ulti ple D zvellings)
Ap pendices, 141Ar eas, Los Angeles R egion, 3,19,31,51,95,96; local
park s, '6, 16, 31,47, 5 I, 53, 54, 57; r egional par k s, 10,
17,31,53,67,68,81,89,94,96,138; Los Angeles
City, 48; Angeles For est, 93; par k ways, 14, 17, 50,
96,138; school units, 47,54, A p p. I; need ed , 16, 53,
54,8 1 ,8 5 ,94,96 (and see Acquisit iort S); subdivid ed,
16; centr al ur ban, 96; beaches, 96; comparison with
other regions, 3 I, 8 I, 95, 96; pro portion to popula-
tion, 6,10,16,31,53,54; administrative, 7,16,54;
f our ty pical neighborhood s, 57; r ecommendations;
local park s, playground s, and s pecial units, 52-56;
beaches and shor e fronts, 67-80; regional athletic
field s, 81, 83,100,102,115,117,122,128; lar ge
r e;ser vations in mountains, canyons, d eserts, and island s,
89-93; pleasurcway park s, parkways, and r elated lar ge
par k s and r eser vations, 33-34., 67-68, 96, 100- I02
Arizona Avenue (Santa Monica), 68, 75
Ar naz Tr act, 1 14
Arr oyo Seco, 50, 82, 85, 92, 96,128,136,137
Arroyo Seco and Palos Ver d es Loo p Chain of Par k ways,
98
Ar r oyo Seco Par k and Park way, 128Ar royo Seco to Angeles Mountain R oad Par k way, 136
Ar r oyo Seq uit Par k, 68, 70
Ar tesia Avenue, 132
Ascot Tr ack , 128
Assessed valuation, 40- 57
Assessment of benef its, 38
Association (see C o-o peration)
Athletic f ield s, 7, 9, 17, 8 1-83; ar eas recommend ed (iee
Ar eas); cost (see C ost)
Atlantic City, 61, 63
Aud itoriums, r elation to par k s, 5
Automobile Clu b of Souther n California, 92
Automobile travel, along beaches, 8,62,72,74,78,1°3;
in wild distr icts, II, 85, 88, 91; in pleasuring park s,
13, 72, 85, 9 I, 95; contr act with f or mer mod es, 13,
28,39; num ber of car s, 12, 13,72; eff ect on d ensity
of po pulation, 21, 28, 52; ef f ect on r ecreation, 39, 52,
62,72,74,85,95
Azusa, 92, 133
Bailey Canyon, 135
Baldwin Hills, scenic drives, 25,96,97
Bald win Hills Par kway, 116, 117, 133
Ballona Cr eek , mar shes and lagoon, 68, 77, 8 I, I16;
proposed mole and pleasur e bay, 77; chain of par k -
ways, 98
Ballona Cr eek Parkway, 115
Barley Flats, 92
Bay (see Pleasure Bay)
Beaches, public vs. private contr ol, 7-9, 35, 59-64, 123,
App. V (legal o pinion) ; r ecommend ations, 63-80, 67-68 (summar y), 100-102; cost, 16, 59, 62-64, 80
(summar y); d esirable f eatur es, 7, 62-80; com parison
with other r egions, 6 I, 63, 67; classification, 68; use,
8, 9, 23, 35,60-64, 1°3; ar eas, 68; available, 8, 9, 16,
4.8,59-64, agencies of control, 64; zoning, 64; access
by r ail, 29; d emand for, 59, 61-64; construction on
tid eland s, 64, 65; pr oposed har bor s, 73, 77; clu bs and
amusement park s, 75; Los Angeles City, 48
Bel-Air, 68, .74
Benedict Canyon, 1 1 4
Bever ly Boulevar d , 117
Beverly Hills, 22, 55,98, 114
Bever ly Hills Park way, 114
Big Pines R ecr eation Camp and R oad, 8 5, 90, 91, 92
Big Rock Cr eek, 85Bir d R ef uge, 116, 123
Bix by Par k , 53
Bixby R anch Par kway and R eser vation, 122
Blue Ridge, 93
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Bolsa Chica, 69, 80, 123; Gun Club land s, 123
Bolsa Chica Park R eser vation, Bir d R efuge and Beach,
123
Bond s, pr oposed, 37, 38, 57
Boston, park s, 32-34, 81,115; park ways, 95, 96,125;
Fr anklin Field, 81; administration, 36; manuf ac-
tur es, 40Boulevard s, 13,95,96
Brand Par k , 96, 137
Br ea Canyon R oad , 130, 131
Breakwarer s, 17,67,79, 103
Broad way (Santa Monica), 68, 75
Brooklyn (N. Y.), Pros pect Park, 81, III
Brook side Park (Pasad ena), 53, 81, 82, 128
Build ing permit house count, 22
Budget, contr ol, 36; estimate, 42
Bull Creek, 1°9Burbank, 51Business (see C ommer cial)
Cabrillo, 60
Calabasas Park way, 108, II3
Calif ornia (see St at e)
Calif or nia Avenue, 68, 75
California Botanical Gard ens, 5 I
Cam p High Sierra, 93
Camp Oak s Flat, 93
