Elysian Park is one of the largest parks in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, United States, at 600 acres (240 ha). Most of Elysian Park falls in the neighborhood of the same name, but a small portion of the park falls in

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake, Los Angeles, Silver Lake to the west and Chinato ...

. The park was created by city ordinance on April 5, 1886. City engineer George Hansen sponsored the ordinance. The land was considered "worthless" at the time and only a few other parks existed within the Los Angeles city limits. For some time the land sat unimproved, but eventually roads, trails, and landscaping was added. Parts of Elysian Park were swapped for other lands held by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

when

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

was built.

Notable features

Angels Point is a small hill in Elysian Park overlooking Dodger Stadium and the

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

skyline. Atop the hill is a large metal sculpture art installation by local artist Peter Shire of the 1980s postmodern Memphis Group.

Chavez Ravine Arboretum The Chavez Ravine Arboretum, in Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California, Elysian Park, just north of Dodger Stadium, at 1025 Elysian Park Dr, Los Angeles, California, contains more than 100 varieties of trees from around the world, including what a ...

opened in 1893 and contains more than 100 varieties of trees from around the world, including what are believed to be the oldest and largest Cape Chestnut,

Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

, and Tipu trees in the United States. Grace E. Simons Lodge is an event space with waterfalls and reception rooms. It is named after the activist who stopped the construction of a convention center on the park grounds. Marion Harlow Memorial Grove is a small tree and plant grove along the Elysian Park hiking trail. The Avenue of the Palms was planted around 1895. A section of the park called Radio Hill, beneath a radio tower, used to have a native plant garden and spice and herb gardens, but fell into an unmaintained state. As of 2021, advocates were seeking to revitalize the Radio Hill area with new trails and a dog park.

History

What is now Elysian Park was part of the original Spanish land grant for the

Pueblo of Los Angeles Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settleme ...

References

External links

* * http://historicechopark.org/history-landmarks/places-landmarks/elysian-park/
A history of the park's early days

Another history of the park
{{coord, 34.083, -118.238, type:landmark_region:US-CA_dim:3000, display=title Parks in Los Angeles 1886 establishments in California Elysian Park, Los Angeles Echo Park, Los Angeles