Highland Park Police Station
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The Highland Park Police Station on York Boulevard in the Highland Park section of
Los Angeles, California 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' ...
,
USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
is the city's oldest surviving police station. Closed in 1983, the station is now operated as the Los Angeles Police Museum. It has been designated as a Historic Cultural Monument and listed on 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 ...
.


History

Built from 1925-1926 at a cost of $100,000, the station opened in April 1926 in a ceremony attended by Chief Edgar Davis and Police Commissioners Birnbaum, Insley and Webster. A number of big cases were handled out of the Highland Park station; it was there that Det. Robert Grogan pursued the "
Hillside Strangler The Hillside Strangler, later the Hillside Stranglers, is the media epithet for one, later discovered to be two, American serial killers who terrorized Los Angeles, California, between October 1977 and February 1978, with the nicknames originating ...
s", Angelo Buono, Jr. and
Kenneth Bianchi Kenneth Alessio Bianchi (born May 22, 1951) is an American serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist. He is known for the Hillside Strangler murders committed with his cousin Angelo Buono Jr. in Los Angeles, California, as well as for murdering two mor ...
. (''"In 1973, the Symbionese Liberation Army planted a bomb inside the station; it was a dud."'') In the early 1980s, the building was cited for failure to meet seismic safety standards and was described as a "Shake and Bake Hellhole". The radical
Symbionese Liberation Army The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...
(the group that kidnapped
Patty Hearst Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found a ...
and engaged in an infamous shootout with the LAPD in 1974) planted a bomb in the Highland Park Station in 1973, but it proved to be a dud. In 1942, future LAPD Chief
Daryl Gates Daryl Gates (born Darrel Francis Gates; August 30, 1926 – April 16, 2010) was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1978 to 1992. His length of tenure in this position was second only to that of William H. Parker. As Chief ...
was arrested and briefly held at the Highland Park station after punching a police officer; in 1963, Gates returned as a police captain in command of the station. He later wrote, "Never dreaming I would voluntarily return to the station where I'd been brought in for punching a cop, I showed up for work, eager to continue trying out my talents as a boss." The station was closed in 1983 as the
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 ...
moved its Northeast Division to a new location. With the vacant station threatened by demolition, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission declared the building a Historic Cultural Monument (HCM #274) in January 1984; it was added to 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 ...
two months later in March 1984. It is the only precinct police station in California listed on the National Register. (The City of San Diego Police Headquarters, Jails and Courts building is also registered.) As late as 1985, the city considered several proposals to convert the building to commercial office and retail space, a live theater and restaurant.


Television production

Because it is Los Angeles' last surviving station built in the 1920s, the building has been sought-after as a filming location. The city's motion picture coordination office scheduled reservations by film and TV crews several months in advance. The building has also been used in television as an establishing shot for the
Mathnet ''Mathnet'' is a segment on the children's television show ''Square One Television'' that follows the adventures of pairs of police mathematicians. It is a pastiche of '' Dragnet''. Premise ''Mathnet'' is a pastiche of '' Dragnet'', in which t ...
(1987–88) and
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...
(2011) police stations, and others.


Los Angeles Police Museum

The building now houses the Los Angeles Police Museum, including photographs, uniforms, badges, squad cars, a paddy wagon, and bullet-riddled vehicles. The museum chronicles the formation of the LAPD from its beginnings in 1869 to the present day. The original jail cells of the Highland Park Police Station can be viewed along with a reproduction of the first police woman's uniform in the nation worn by LAPD officer Alice Stebbins Wells in 1910. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.


See also

* Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments on the East and Northeast Sides *
List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles This is a List of the National Register of Historic Places in the city of Los Angeles. (For those in the rest of Los Angeles County, go here.) Current listings :' ...
*
History of the Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was formed in 1869, and has since become the third-largest law enforcement agency in the United States. They have been involved in various events in history, such as the Black Dahlia murder, the Watts riots ...


References


External links


Los Angeles Police Museum
- official site {{LAHMC Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles Government buildings completed in 1926 Infrastructure completed in 1926 Museums in Los Angeles Law enforcement museums in the United States History museums in California Police stations on the National Register of Historic Places Highland Park, Los Angeles 1926 establishments in California