Camp R ad f or d, 93 ,
Cam p Seeley, 93
Canyons, as r egional areas, 7, 10, 17, 85 -94; encroach-
ment on, 23, 24, 88
recommendations, 85-94
Carbon Beach, 68, 71
Car li!1es and railways, 28-29
Car-mile basis of travel, 13
Castaic Valley, 89
CastelJammare Beach, 68, 73, 74
Castle R ock, 73Center s f or recr eation (see UI / it .' )
Cham ber of Commer ce, Los Angeles City, 76
Chatsworth Chain of Parkways, 98
Chatsworth Par kway, 1°9
Chatsworth R eser voir Park, 108
Chattanooga Mission R idge, R oad, and Lookout Moun-
tain Highway, 25Chavez R avine, 128
Chicago, park r esources, 23, 32, 33,67,81,95,97; par k
ar eas, 33, 3 4-, 97; manuf actur er s, 4-0
Childr en, r ecr eation provision for, 6, 47, 53 , 54-, 81;
per cen tages of , 2 I
City Hall Park, 56
Clar emont, 132
Cleveland , par k ar eas, 33, 34, 95Climate, relation to housing, 22; to recr eation, 22, 23,
34, 39, 5 9; to automobiles, 23, 39; to ser vice r adius,
52Coal Canyon Point, 71
Coal Creek, 106
Coast Chain of Par k ways, 97
Coast R oad (see Palos Verd es)
Cold brook Camp, 92
Cold Creek, 106
Commer cial r ecr eation enterpr ises, 3, 63, 7 ')
Comparison with other regions (see Parks)Coney Island, 6 I
Congestion, 6, 12, 13, 14, 16,20,65
Consolid ation of par k s, 55
Co-operation of pu blic agencies, 6, 16, 35, 38, 42, 47,
50, 53, 55 (see also Admi7 t ist l" at ion , Agencies)
Corr al Beach, 68, 71
Cost, complete system, 36 (r esume), 14, 16, 17,37-42;
local r ecr eation, 57 (summar y), 54-, 55, 57, 58;
beaches and shor e points, 80 (summar y), 59,62,66,
80,103; r eigonal athletic f ield s, 83,138; lar ge r eser -
vations; 93; pleasureway park s and r elated large park s,
137 (summary), 96; pleasure bay, 17; drainage ba-
sins, 93-94,138; camps, 94; connecting road s, 88, 94,
138Tax rate (see T axation); assessed valuation, 40,57;
assessment of benefits, 38; development in relation to
acquisition, 58, 138; maintenance, 42, 56; distribu-
tion in time, 17; in districts, 58; justification of pro-
posed expenditur es, 39-43; modif ying f actor s, 37, 38,
42,53,54,55,56,58,94,13°; comparison with other
r egions, 17; pleasur e tr avel, II, 13, 14
Countr y Clubs, 3, 51,75
County (see LO f Angeles C ount y)
Coyote Pass, 127
Cr isis of Los Angeles R egion, 5, 13-14; co;t o f d elay, 3 8,
40,42, 66
Cross traff ic, 13, 88, 117, 128
Cr ystal Lak e, 85, 92
Culver connection, 114-
Cul"er Park R esen-ation, 114
Cul"er R ecr eation Field , 81, 82,115,116Dalton vVash, 132, 133
Del Re y , 68,76,77,98,1°3,120
Del Rey Park and Bird R efuge, 116, 120,123
Densi ty (see Po pulat ion)
Deserts as r egional ar eas, 7, 10, 17,26,81-83,85,86,91,
96Detached small park units, 6
Detroit park resour ces, 23, 32, 34-; manuf actur er s, 40
Devil's Canyon ~oad, 92
Devil's Gate Dam, 128
Dexter Canyon Park , I 10
Diamon d Bar R anch, 131
Distribution of local park s paces, 31, 33, 34,47,48,53,
55
Districts (see U nits)Dominguez R anch Parkway, 122
Dr ainage (see F lood C 01ttr ol)
Dr y Canyon, 108
Duluth scenic drives, 26
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Dume Park , 68, 70, 105
Dume Point, 70, 71, 104-
Dume Canyon Chain of Park ways, 98, 100, 103, 104-
East Bay Municipal Utilities Distr ict , 36
East Beach, 7 I
East Puente Hills Par k way and R eser vation, 13 I
East San Gabr iel Gor ge, 92
Eaton Canyon Wash, 81, 82,97,134-,135,136
Eaton Wash Parkway, 134-
Eber le Economic Ser vice, 2 I
Fr ank lin Canyon R eser voir R eser vations, 98, I13, 114-
Fr iction of distance, 2 I
Functions, par k -system, 1-4-, 6, 16, 3 I, 35, 4-7, 53, 96
(and see Parks)
Gage, Gover nor Henr y T., 127
Games (see Spor ts)
Ganesha Par k way, 131
Gard ena Valley Par k and Park way R eser vation, 98, 120,
121 (design)
Geor gina Avenue, 68, 75
Gifts as off sets of cost, 37, 38, 54-, 56,94-, 130
Glendale Park way, 24-, 137
