LA: Cornfield News

[RAlossi]

Considering that this is one of the largest (if not the largest) park site planned in Los Angeles today, I think it deserves its own thread.




Getting Ready to Set L.A. on Its Ear With Park at the Cornfield
By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2006

It's been rolled over, dumped on, plowed up and fought over.

And now Chinese lion dancers are poised to cleanse an abandoned railroad yard of more than 130 years of evil spirits to help turn it into what some are already calling "the front lawn" of downtown Los Angeles.

State parks leaders said a grassy, tree-shaded temporary park will open to the public Saturday at a former industrial site known as the Cornfield.

The $1.4-million recreation area will cover about 18 acres and will be used until a professionally planned "world-class park" is built on the entire 32-acre Cornfield site adjacent to Chinatown.

The interim park will feature a natural amphitheater for community events, four acres of open turf for informal recreation and events, a multiuse plaza for community productions and temporary buildings for public meetings and events, officials said Wednesday.

The new Los Angeles State Historic Park will also feature interpretation panels and "footprint layouts" depicting archeological features and the history of the parcel, roughly bounded by North Broadway, North Spring Street and the Los Angeles River.

A light display will depict the foundation of a century-old railroad roundhouse buried on the site. The high point is expected to be a knoll equipped with a telescope for viewing skyscrapers.

"This transformation has taken a brown field and made it a beautiful green field that many feel is now the front lawn of this great city," California State Parks Director Ruth Coleman said in announcing the opening.

The parcel picked up its nickname from the stalks of corn that sprouted from seeds spilled from railroad cars being pulled into Los Angeles starting in the 1870s.

But the roots of the site's history are even older, state parks officials said.

The earliest Spanish explorers camped next to the Los Angeles River near the property. Later, the Los Angeles pueblo's first water project — the "mother ditch" — ran through the area. The transcontinental railroad once ended there, turning the site into what parks officials describe as the "Ellis Island of L.A."

Chinese laborers who helped construct the cross-continent rail route created the first Chinatown near the property.

When the railroad tracks were abandoned and removed, the dusty, weed-filled lot was earmarked for development as an industrial warehouse site. That prompted a decade-long battle by a coalition of organizations that called itself the Chinatown Yard Alliance to turn the area into a park.

That campaign was marked by vigils, protests and lawsuits before the state intervened in late 2001 and purchased the land for $36 million.

Since then, development of the site has sparked debate in Chinatown and neighboring communities. As a result, parks officials this summer took the unusual step of staging an international design competition to pick a final development plan.

These days, three finalists — Field Operations of New York City, Hargreaves Associates of San Francisco and Mia Lehrer + Associates of Los Angeles — are putting final touches on their entries. They will be displayed Oct. 14 at a public workshop. Each firm is receiving $25,000 for its master plan design work.

Neither the cost nor the timetable for the park's permanent construction has been set by state parks officials or the California State Parks Foundation. But the design competition is being underwritten by the Annenberg Foundation, which last year staged a conceptual art project at the site that featured cultivated corn and was dubbed "Not a Cornfield."

Saturday's 9:30 a.m. opening ceremony can be reached by an entrance gate on North Spring Street. The Chinese East Wind Lion Dancers will lead the opening processional.

Along with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Gov. Gray Davis, who ordered the Cornfield's purchase as a part of his urban policy, has been invited to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, parks spokesman Roy Stearns said.

[rs913]

So where exactly is this site? What streets is it bounded by?

[RAlossi]

It's in the Chinatown area. It's a large field between Broadway and Spring, from the LA River to around College Street/Chinatown Gold Line Station.

Has anyone seen the new temporary park?

[ThreeHundred]

^ I have. I rode the Gold Line a week or so ago early in the morning. It really is very pretty. However, it looks a bit like a golf course.

[Damien]

Mia Lehrer

I wonder if any of the Trojans here can tell me if they had the opportunity to study under when she was teaching there and if she's still teaching.

[POLA]

On Saturday, Sept. 30, grab your bike and head over to the Los Angeles State Historic Park (formerly known as the Cornfield) for an evening celebrating "car-free and car-lite" lifestyles. Hosted by local bike advocacy group CICLE (Cyclists Inciting Change thru Live Exchange), the event from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., whimsically titled "Life Can Be So Car-Free," includes bike rides, group walks, live music by local bands Telematique and Triple Chicken Foot, interactive exhibits featuring alternative modes of transportation and a selection of short films by local cyclist and filmmaker Ashira Siegel. 1201 Spring St., (323) 478-0060 or http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/p...hp?id=891#body

[latennisguy]

Originally Posted by rs913

So where exactly is this site? What streets is it bounded by?

here are some pictures of it:

[RAlossi]

It's good to see that this project is in the city's spotlight. Now there just needs to be a master plan for the whole area surrounding this park. The bus/recycling facilities need to be relocated, IMO.

