Lafayette Recreation Center, also known as Lafayette Park, is a public park in the Westlake district of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.

History

In 1899, Clara R. Shatto donated of land to the City of Los Angeles. The land consisted of tar seeps and

oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may ...

s and Shatto requested that it be developed into a park. Shatto was the wife of George Shatto, the then-owner of Santa Catalina Island. Canary Island palm trees and

jacaranda ''Jacaranda'' is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species ''Jacaranda mimosifolia'' has achie ...

were planted in the area of what became known as Sunset Park. Local groups requested that the name be changed to commemorate

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

, a military officer of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The name was officially changed in 1918. A statue of him was erected in 1937, close to the

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal ...

entrance. A senior center designed by architect Graham Latta opened on the east side of the park in 1963. It was expanded by architect

Stephen Kanner Stephen H. Kanner (July 30, 1955 – July 2, 2010) was an American modern architect who co-founded the A+D Museum of Los Angeles in 2000. Kanner was born in 1955 in Chandler, Arizona, but raised in the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood in Los Ang ...

, whose firm improved the classrooms, community rooms, and gymnasium. In 2011, the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks partnered with the non-profit organization Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) to offer youth programs. The complex was renamed "Lafayette Park Recreation Center". The park features sports facilities, including basketball courts. These have been featured in popular media, such as the 1992 sports comedy, ''

White Men Can't Jump ''White Men Can't Jump'' is a 1992 American sports comedy film written and directed by Ron Shelton. It stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as streetball hustlers. The film was released in the United States on March 27, 1992, by 20th Century ...

'', during which

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

performed renovation to the facilities. Also available for public use is the "Lafayette Skate Park".

Vicinity

The park's vicinity has seen the construction of numerous architecturally significant buildings of which several are listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

: the Sheraton Town-House, Felipe de Neve Branch Library, and

Bullocks Wilshire Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a Art Deco building. The building opened in September 1929 as a luxury department store for owner John G. Bullock (owner of the more mainstream Bullock's in Down ...

, all built in 1929. Neighboring the park are also the First Congregational Church — an English Gothic Revival building completed in 1932 — and a 19-story glass building that houses a branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court (built in 1972). Lafayette Park is fenced off and closed at night, avoiding much of the negative reputation that affects its immediate neighbor,

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...

. However, access to the park is available at all times of the day.

Emergency services

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

operates the Rampart Community Police Station. It was originally located at 2710 West Temple Street, 90026, serving the area around the park

It has since moved east into a newly constructed facility at 1401 West 6th Street, the site of the former emergency receiving hospital. Beginning January 4, 2009, the park became the responsibility of the newly created Olympic Division, LAPD.

Notes

References

{{coord, 34.062012, -118.283260, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title 1899 establishments in California Parks in Los Angeles Westlake, Los Angeles