Glendora, 86
Glendor a-San Dimas Parkway, 132
Glendor a-Azusa Parkway, 133
Goat Butte, 106
Gr ad e Crossings (see C mss T1oa ffic)
Grapevine Canyon, 89
Griffith Par k, 10,81,82,96,97,113,117,129 (recom-
mend ations), 137
Har bor im provement, 34-, 65, 66, 67, 76, 77, 79; d is-
tr ict, 59,60; Los Angeles, 69, 79; pr o posed , 76, 77
(see also Pleasure Bay)
Harbor City, 120
Hazard Park ,s 3, 55
Health, r elation to par k s, 3, + , 6
Hear st pr ivate road, 72Hermosa Beach, 69, 77
High-tid e line (see T id elands)
Highways, r elation to r ecr eation, 3, 23, 26,60, 80, 92,
103, 136; recommendations, 27, 63, 80 (and see
St ate)
Echo Park ,s 3
Ed ison Power Lines, I10, 134-, 136
Ed ucation (see S chools)
Elizabeth Lake Canyon, 90
El Segund o Beach, 69, 77, 97, 120
Elysian Par k, area, 96; scenic d rives, 24-, 97, 98, 117,
128,129; Chavez R avine, 81, 82
Enabling Act, 3 6
Encinal Beach, 68, 70
Escondid o Beach, 68, 71Estimates (see C ost)
Euclid Avenue School, 55
Escor pion Park, 108
Expend itur es (see C ost)
Ex position Boulevar d , I16
Exposition Par k par kway extension, 98, 117
Facilities, local, 6, 4-7, 57; over la pping, 6, 4-7; r egional,
5,7,14-; relation to age and income, 21, 22; to (and see Park s) -
Fed eral Government (see U nited St ates)
Fir ehouses,s
Financial (see C ost, Polic y)
Flood , control, 14-, IS, 16,34-,4-8,69,79; Control Dis-
trict, 120; relation to pleasur eway par k s, 16, 95, I10,
112,115,120,124-; San Gabriel River, 123, 125,
133; Los Angeles R iver , 125; Lett er on Nigger
Slough and other land s lying below possible d r ainage
levels, Ap p. III
For est Service, 92, 93, 94-
Four ty pical neigh borhood s, 56-57
Hillcrest Countr y Club, I1 4 -
Hilltop Chain of Park ways, 97
Historic sites, 125, 126, 127
Hollywood Countr y Club, 114-
Hollywood -Palos Verd es Par k way CA. & F. No. 15), 118
Hollywood scenic d rives, 2 4 -
Hor se Canyon, 93
Housing, in Los Angeles City, 22; causes of house ty pes,
22; zoning r estr ictions, 29; r elation to park s, 53;
house count, 22
Huntington Estate, 5 I
Huntington Palisad es Beach, 68, 74 -
Hy perion Beach and U pland s, 68, 69, 77
Hy per ion Sewer Farm, 120
Illustrations (see List o f Plat es)
Income grou ps in Los Angeles City, 21
I nd ustr iaJ ar eas, 33, 34-; gr owth comparison, 4-°; park s
for, 56
Inglewood Park way, I 16, 117
Inglewood Cemeter y, I17In-Town Park way, 116, 117
Inyo National Forest, 93
Iron Canyon, 92
Island s as recr eational units, 10, 17,67,96; Santa Cata-
lina, 87, 93; San Clemente, 87,93
Jur isdiction (see Ad ministr ation) -
K agel Canyon, I 10
K ansas City, park ar ea, 32-34-; parkways, 95
La Cienega Boulevard, I14-, II5
La Habra Connection, 130
Lancaster , 91
Land (see Par k s)
Land scape (S cenic Resour ces)
Lar ge r eservations (see Par k s)
Las Flores Beach Delta and Canyon, 68, 7 I,72Las Vir genes Canyon R oad , 106
Latigo R oad, 7 I
Laur el Canyon R oad , I14-
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La Ver ne Par kway, 131, 132
Legal opinion on shor eland rights in California,
Ap p. V (see also Beaches)
Legislation, recommend ed r emed ial, 14-, 29, (zoning),
35,36, (enabling act), 4-3
Length of park and park way system, 138
Lick Pier , 68, 75, 76Lie br e Mountain, 85, 86, 90
Lighthouse Caf e Point, 68, 7 4 -
Limekiln Canyon, 109
Lincoln-Arr oyo Seco Parkway, 128
Lincoln Park, 53, 81, 82, 97, 127, 128
Lincoln Park and R ecr eation Ground s, 128
Lippincott, 1919 report by, J. B., 92
List of Plates
Little Dalton Canyon, 85, 92, 93
Little Pine Flats, 92 "-
Live Oak Cr eek, 132
Live Oak Par k and Parkway, 132
Local Park s (see "Local Recreation Facilities" und er
Parks)
Locai recreation units (see "Local Recr eat ion F acilit ies" und er Parks)
Loma Alta Dr ive, 136
Long Beach, par k areas, 4-8, 50, 53, 56; beach f r ontage,