Can you envision a park district with rowhouses across from the park, and some residential towers around? Add some office towers to the south to buffer the residential area against the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, and get the developers to pay for revitalizing the river, connecting it with the district.

[Bernd]

Let's hope they don't get too creative with their park design. Some grass, some trees, gardens and support buildings should be enough.

[DJM19]

I think an elegant park, simplistic design, would be nice. Nothing crazy, and Im warry of anything too "innovative". Try to evoke some beauty and escape. And have the bike path and such around the edges.





Im not saying it should look like the Champ de Mars (not pictured), but take some cues from it with lots of open grass and trees, and limited cement.

[POLA]

but cement is so modern and cutting edge!

djm19, those photos are a great example of the type of park that is sorely lacking in LA. enough with the water fountains and sculpture gardens.

[bjornson]

Just no palm trees!

[ocman]

And hopefully, California native trees. None of that east coast maple tree foofoo crap.

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Originally Posted by RAlossi

It's good to see that this project is in the city's spotlight. Now there just needs to be a master plan for the whole area surrounding this park. The bus/recycling facilities need to be relocated, IMO.

Can you envision a park district with rowhouses across from the park, and some residential towers around? Add some office towers to the south to buffer the residential area against the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, and get the developers to pay for revitalizing the river, connecting it with the district.

I totally agree, and I really hope a master plan develops in the near future.

Unlike other areas of LA, which are flat and featureless, the area around the former Cornfield is topographically a really interesting place. With the river and the hills intersecting to form a natural boundary, that area would be ideal for the development of a coherent urban district. And Los Angeles Park is perfectly situated to provide the unifying element for that district.

What's needed is more intensive and appropriate land usage to the east of the park. Imagine the development of the area into a truly urban, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood, stretching from Hill Street eastward to nearly the L.A. River. Such a plan would have to include pedestrian connections and bike paths between the park and Chinatown to the west.

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Originally Posted by DJM19

I think an elegant park, simplistic design, would be nice. Nothing crazy, and Im warry of anything too "innovative". Try to evoke some beauty and escape. And have the bike path and such around the edges.

Im not saying it should look like the Champ de Mars (not pictured), but take some cues from it with lots of open grass and trees, and limited cement.

Yes. I know it's a "historic park", so there has to be all the history exhibits, etc. But for my money, usability and beauty come first, history exhibits come second.

If a park is well-designed, then more people will use it, and it will become a part of people's personal experience. That's the truest kind of history a city can have. My fear is a park designed as a historical monument where people go there once, say "how interesting" and then never again return.

Somewhat related, I was disappointed to see the LA Conservancy's stance on the Civic Center Mall. They say they're all for redoing the mall (as part of the Grand Ave. Project), but they want to preserve as many of the "mid-century modern" features as possible. Never mind that the only people in this vast city that ever appreciate those features the local workers from the county buildings, plus jurors. I say, start over if necessary, and don't be afraid to break some stuff, if it will result in a great park that everyone can enjoy.

[RAlossi]

By "Civic Center Mall," you're referring to the park(mall) and not the LA Mall (shopping mall), right? LOL.

Speaking of which, that LA Mall needs to be demolished and something else built in its place. Yuck.

[DJM19]

Originally Posted by LongBeachUrbanist

Yes. I know it's a "historic park", so there has to be all the history exhibits, etc. But for my money, usability and beauty come first, history exhibits come second.

If a park is well-designed, then more people will use it, and it will become a part of people's personal experience. That's the truest kind of history a city can have. My fear is a park designed as a historical monument where people go there once, say "how interesting" and then never again return.

I just think they will focus too much on the exhibit possibilities and forget its a park. Thats the problem with a lot of parks in LA, they arent parks. They are lawns and plazas in front of a building.

I think they overestimate the value of a museum-type exhibit. People just dont visit them from my experience, especially when there are SOOO many. You can have a los angeles history exhibit anywhere, why take up park space? Why not build it across the street, or at least on one corner.

[jessie_sanchez]

It needs a whole lot more vegetation...it's to plain. I miss seeing the gigantic corn crops. At night they had huge blue lights aiming down at the park and up at the hills sorrounding the park...it looked so spectacular, especially during a rainy day.

Ahhh, 2005...it was a good year.

[Ronin]

A cornfield, you say? This is exactly what it needs!

http://www.cornfieldmaze.com/

[DJM19]

I dont like the idea of a cornfield either. Just a normal, classic park. PLEASE! Not something people have to "get" to appreciate. Not something that needs explaining.