Pershing Square (Los Angeles)

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Pershing Square is a public park in downtown Los Angeles, California. The park is exactly one block in size. It is bounded by 5th Street to the north, 6th Street to the south, Hill Street to the east, and Olive Street to the west. There is a large fountain located in the southern half of Pershing Square.

[edit] History

Pershing Square, showing fountain designed by Ricardo Legorreta, added in renovation

In the 1850s, the location was used as a camp by settlers outside of then village of Los Angeles, which was centered to the north around what is now Olvera Street. Early surveyors drew the area as 10 plots, but in practicality it was a solid five-acre piece of land. In 1866, city fathers declared the plots a public square, according to a city history.^[1] It was signed into being by former Mayor Cristobal Aguilar, and called La Plaza Abaja ("The Lower Plaza"). German immigrant and owner of a local beergarden, George "Roundhouse" Lehman, planted small cypress and fruit trees and shrubs around the park early in its history, and maintained them until his death in 1882.^[1]

In 1867, St. Vincent's College (now Loyola Marymount University) moved in across the street, and the square informally became St. Vincent's Park. In 1870, it was officially named Los Angeles Park. During the 1880s and '90s, it was known as 6th Street Park, and later, Central Park; during this time a pavillion was added for music and orators. In 1894 the park began being used as the staging area for the annual crowning of the queen of La Fiesta de Los Angeles, an event which continues as Fiesta Broadway.^[1]

A monument to California's 20 Spanish-American War dead was erected in 1900; it is allegedly modeled after a Spanish-American War veteran, 7th California Infantry volunteer Charlie Hammond of San Francisco, and is believed to be the oldest work of public art in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Council declared it a historic-cultural monument in 1990.^[1]

In 1910 the park was renovated under a design by John Parkinson, who would later design Los Angeles City Hall and Union Station. Parkison's design featured a three-tier fountain sculpted by Johan Caspar Lachne Gruenfeld, braced by four life-size concrete cherubs supporting a vase of cascading water.^[1] In November 1918, a week after Armistice Day ended World War I, the park was renamed Pershing Square, in honor of Gen. John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing; however a plaque was not added in his honor for over four decades.

In the 1920-30s tropical plants were added to the park. In 1924, a life-size bronze of a World War I doughboy, sculpted by Humberton Pedretti, was unveiled, flanked by old cannons. In 1935, a bronze cannon from the USS Constitution was added. In 1932, a statue of Ludwig van Beethoven was added to honor William Andrews Clark, Jr., founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, whose home Hazard's Pavilion was located adjacent to the park (where the planned Park Fifth Towers are to be located).^[1]

After heavy use during World War II for rallies and recruitment, the park began to decline as suburbanization took hold in the LA area. The entire park was excavated in 1952 to build an underground parking garage. In its place was concrete topped by a thin layer of lawn. In 1954, Kelly Roth, a Hungarian immigrant who had owned a cigar store across from the square, donated $30,000 for twin reflecting-pool fountains in honor of his late wife and to thank Los Angeles for the opportunities it provided him; the fountains were designed by Stiles O. Clements.^[1]

The park continued to be neglected, it was noted for its problems during the 1960 Democratic National Convention; nominee and future president John F. Kennedy stayed at the adjacent Millennium Biltmore Hotel. By the 1984 Summer Olympics the park had become a serious eyesore, leading the city to spend $1 million to temporarily fix it up.^[1]

In 1992, the park was closed for a major $14.5-million renovation designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta and landscape architect Laurie Olin, opening in 1994 with a 10-story purple bell tower, numerous artworks and a walkway resembling an earthquake faultline designed and executed by artist Barbara McCarren, a concert stage and a seasonal ice rink; it is now predominantly concrete.^[1]