59,60,69,79; water land s, 81, 82,122; air port, 122;
access by r ail, 29; child r en, 21; multiple dwellings, 21
Long Beach R ecr eation Par k, 123, 125
Los Alamitos, 123 (see also Alamit os)
Los Angeles Aqueduct, 90
Los Angeles City, scenic r esour ces, 24-, 86; par k area com-
par ed with other cities, 31-32; pr os per ity, 4-1-4-2;
d r ift towar d multiple dwellings, 21; percentage of
children, 21; income groups, 21; zoning r egulations,
29; manufactur er s, 4-°; r ecr eation center s, 4-8, 53, 54-,
85, 93; consolid ation of park s,s 5; beach clu bs f ront-
age, 68, 75; harbor, 69; Cham ber of Commer ce, 76;De partment of Playground s and R ecreation, 4-8, 61 ;
Park Department
Los Angeles Countr y Club, 114-
Los Angeles County, metropolitan par t, I; unincor po-
rated part, 78; seacoast, 23, 68, 77; mountain and d es-
er t r eser vations, 85, 86,91,92; park acq uisitions, 93,
117,120,126,132,133; road building, 94-,110,
118, 130, 133; r elation' to adjoining counties, 123,
130, 132.; automobile r egistr ation, 13
Los Angeles County Far m, 125, 126
Los Angeles Har bor , 69, 79 (and see Harbor)
Los Angeles R egion, d escr i bed, I, 4-, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20,
22, 52, (map of classif ied use), 78; radius, 14-, 20;
water land s, 17; school ground s, 4-7, Ap p. I; existing
par k s and playgr ound s, 17, 4-8, 51, 96, 129, A pp. II; beaches, 59-8o; shor tage of r ecr eation f acilities, 4-, 20,
23-2~ 31-34-,96; causes of park need s, 4-, 19,25-28,
35; ur gent need of parkways and large par k s,s, 4-0, 86,
95, 96, 138; r a pid growth,s, 20, 28, 4-1; po pulation,
19-22; development by automobile, 39, 85, 95; park
extension to other counties, 87, 123; scenic resour ces,
23-28,85,86; in jurious land su bdivision, 29, 31,4-2,
55, 126; disa ppointment of tour ists, 25-28, 39; fir st
r eal parkway, 118; f our ty pical neigh bor hood s, 56-57;
com parison with other r egions, 4-, 5, 12, 20, 25, 28, 32,
33,38-39,4-°-4-3,61,67,95Los Angeles River, 79,113,114-,122,125,128,13°
Los Angeles River Parkway, 129
Los Cerritos Park way, 122
Love joy Buttes, 91Love joy Joshua Tr ees R eser vation, 91
Lower Arrovo Park, 128
Lower Los .Angeles R iver Park way, 125
Lower Mali bu Coast Par kway, 103
Lower Rio Hond o P'lr kway, 126
Lower San Gabriel R iver Park way, 123, 125
Lower To panga Canyon and Clif f s, 1°7
Lower Tujunga Parkway, I13Lugo Ranch House, 127
Maintenance, 38,4-2, 56
Malaga Park , 5 I
Malibu Beach Canyon, Park and Lak e, 68,71,1°3,1°5,
106
Manchester Playground and School, 55
Manhattan Island, 33,69,77
Manufacturer s, com parison with other cities, 4-0
Mar shall Cr eek , 132
Mesa Dr ive, 116, 117
Metropolitan Agencies, ta ble of comparative power s, du-
ties, and resources in Calif ornia and elsewher e, App. IV
Mileage of par kways, 100-102
Millard Canyon, 136
Mines Field, 120
Minneapolis, 32-34-
Mission Canyon, 109
Mole (see H ar bor)
Monr ovia Golf Ground s Site, 135Monrovia Par k, 53
Monrovia Par k way, 134-
Monrovia-Mount Olivet Park way, 134-
Monte bello Hills scenic d r ives, 23, 97,126,127
Monte bello Parkway, 127
Mountains, r ecr eation ar eas, 7, 10, II, 17, d 9, 4-8, 85-
94-, (r ecommend ations), 96, 97; scenic value, 23, 24-,
25,85-94-
Mountain Chain of Par kways, 97
Mount Wilson, 92, 135
Mount Olivet, 134-
Mount Ru bio Park way, 136
Mulholland Highway, 106, 107
Mulholland Par k way, 113
Mulholland Str eet, I 10Mulholland -Tujunga Park way, 114-
Multiple d wellings, 22, 29,53,56
Municipal par k s, 4-7-58
Munici pal Pier , 79
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Museums, relation to park s, 5
National (see U nit ed Stat es)
Neenach, 86; Joshua Trees R eservation, 90
Neighborhood s, stud y of four ty pical, 56-57
Neighborhood units (see U nits)
Newhal l, tunnel, 86, 89, 97; parkway, 89,97, 109
