MacArthur Park
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- For the song named for this park, see MacArthur Park (song)
MacArthur Park (formerly Westlake Park) is a park in Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.[1] It is located in the Westlake neighborhood of the city.[1]
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[edit] Geography
The park is divided in two by Wilshire Boulevard. The southern portion primarily consists of a lake, while the northern half includes an amphitheatre, bandshell and children's playground. The bandshell, recently renovated, was in the past and is once again host to jazz, big band, salsa, and world music concerts.
The lake is fed by natural springs (although an artificial bottom was laid during construction of the Metro Red Line which opened in 1993). In the past a fountain with a reflecting pool on the northern end also was fed by springs.
The Metro Red Line runs underneath MacArthur Park and can be accessed through the adjacent Westlake/MacArthur Park station.[2]
[edit] History
The park, originally named Westlake Park, was built in the 1880s, along with a similar park, Eastlake Park, whose lake is artificial, in East Los Angeles. The park was re-named May 7, 1942; Eastlake Park was re-named Lincoln Park.
In the mid-1800s the area was a swampland; by the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. In the early part of the twentieth century, the MacArthur park area became known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles.
Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street (which ran from Figueroa to Alvarado) into downtown Los Angeles. Orange Street was renamed Wilshire and extended east of Figueroa to Grand. This divided the lake into two halves; the northern one was subsequently drained.
Despite the rather poetic homage paid to it in the 1968 song, the real MacArthur Park became known for being a violent place after 1985 when drug-dealing, shoot-outs and rumored occasional drownings became commonplace, with as much as 30 murders in 1990[1]. The Westlake area also became infamous for the street sale of fake identification cards. When the lake was drained during construction of the Red Line tunnel hundreds of handguns (likely used in the commission of crimes) were found to have been disposed of in the lake bottom over the years.[citation needed] Before the decline of the neighborhood, the park featured the traditional paddle-boats and a large fountain in the center of the lake.
Beginning in 2002 the Los Angeles Police Department, and business and community leaders The Alliance: MacArthur Park led a revitalization effort that has led to the installation of surveillance cameras, the opening of a recreation center, increased business, a new Metro station, the return of the paddle boats and the fountain, and large community festivals attracting thousands. Most recently, in 2005 the park was celebrated for having the highest reduction of crime statistics per resident in the United States.[citation needed]
Gang-on-gang violence sometimes happens in and around the park. On September 15th 2007 infant Luis Angel Garcia was hit by a stray bullet as his mother and hundreds of other shoppers strolled amid the stores and outdoor vendors near the corner of 6th Street and Burlington Avenue. Authorities said the gunmen (part of the 18th Street Gang) were targeting a street vendor who had refused to pay $50 in "rent." The vendor, Francisco Clemente, also was shot, as was the baby's mother and the vendor's girlfriend. [2]
[edit] Emergency services
[edit] Police service
Los Angeles Police Department operates the Rampart Community Police Station at 2710 West Temple Street, 99026, serving the neighborhoods around the park [3].,
[edit] May Day Mêlée with LAPD
On May Day May 1st, 2007, a rally calling for US citizenship for undocumented immigrants[3] took place in MacArthur Park. The incident has been dubbed the May Day Mêlée
In the evening, eight protesters began throwing rocks and bottles at officers, leading police commanders to declare the gathering an unlawful assembly and give the order to disperse. The police then cleared the park, using what some thought excessive force against those who disobeyed the order. Sanjukta Paul, a National Lawyer's Guild observer was beaten repeatedly by an LAPD officer, including a blow to the kidneys, as she attempted to impede the police's progress. [4]
Another police officer was seen throwing a news camera (worth $50,000) from a cameraman as well as beating news reporters attempting to access their news vans.[5] Protestors clashed with members of the Los Angeles Police Department, suffering reportedly excessive force, with rubber bullets, property damage, tear gas canisters being used on a mostly peaceful crowd at the hands of police officers equipped in full riot gear.[3] At a subsequent press conference,LAPD Chief William Bratton said an investigation was underway to "determine if the use of force was appropriate" and that "the vast majority of people who were [at MacArthur Park] were behaving appropriately." [6] [3]
[edit] Pop culture
- MacArthur Park is famous for the epic song named after it, written by Jimmy Webb and first performed by Richard Harris in 1968. The song based on the park was originally performed by Tommy Dorsey. One of the best known covers of this is the Donna Summer disco 1978 hit. Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman all performed dynamic big band jazz versions[4].
- In the Simpsons episode "A Fish Called Selma," Troy McClure's agent, voiced by Jeff Goldblum, is named "MacArthur Parker."[7]
- The park was the setting for Joseph Wambaugh's novel, The Choirboys.
- The violent MacArthur Park of the 90's was used as inspiration for Glen Park in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- MacArthur Park was featured in the 1997 film, Volcano, as well as the 2005 film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
- MacArthur Park was also featured in the 2001 Sundance film MacArthur Park.[8]
- In one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Carlton Banks decides to take a trip to MacArthur Park after dark in an attempt to win a bet and prove to Will that he can "make it" in Compton, California.
- MacArthur Park is referenced in the Michelle Shocked song "Come a Long Way": "I heard the screams of the dying dark / Through the sweet green icing of MacArthur Park."
- The song "Leave It" by the pop group Yes (band), from the album 90125, includes the line "MacArthur Park in the driving snow".
- Other well known people have also sung this song, including Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward with Mike Batt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in the Classic Blue Album.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the classic song called "Jurassic park", which told a short version of the 1993 movie of the same name.
[edit] Other MacArthur Parks
There is also a MacArthur Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, where MacArthur was born in 1880.[9] It is built around the former Little Rock Arsenal and contains MacArthur's birthplace, which now serves as the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ a b HISTORIC-CULTURAL MONUMENT (HCM) REPORT. Los Angeles Department of City Planning (November 10, 2004). Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
- ^ Metro Red Line. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ a b c "Small turnout, big questions", Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ Police Terror in the Park. LA Indy Media (May 2, 2007). Retrieved on May 6, 2007.
- ^ LAPD Officers Use Force to Disperse Immigration Marchers. Newscorp (May 2, 2007). Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- ^ Bratton: Officers' Conduct May Be Inappropriate. KTLA (May 2, 2007). Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- ^ Jeff Goldblum. IMDb. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ MacArthur Park (2001/I). IMDb. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ Little Rock City Parks. About.com. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
- ^ MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. City of Little Rock Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
"It's General MacArthur Not Westlake Park From Now On," Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1942, 1.
[edit] External links
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