Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-01

ur system OF pupllc parks. IinS pe'PS'
lld be well if every citizen of Los An
" i'll follow.
I should be plainly understood by ouI
| council and by our people, as 1t Is tc
them that the park board must apply
for moral support and for the means
to build up a park system commen-
surate TO the intelligence, wealth and
magnitude of our city. 1t is also due
Mr.. Morley, the present park superin-
| tendent, to state that he excuses the
present condition of our parks by the
statement that he had called the SUB
| 1eets of these criticisms to the atten-
tion of the proper authorities ana tha'
| there was a failure to supply the neces-
sary funds. for the betterments. In
view of the large monthly and yearly
| expenditure for park purposes | do not
feel justified in modifying my critic
| isms.
Our Parks as a Whole
l propose to call attention to ouI
parks as q whole and then to con-
| slider some in detail In the hope that
certain fixed principles can be deduced
to be applied to all. Our parks as a
whole comprise, including Agricul-
tural park, an area of about 1000 acres
or a solid body of land about two miles
wide and three miles long. In this area
If 1t were contiguous and solid we find
about 800 acres of level or compare
lively level land. With this plain we
have next the undulating surfaces OF
hills comprising the Eastlake, West
lake, Hollenbeek and some of the other
nearby parks, which hills rise 70
grandeur in Elysian park and to un-
questioned magnificance Of scope, view
| and scenery in Griffith park.
| In Sycamore park we have f1ne
touch of luxurious native trees gener-
ally abounding along water courses
and which when extended up the Ar
royo can readily be given a forest ef-
feet. The Los Angeles river skirts
| Griffith park, and although not bois-
! terous stream there is at all times an
ample flow of water for scenic pur-
poses and plenty for fine arboreal eff
fects. Including In our park area the
| Pomeroy and Hooker lands belonging
| to the city and the park area of 1000
acres is largely increased and the con-
ditions named multiplied.
1t is hoped that the owens river
water supply will furnish q sufficient
| surplus to be used in our parks for
scenic purposes so that our canyons in
both Elyslan and Griffith parks and
the depressions therein can be cade to
CLEAN with miniature waterfalls, with
streams, lakes and cataracts, fountains
and springs with water for man, bird
and beast everywhere. In this park
area we have great variety of soils
and climates, the colder conditions of
Sycamore and Eastlake to the warmer
= conditions OF Westlake and Hollenbeck
to the greater thermal conditions found
in Elysian and Griffith parks. We
have the wet and heavy lands of the
east side, the wet lands OF Griffith,
the modest undulating hills in all, and
finally the dry or semi-arid conditions
existing in Elysian and Griffith parks.
With this abundant material at hand
there should be produced a landscape
picture which would warm the dullest
! heart to joy. Suppose for a moment
that this park area with its stated adj
vantages could be set down in the
spring time in some wild locality with
all things fresh with the touch of the
! Almighty, and what would be the pic
ture presented? The depressions shin
ing lakes rejecting the blue of the sky
and the golden rays of the sun, sur
rounded by the meadows of green; the
| springs and streams, small or large,
with their ever changing scene, their
banks bordered by the plants and
| flowers that love that condition; the
hillsides covered by wild flowers en-
masse as with mantle of glory; the
mountain sides still more varied and
| still more grand by reason of the
greater wildness; every nook teeming
with a tangle of shrub, vines and trees
in wild harmony; the wild birds, the
deer, the squirrels unaffrighted of
man! What does such an example
proclaim to us? There you will not
| find little flower beds surrounded by
white stones, containing the same
| flowers in little masses over and over
again for the entire distance of the
park area, but instead you would find
| the glory of the plain, the hill and of
in its due time in a never-ending cycle
and each as fresh in its prime as the
spring sunrise.
All Results Possible
With our park areas all these results
are possible. The level lands are our
meadows. which with the promised
abundance of water should be ever
green and should never know winter
The lakes and the streams are possi-
BILE; the masses Of floral effect are pos
sible, each in great masses and each in
its season, commencing with the mar
cissus, the daffodils, the early acacias
the iris, the ranunculus and other
bulbs; the handsome towering vines,
such as the wlsteria in long arbors, and
later or with the foregoing the lilies
asters, poppies, etc, till the cycle OF
the fall becomes absorbed by the fresh
ness of the new spring. Given these
conditions and this opportunity, what
would competent landscape artist do
with our parks? Would he not follow,
as far as possible for man, the exam
PIE of the Master from whose hands all
things fall finished and beautiful,
changing the lines of nature only where
the more artificial ornamentation be-
| comes a matter of necessity? And what
can be done with our parks were they a
contiguous whole can be accomplished
through the parks separately. making
a united and harmonious whole, but
giving each its distinctive feature for
which it is best adapted, each beautiful
all the time and each most beautiful in
it's proper time,
In the line of this suggestion / wish
to speak separately of a few OF the
parks and outline plan of alteration