MacArthur Park

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For the song named for this park, see MacArthur Park (song)

MacArthur Park looking towards downtown LA

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. It is located in the Westlake neighborhood of the city.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Pop Culture
4 Other MacArthur Parks
5 References
6 External Links

[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 (presently closed) in the past was host to jazz, big band, and salsa 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.^[1]

[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 shortly after the end of World War II; 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 Elysees 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. The Westlake area also become 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. 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 of 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.

[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. One of the best known covers of this is the Donna Summer disco 1978 hit. Maynard Ferguson performed a dynamic big band jazz version[1].
In the Simpsons episode, "A Fish Called Selma," Troy McClure's agent, voiced by Jeff Goldblum, is named "MacArthur Parker."^[2]
The park was the setting for Joseph Wambaugh's novel, The Choirboys.
MacArthur Park was featured in the 1997 film, Volcano
MacArthur Park was also featured in the 2001 Sundance film, MacArthur Park.^[3]
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.

[edit] Other MacArthur Parks

There is also a MacArthur Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, where MacArthur was born in 1880. 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.