Right of Way

Case 3: Parks

The creation of parks in Los Angeles is directly related to late-19th century boosterism intended to attract white residents and real estate investment to the city. The City Council created the Department of Parks in 1889, after which Colonel Griffith J. Griffith donated five square miles of the Los Feliz Rancho to the city as a park. This was followed by the development of several more parks including the original pueblo lands of the old plaza, Elysian Park, Pershing Square, Lincoln Park, MacArthur Park, Echo Lake Park, and Hollenbeck Park, all located within walking distance of LA’s wealthiest and whitest residential neighborhoods.

Although numerous studies have shown the social, environmental, economic, and health benefits that parks bring to a city and its neighborhoods, some groups continue to enjoy greater access to them. This type of environmental privilege has been documented in the history of urban development, which recognizes the considerable disparities in the availability of parks and recreational spaces for residents of low-income, non-white neighborhoods. Where communities have rallied to demand increased access to public parks, there remain ongoing issues of funding for maintenance, improvements, and organized recreational activities.

On display in this case are documents and publications demonstrating the efforts of local activists, community groups, and civic organizations to provide public input over management of park lands, letters regarding state funding and designation of community parks as state parks, maps indicating recreation priority needs in Los Angeles, records related to the creation of a national recreation area, and unrealized plans for a green metropolis put forth by the LA Chamber of Commerce.

Case 4, Environmentalism, is the flat case nearest this one.

• 1

  Letter to Janice Hinkston from Governor Ronald Reagan, October 18, 1974Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 2

  Letter to Governor Ronald Reagan from Janice Hinkston, September 20, 1974Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 3

  Figure 2, Citywide Recreation Priority Need Areas: Adjusted Service Areas of Existing Parks, 1975Northridge Civic Association Papers

• 4

  Figure 1, Citywide Recreation Priority Need Areas: Park Sites and Facilities, 1975Northridge Civic Association Papers

• 5

  Flyer, "NO on 4," circa 1980Northridge Civic Association Papers

• 6

  Brochure, "VOTE NO on CHARTER AMENDMENT 4," circa 1980Northridge Civic Association Papers

• 7

  Flyer, Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park, 1980Northridge Civic Association Papers

• 8

  "Suggested Development for a Santa Monica Mountain State Park," circa 1965Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 9

  "Needed for California: The Great Seashore and Mountain Park," circa 1974Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 10

  Letter to Councilman Tom Bradley from Ethel Haydon, May 24, 1972Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 11

  Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches for the Los Angeles Region: a Report Submitted to the Citizens' Committee on Parks, Playgrounds, and Beaches, 1930SB 483 L7 O6 1930