Tuesday, April 7, 2009

WestLake Park LA Filming in 1921



Peg Weaver in her 1983 autobiography states " In Los Angeles we rented a small apartment near Westlake Park, where we walked under the palm and pepper trees. I was thrilled to watch a movie being made beside the lake -- seeing the actors and actresses, the director, all the cameras and paraphernalia." Trying to find the park today I found: according to Wikipedia "The park, originally named Westlake Park, was built in the 1880s, along with a similar Eastlake Park, whose lake is artificial, in East Los Angeles. Westlake Park was re-named May 7, 1942; Eastlake Park was re-named Lincoln Park. In the mid-1800s the area was a swampland; by the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. In the early part of the twentieth century, the MacArthur park area became known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles. Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street (which ran from Alvarado to Figueroa) into downtown Los Angeles. Orange Street was renamed Wilshire and extended east of Figueroa to Grand Ave. This divided the lake into two halves; the northern one was subsequently drained." Well I wonder what it looks like today.

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