Los Angeles’ First Park

Elysian Park is Los Angeles’s first and oldest park.  It was part of the original 1781 
land grant to the pueblo of Los Angeles from King Carlos III of Spain.  The initial 550 acres of Elysian Park were “…forever dedicated to the public…”  in 1886, and by 1937 had grown to a little over 600 acres.  The park is the site of the first Botanical Garden in Southern California.  In the 1880s about 37,000 eucalyptus trees were planted on park land, and in the 1890s the Los Angeles Horticultural Society began planting many specimens of rare trees including the double row of wild date palms north of Stadium Way.  About 67 species remain of the original plantings.Elysian Park serves as an enormous backyard for the families who live in nearby neighborhoods such as Echo Park, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, and Elysian Heights.  Notable sites and buildings at or near Elysian Park include the Portola/ Fremont Gate, Victory Memorial Grove, the Chavez Ravine Arboretum, the Avenue of the Palms, the rock garden at the Police Academy, the Recreation  Center in the Solano Canyon section of the park, Barlow Hospital, tunnels on the Pasadena Freeway, Arroyo Seco Parkway, and the Buena Vista Reservoir.   Trees are regularly purchased and planted in Elysian Park by CCSEP members and friends as loving memorials to the living and the dead.  Source

Hidden in Plain Sight

In 2010 LA Weekly named Elysian Park LA’s Best Park Hidden in Plain Sight: “While Griffith Park gets the lion’s share of attention, most people know Elysian Park only as that area in which Dodger Stadium is embedded or as that weird, vaguely forested space that abuts the 110 and 5 freeways near downtown. Truth is, Elysian is an amazingly placid, lushly verdant and highly usable getaway in the middle of the city. Founded in 1886, Elysian Park has incredibly varied topography and vegetation. There are grassy meadows, tree groves, canyons, steep hills with winding roads and grand vistas at the top; a shallow, decorative pond; and numerous sites appropriate for outdoor picnic parties with barbecuing, volleyball, horseshoes and other outdoor games. Not to mention a fair amount of forested land. Compared with Griffith Park, which has great scrubby, Wild West looking hiking trails, more of Elysian is domesticated and park-like while still maintaining a strong feeling of nature.”

source for above photos: parlato design

Links & Resources

Los Angeles’ First Park

Grace E. Simons Legacy Lives

Echo Park Silver Lake Community Plan

Los Angeles General Plan

Chavez Arboretum  – L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks

Flashback Friday: Building the 110 Freeway through Elysian Park | Echo Park Now

the fickle change of seasons in LA : : parlato design

Montecillo De Leo Politi Park

Elysian Park’s “Avenue of the Palms” trees are dying | Echo Park

Hike L.A. – Portola Trail

Professional Disc Golf Association | Chavez Ridge DGC at Elysian