Newhall, Chatswor th & Topanga Canyon Chain of Par k-ways, 98
New Jer sey, 36,63 New Or leans, 4 -0
New York R egion, population d ensity, 20; E-arkar ea, 33,
34-; beaches, 61; administr ation, 36; manuf actur ers,
4-0; Westchester County, 39,95
Nicolas Beach, 68, 70
Nigger Slough, 16, 97, 98, 120,121 (d esign), 122;
copy of letter on Nigger Slough and other land s lying
below possible dr ainage levels, A pp. III
Oakgr ove Canyon, 86, 90
Oak Gr ove Park , 128
Oakwood Cemeter y, 1°9
Off sets to maintenance (see Gifts)
Oil, r evenue, 4-1; wells, 122, 130
Old To panga and Dr y Canyon Park way and Cliff s, 108
Olive View Sanatorium, 110
Ontario scenic drives, 28
Oak land scenic d rives, 25
Obstr uctive building, 24-, 25, 28
Opinion on shor eland rights in California, App. V
Orange County, 123
Out-of -door life in Los Angeles R egion, I, 12, 20, 23,
28, 37, 54-,97Over lapping (see Ad ministl' at ion , Agencies, F unctions)
Owens Valley, 86
Pacific Electric Railway, I15, I16
Pacific Palisad es, 68, 74-
Pacoima Park way and Wash R eservation, I 10, I12
Palmd ale, 85
Palmer Canyon Flood Basin, 132
Palos Verdes, beach frontage, 29, 60, 69, 70, 78, 79;
park areas, 32, 51, 55,98,117,118; policy, 55,70
Palos Verdes Coast Road, I18, 120, 122
Par is policy compar ed, 39-4-0
Park er R anch Road , 73
Park s, gener al consid erations, Cha p. I, 19, 35,4-3,4-7,52,
54-,56; compar ison with other r egions, 12, 17,31-32,
39, 55,6 I; crisis in Los Angeles Region, 5, 13, 14-,38,
4-°,4-2,4-3,54-,55,59,66,81,94-,97; shor tage in
Los Angeles R egion, 4-,31-34-,4-0,4-3, 59; analysis of
use classes, 52- 5 6
List of existing par ks, playgr ound s and other public
and q uasi-pu blic open s paces in the Los Angeles R e-
gion, App. II; extracts from r e port of park su perin-
tend ent of Los Angeles City for 1924-, App. VI; legal
opinion on shor eland rights, Ap p. V; power s, duties
and r esour ces of metropolitan agencies, App. IV; lands
below dr ainage levels, Ap p. Ill; relation to other d e-
partments, 1-4-, 3 I, 4-7 (see also Administ ration ,
Agencies , Schools); income gr ou ps, 21 ; modes of tr avel
(see Tr avel); obstacles, 55, 59, I17, 124-; in j ur ious
s peculation (see Speculat ion); local r ecr eation f a cili-
ties, 6, 4-7, 69, 79; consolid ation, 55; historic sites,
125,126,127; land for, 31, 54--55; municipal, 4-7-
58; estimated expend itur es (see C ost); r ecommenda-
tions (see Recommendations); r egional recreation fa-
cilities, 7, 9,10, II, 59,81,85,95,100; beaches, 59;
pleasur e bay, 17, 65, 77; athletic f ield s, 8 I;large res-
ervations in mountains, canyons, d eser ts, and island s,
85, 89, 94- (summar y); park ways, 89; pleasur eway
par ks, 95; list of pr oposed park ways and r elated lar ge
park s, 100-102; estimated ex penditur es (see C ost );
r ecommendations (see Recommendations)
See also Age Gr oups, Agencies, Ad minist l' at ion , Area ,
C I ~ildren , Climate , C ost , Distribut ion , F acilities, Func-
tions, I ndustr ial Areas, Legislat ion , M ult i ple Dwell-
ings, Park S yst em , Parkwa ys , Pla ygt ' ounds , Polic y , Po p-
ulat ion , Recommendat ions , S cenic Resour ces, S chools,
Speculat ion , S ubdivision , T t' avel , T y pes, U nit s ,
Par k Superintend ent's r e por t 1924-, 4-, A pp. VI
Par k System, d escr i ption of completed, 4-0, 4-2, 5 I, 87,
96, 97, Thr ee easterly-westerly chains and six north-
erly-souther ly chains, 97; Iist of proposed park ways
and r elated large park s, 100-102, 1°3; outlets at
county bound aries, 87, 1°9; gener al plan, 96
Par kway, f ir st r eal, in Los Angeles R egion, (Los Angeles
to Palos Verd es), 98, I18; ty pical section of , 99, I18;
d efinition of , 11-13; area, 14-, 17,33,34-; list, 100-
102; d etailed r ecommend ations, 1°3
Pasad ena, multi ple build ings, 21; childr en, 2 I; par k
