Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-01
CHARLES MuLFoRD ROBINSON


| leaving neglected such opportunities is
| the greater.
! HUMMELSHINE, entrances to the tuE-
| nels should also be taken in hand by this
park and art commissions, and the city
| should lower the grade of the Broadway
tunnel, cutting 1t down at the south end,
| even II California street had to be closed
TO teaming at Broadway. The block to
Temple is so short that this would work
no hardship which could be compared for
fl moment to the city's gain.
SIDE PARKING-On nearly all the resi-
Dental streets the side parking between
walk and curb is too narrow. This is one
Of the greatest faults of Los Angeles and
one of the most ineXcusable. 1t is the
one which detracts more perhaps than
does any other thing from the beauty of
the city. The streets are amply broad TO
permit more generous parking, and in an
9il-the-year-round summer city good
parking would be great attraction.
AS to the width of roadway necessary
4 recent census of the engineers OF some
Of the most prominent cities in the coun-
try gave twenty-five feet as ample width
for all residential streets that were not
erterial or that were not reserved for
boulevard use. If on all but the short
est streets of Los Angeles. still barring
bouevards and arterial thoroughfares, the
width were increased to thirty feet, it Is
obvious that the sixty and eighty foot
residential streets of this city would allow
much more space between lot line and
curb than is now generally devoted here
to that purpose and that as a result the
city would seem much more up to date,
as well as more beautiful to the eye,
than with the waste of roadway.
Even on arterial streets, a roadway of
fifty feet is likely to be generous.
may name as types of streets that should
have their side parking increased: Hill
| street In the high school neighborhood; /;
Harvard boulevard a street deliberately
laid out to be beautiful and then marred
| by timidity as to parking; Boyle avenue,
| and north Olive street at the hill. The
latter is so steep that there is little
traffic on It,, and IL the road were here
made narrow and the street lawn on
either side made wide we should not only
have a stretch of street more sensible
1 dislike to make a hard rule for the
width of side parking, as conditions vary
slightly in different streets but IL is an
unusua, sixty-foot residential street in
Los Angeles that will not bear at least
an eight-foot parking on each side. That
would give a thirty-foot roadway, eight
feet of parking and a six-foot walk put
one foot from the lot line; and 1t Is a
rare eighty-foot street. II It be not bur-
dened with an exceptionally heavy ar
terial traffic, on which the side parking
cannot be widened to at least twelve feet
Trim the Trees
TREES-The trees, largely as a result
of the inadequacy of the reserved strips
between walk and curb. are very poor
on the Los Angeles residential streets.
The recent appointment of a city for
ester, however, is a hopeful step in the
and beautiful in itself but one that would
make a very delightful picture, in con-
trast to the present slide of dust, when
seen from lower Olive street and from
the streets which cross that. And this
thoroughfare, let 1t be repeated, is a
type. The suggestion is one of those OF
which the execution does not cost money,
but saves 1t.
right direction. Then there should be
better trimming. The peppers especially
age allowed to hang too low In recog-
milton of these needs, which are very
great, the forester should be given a
greater authority than he now has, and
a considerably larger appropriation. 1t
would be worth while to make this gen.
erous and give him a good force of men
for some years, until present delinquen-
cies have been made up and the city
started right. 1 may add, in response to
a request, that the palm Is not In my
estimation a good street tree.
SCHOOL YARDS-With q few more
notes on special developments my general
suggestions will be finished and I can
take up the street plan recommendations
| The school yards are inexcusably bad.
From an architectural standpoint the
school buildings also are very bad, as a
rule but 1t is less easy to change them.
| The yards ought at once to be taken ir
hand and it will be possible to give a
great deal of beauty to them without
trespassing to any extent on play space.
A good point of beginning for the local
work would be the high school, of which
the grounds have been lately consider
ably enlarged. A useful and interesting
plan could be worked out there. vegeta-
| tion should outline the boundaries and
| fill the building corners.
| THE RIVER The river presents
very serious problem, and one
which cannot be solved with entire
aesthetic satisfaction. The great depth
of sand seems to make impracticable
any scheme of dams for holding
the water, and river bed that for most
| of the year is dry and that has on both
of its banks a railroad is not an attract
i've object. But this at least should be
done: The removal of sand should at once
be organized on a businessllke basis, Sc
that the work shall be done humanely as
respects the teaming. orderly evenly and
with due respect for city property. The
bed of the river should be cleaned of its
rubbish and kept clear; and along the
banks there should be planted willows
and sycamores. Finally, the bridges are
now about as ugly as they can be. AS
these are replaced handsome structures
should be substituted. The bridges, es.
pecially over a stream of this character
should seem as little as possible like
bridges when one is upon them and az
much as possible like improved bits OF
street.
III.
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS.
Coming now to the larger questions in
volved In replanning of the older par