ar eas, 32, 50, 51, 53, 56, 81,128; Depar .tment of
Park s and R ecr eation, 50; Br ook sid e Park , 53, 81, 82,
128; Arroyo Seco, 82, 92, 128, 136; scenic drives,
86, 134-
Paseo d el Mar (San Pedro), 78, 79
Payton Avenue, 112
Peavine Canyon, 114-
Pena Canyon Beach, 68, 72
Per ca pita, relative to area, 16, 20, 58, 95; r elative to
cost, 20, 4-0, 57- 58; beach s pace, 6 I
Per shing Squar e, 56
Per sonnel policy, 36
Philadel phia, 32, 4-0
Pico Boulevard , I1 4 -
Pioneer communities, 4-, 5
Pio Pico Adobe House, I 25
Playa d el R ey, 60, 64-, 66, 67
Playground & R ecr eation Association of America, 3 I
Playground s, 6, 16, 28, 31, 34-, 4-7, 58 (r ecommen-
d ations)
Plaza, 56
Pleasure Bay, 17 (cost), 65, 66, 67, 77, 103, 116
Pleasur eway Park, as r egional ty pe, 7, II, 13, 17, 95-
138; ar ea, 33, 34-; coast drives, 65-80; mountain and
d esert drives, 85-94-; com parison with other r egions,
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95; fir st one in Los Angeles R egion, I i8; r ecommen-
d ations, 100-102,103
Pleasur eways connecting park s; recommend ations, 100-
102
Point Dume, 65, 70
Point Fer min, 69, 78, 79, 93
Point Vicente Lighthouse, 69, 78Police r egulation of floodways, 14, 15; of beach use, 63-
64, A pp. V
Policy, 1,4,5,7,14,15,19,34-38,39-4°,42,47,58,
66, 116, 126
r egional athletic f ield s, 9, 81-83, IIS; beaches, 9, 35,
59-80,66, I 16; f lood ways, 14, 16, 34, I 15; highways,
27,63,80; wild distr icts, II;
local co-operation, 35, 47, 52, 56; justif ication of,
39-42, 54, 66, 126, 138; irr e par a ble absence of , 26,
31,34,4-3,55Pomona, 97, 131
Pomona Basin R eser vation, 13J
Pomona Par kway, 131
Po pulation of Los Angeles R egion; I, 16, 19, 20,47, 54,
57,95; r a pid incr ease, 4, 6,14,19,28,34,95,96;
r atio to park facili ties, 4, 12, 20, 3 1-34, 52- 54; d en-
sity, 20, 21, 29,47, 52-53,95; tr end, 14, 20, 21;
zoning, 29; four ty pical neigh borhood s, 57
Por tland (Maine), par kways, 95
Portland (Or egon), Ter williger Boulevar d and the Co-
lum bia Highway, 26; par k area, 32, 95
Potr er o Countr y Clu b, I17
Pr ivate clu bs, r elation to r ecr eation, 3, 32,63
Private recr eational enterpr ises, I, 32; obstruction of
beaches,s 9; beach r ights, 57, 62
Pr omoter s, II
Pr o perty rights in beaches, 8, 9, A pp. V; uses in 23 cities,
29
Pu blic improvements,s; pu blic r ights in beaches, 59,
103, A pp. V
Public res ponsi bility for r ecreation f acilities, I, 3Pudd ingstone R eser voir Par k , 131
Puente Hills scenic drives, 25,'97, 130, 13 I, 134
Radius of r ecr eation ser vice, 6, 9,13,21,33,34,47,52,
54; Los Angeles R egion, 14, 52; urban area, 19, 52;
af lected by d ensity of population, 20; house count in
Los Angeles, 22; school playground s, 47, 52, 54; f r ic-
tion of d istance, 2 I
R ailways and car lines, 28-29
Ramir ez Beach and Canyon, 68, 70, 71,104,105
R ancho Cienega Recreation Field , 81, 82, 116
R ancho EI Cone jo, 106 .
R atio of park facilities to population, 4, 13
R ecommend ations, (see also C ost) complete plan (sum-
mar y), 16, 37; legislation, 36, 37; financing (see
C ost ); local recreation facilities, 47-58, 52 (r esume); beaches and shor e front f acilities, 59-80, 67 (sum-
mar y); pleasur e- bay, 66, 77, 116; regional athletic
field s, 81-83; lar ge r eser vations in mountains, can-
yons, deser ts, and island s, 85-94, 89 (summar y), 93
(Angeles Forest); pleasureway par k s, parkways, and
r elated large par k s, 95-138, 96 (r esume), 100-102
(summar y); d etailed r ecommend ations; local r ecr ea-
tion f acilities, playground s, r ecr eation par k s, and s pe-
cial units, 47 et seq.; beaches and shore points, 70 et
seq.; r egional athletic field s, 82-83; lar ge r eser vations,
89 et seq.; pleasur eway par k s, parkways, and r elated large park s, 103 et seq.
R ecr eation, conditions, 35,47, 53; in various cities (Q.V.) (See also Areas, Agencies, Beaches, Park s , Play-
grounds, Policy); necessity, 5, 6; child r en's play, 6,
8 I;cost, 42; youths' play, 81; indoor amusement, 6.
R ecreation park s (see Pm-k s)
R ed Box, 92
R ed ond o beach frontage, 59, 69, 78, 1 18
R egional park f acilities,S, 7,14,35,47; im por tance, 9;
. ex periments in other cities, 12; policy, 35, 36; main-
tenance costs, 4 2; r elation to local f acil ities, 47, 58, 59
R egional Planning Commission, 127
R en tal val ues, 4, 5
R e por t of Los Angeles Park Su per intend ent 1924, 4,
Ap p. VI
R eser voir par k s, 8 I
R es ponsi bility of public f or park s, 3, 3 6
R id ge R oute, 89, 9 0
Right-of -Way, 65
R ights in shor eland s of Califor nia, legal o pinion on,
A pp. V
R io Hondo and Eaton Wash Chain of Par k ways, 97, 125,
126, 127, 134
R ipar ian land s (see Beaches)
R iver -side scenic drives, 28
R ock Cr eek and R ock Cr eek Par k way, 91, 92
R od eo Canyon, 131
R osamond Lak e, 86,91
R oxbur y Playgr ound, 55
R oyal Palms Beach, 69, 79; golf cour se, 122
R u bio Canyon, 136Russell Valley Park , 105
Sadd le Peak Par k way and R eser vation, 106
San Antonio Cone Reser vation, 132
San Bernar d ino County, 132
San Bernard ino Mountains, 116
San Ber nard ino ational For est, 93
San Clemente Island, 87, 93
Sandber g's, 90
San Dimas, 92, 131, 13 2
San Dimas Cone R eser vation, 132
San Fer nando Mission Parkway, I 12, 113
San Fernando Par kway, 110
San Fernand o R eser voir Par k , 1°9
San Fernand o Valley, athletic field , 81; r oad f r om, 89,
98, 108; upper por tion, 109, 110
San Fr ancisco, scenic dr ives, 25; par k ar ea, 32
San Ga briel R iver, golf gr ound s, 134; mouth, 123; mis-
cellaneous, 85, 9 3, 97, 122, 124, 127, 133
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San Gabr iel Valley athletic field, 8 I; d am, 85; moun-
tains, 86, I 16; r eser voir, 92, 93; chain of park ways, 97
San Gabr iel Wash R eser vation, 13 3
San Jacinto Mountains, 87
San Jose Hills, 131
San Pedr o, 22, 60, 78; access by r ail, 29; beach, 69, 79;
park r eser vation, I 18San Pedro Par kway, 120
San Pedr o Hills R eser vation, 122
Santa Anita Canyon Par k and Parkway, 13:;
Santa Catal ina Island , 87
Santa Clara River Valley, 89
Santa Fe R ailway, I 17
Santa Monica beach fr ontage, 29, 49, 5~, 60, 64-80; ac-
cess by rail, 29; park ar eas, 49, 50, 75; school ar eas,
49; airpor t, 49; beach use, 61, 64-80; beach clu bs
f rontage, 68,74,75; pr o posed harbor , 73
Santa Monica Boulevar d , I 14
Santa Monica Canyon beach, park and pier , 74, 75
Santa Monica Mountains, 97, 98, 100
Santa Ynez Beach and Canyon, 68, 74
Saugus, 86, 93
Sawmill Mountain, 86, 90
Sawtelle, 5 I
Scenic r esour ces, 23-28,4°, 53, 54, 59,65; obstacles to
enjoyment of, 23-31, 88; value, 24-28; mountain
road s, 85-94; northern Los Angeles County, 85;
d eser ts and mountains, 85-94; chains of par k ways, 97
et seq.
Schools, list of Los Angeles R egion school ground s of
over five acr es, App. I; r elation of schools to r ecr eation,
3,5,6,16,35,47,53,54,55; to local units, 6, 7,16,
34,47,53,54,55; ar ea, 16,47,55; App. I; num ber ,16; eq uitable d istribution, 47, 55; four ty pical neigh-
bor hood s, 57
Seattle, scenic drives, 26, 95; park area, 32
Selig Zoo, 128
Sepulved a Par ~way, 98, 120Seq uit Beach, 68, 70
Sewer De par tment, 77
Shor e-front r oad s and par k areas r ecommend ed , 100-102
(summary), 103 et seq. (detailed)
Shoreland ri ghts in California, legal opinion on, Ap p. V
Shores (see Beaches)
Shor tage of park s (see Park s)
Sierr a Canyon, 105, 106
Sierra Madr e Golf Ground s Site, 135
Sier r a Mad re Park way, 135
Signal Hill, 97, 122
Signal Hill Park and Park way, 122
Silver Lake, I 17
Soledad Canyon, 89
Southern Califor nia, tr avel en joyment in, 14, 28Southern Califor nia Telephone Com pany house count, 22
Southern Pacif ic Railway, 89
South Gate R ecreation Gr ound s, 81, 82,125
Spad ra Valley,·I3I
S peculation ver sus par k s,S, 10, I I, 29, 42, 55, 59, 64,
66; land mark et conditions, I I, IS, 42, 55, 64, 66,
1°3; sharp pr actice, 14; in jur ious encr oachments, 29-
3 1,42, 55, 59-64, 66, 103
Spor ts, 6, 10, 34, 53, 54, 8 I
Standard Oil Company beach, 69, 77
State Division of Highways, 64,85,94-State Highways, 64-, 65, 67,71/74-,78,92,1°3,136
(a11d see H ighzvays)
State Par k s, 87, J 25
St. James Park, 56, I17
St. Louis park ar ea, 32; manufactur es, 4-0
Storm water, 14- (see also F lood C r!11t ml)
Stough Park, 5 I
Str eet car s, 28-29
Str eets (see Highwa ys)
Su bdivision of land destructive of mountain tr acts, 10,
II, 1°5; d estructive of tr ees, 26; areas, 33, 34-, 52,
55; vacant lots, 4-2; o bstructive, 123, 124-, 126; loss of
local park s, 3 I
Summar y (see Recommend at ions and C ost s)
Sunland, I I I
Superintend ent of Park s, extr acts fr om 1924- r e por t, A p p.
VISycamore Grove, 128
Taxation incidence, 7, 5 7; r ate, 14-, 38,4-2, 57; of f sets,
38; maintenance, 4-2; assessment of benefit, 38; as-
sessed valuation, 4-0, 57; taxation vs. s peculation,s;
proposed legislation, 37, 38
Te~minal Island , 60, 69, 79
Ter r ace Park, 56
Thomson Cr eek, I 32
Tid eland s, legal as pect, 9, 59, 103, A p p. V, 59; en-
cr oachments, 62-64-,66 (and see Beaches)
To panga Canyon, 59; Beach Canyon, etc., 68, 72, 73,
106,107,108,113
Topanga Chain of Par k ways, 98
Topanga-M ulholland Par k way, 106Torr ance Beach, 69, 78
Tourists, o bstacles to en joyment, 23-26; par k s to attract,
39; example of Par is, 39; economic value, "39,4°
Traff ic (see T r avel)
Tr ans por tation policy, 34-, 64-, 8 I
Tr avel com bined with pleasur e, f unctions, 12, 13, 64,
78,85; mod es, 13,28-29,38; distance, 14-,28,85,
96; obstacles, 23, 59,64-,96; in mountains, 88; along
beaches, 103
Trees, need for, 13, 26, 96, 124; destr uction of , 26;
use in parkways, 99, I 16, I I 8, 121
Trip pet R anch, 107
Triunf o, 97, 98, 105, 106
Triunf o Canyon Par k way and Cliff s, 106
Tujunga Canyon, 8, 5, 86Tu j unga Par kway, 114-, 136; Tui unga Valley Par k , I 10;
Tujunga Valley and BalJona Chain of Parkways, 98;
Tujunga Wash, III, 112, 130, 137
Tuna Canyon Beach and R oad, 68, 72, 106
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Turnbull Ridge Park way, 130
Turnbull Canyon Road, 130
Ty pes of par k s, local, 52, 55, 57; regional, 7,59,81,85,
95Union Pacific R ailroad, 122
United States, beach f r ontage, 78; for est service, 33, 85,
92, 93, 94-, 104-, 105, 129, 136; Angeles NationalForest, 10,85,9°,93,97; recommend ed acq uisitions
in, 93; lighthouse, 70-93, 1°5; park policy, 10
Units, recr eation, local, 53, 54-, 55, 56; r egional, 10; r e-
lation to schools, 6, 4-7, 54-; consolidation, 53, 54-, 55;
administr ative, 7, 35, 36, 58
Univer sal City, 1!4-, 130
Univer sity of Southern Ca] ifornia, I17
U pper Los Angeles River Park way, 130
U pper Malibu Coast Park way, 104-
Upper Rio Hondo Par kway, 134-
U pper San Ga briel River Park way, 134-
Ur ban ar ea incr ease, 19, 37
Vancouver par k r esour ces, 23
Van, Nuys, 112, 113
Venice beach f r ontage, 59, 60, 62, 66, 68 , 76; har bor
l 7 6 77 I 16 Ch b f C 7 6
Vincent Gulch, 85,92,93
Walnut Creek, I3 I
War m S prings, 90
Washington, D. C., 56
Water conservation pr oblem, 15,34-; water shed ar eas, 10,
33
West Beach, 69, 79Westchester County, N. Y., compar ison of policy, 39,95
Westlake Park, 53
West Puente Hills Par kway, 130, I3 I
Westwood Pu blic Golf Cour se, 114-
White's Point Beach, 69, 79
Whiting's Wood s, 136
Whiting's Wood s and Br and Park R eser vation, 137
Whitnall Highway, I 12, I 13
Whittier Narr ows, 81, 82, 123, 124-, 1 26 , 130, 133,
134-
Whittier Narr ows R ecr eation Par k and Dr ainage Basin,
127Wilmington, 29, 120
Wilshire Boulevar d , 114-
Wilsona Valley, 86
W k Mill R d 130 134
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