Gentle reader,
About 135 years ago, the citizens and leaders of the bustling, booming, struggling, thrilling young city of Los Angeles rolled up their sleeves and got to work, turning a worthless alkaline sink into the beginnings of a great urban pleasure park: Westlake!
Today, it’s known as MacArthur Park, and on Saturday’s Westlake Park tour we left the sidewalk to access the lake with a group of urban explorers. That’s where we captured the magnificent flight of a great white heron who was taking the air on the lawn with some seagull friends.
We could never have had this awe-inspiring experience of interacting with charismatic megafauna in the heart of the city if the park was fenced.
Tomorrow morning, the Recreation and Parks Commissioners will meet to vote to approve or reject a proposal to erect a supposedly “temporary” metal fence proposed to run all the way around the park on both sides of Wilshire Boulevard.
The public has an opportunity to make comments, either in person or through an email sent before the meeting.
If you would like the RAP Commissioners to vote no on the MacArthur Park fence, you can show up at 9:30am Thursday at Pan Pacific Recreation Center (7600 Beverly Boulevard) or send an email (RAP.COMMISSIONERS@LACITY.ORG) and simply express that wish. To watch the meeting live on Zoom, click here.
We think they should vote no on the motion as it stands.
This scheme is half-baked at best, with numerous inconsistencies in how the proposed fence is described—wrought iron? tubular steel? it can’t be both!—key structural and topographic information missing from the supposedly “final” plans and serious, unanswered questions about the total cost and justification.
After hearing from RAP staff and contractor Tetra Tech on July 16, the Cultural Heritage Commission was dismayed by the poor quality of their presentation. You can watch the entire hearing in the video that we published as a public service, because the City only shares audio recordings. Pay particular attention to the commissioners’ discussion at the end of the meeting, at this link.
Shortly after he moved to formally oppose the fence, Mayor Karen Bass removed the city’s most experienced Cultural Heritage Commissioner, Richard Barron.
Now, the seriousness of that opposition has been downplayed in the staff report presented to the RAP Commission—it merely says they “express[ed] concerns.”
But in fact the Commission was unanimous in its staunch opposition to the fence. It objected to closing off a civic monument, to the permanence, height and unspecified future decorative additions, stated that a temporary chain-link fence like Echo Park had would be more appropriate and it urged staff to explore alternatives and to come back with a revised design. That has not happened.
And environmental horticulturalist Dr. Don Hodel is alarmed by how the tree report is misrepresented in the staff report. Instead of warning the RAP Commissioners that delicate heritage tree roots must be carefully protected if fence posts are to be installed around them, the staff report treats the tree issue as an afterthought. You can read Dr. Hodel’s email to the commissioners below.
We share Dr. Hodel’s concern that if this fence is approved with no formal protections, irreplaceable, heritage trees will die. This is unacceptable.
Would you like to participate in Thursday’s hearing? The simplest way is to click the image below to send an email before 9:30am. Add your own thoughts to the email that pops up if you’re so inspired and sign your name. We thank you!
You can also come down to Pan Pacific Park and make comments in person. The agenda for the 10/1/2026 RAP Commission meeting is below, and Macarthur Park – Perimeter Fencing (PRJ 21870) Project is board report #4 in section 7.
This situation is distressing, but it’s also strangely hopeful. Because we’re reminded that a functional city can tap into the most valuable resource that exists: passionate, caring, informed citizens. Fencing MacArthur Park is a bad idea that ought to be tossed out, but fixing MacArthur Park is something everyone can get behind, and so many passionate citizens have already spoken up to let the city know that this isn’t the way to fix the park.
We’re hopeful that the RAP Commissioners—President Luis Sanchez, Vice President Tafarai Bayne and Commissioners Nicole Chase, Marie Lloyd and Mary Galvan Rosas—will make the right decision on Thursday, and spark a more thoughtful conversation about what this historic space and neighborhood need to thrive.
Saturday’s tour! The spooky season starts with a bang as we’re joined by Nathan Marsak, the twisted mind behind the red-hot true crime zine Bunker Noir! on a stroll through a lost Bunker Hill world of sinister sirens, lurid love dens and... lizard people?!
But it’s not all vice and freaks: you’ll also hear directly from Bunker Hill native son Gordon Pattison about the sweet people who were his friends in this special neighborhood that was destroyed by misguided redevelopment agents and your tax dollars. Join us, do!
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles’ past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city’s soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING WALKING TOURS
• Bunker Noir! True Crime on Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill with Nathan Marsak (10/3) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake (10/10) • Highland Park Arroyo Time Travel Trip (10/17) • Film Noir / Real Noir (10/24) • Hallowe’en at Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (10/31) • The Real Black Dahlia (11/7) • Richard’s Birthday Weird West Adams Tour & Elmer McCurdy Museum Visit (11/14) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (11/21) • Hollywood Noir (11/28) • Know Your Downtown Los Angeles (12/19) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (Sun. 12/20) • Human Sacrifice: The Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Heidi Planck & Skid Row Slasher Cases (12/26) • The Real Black Dahlia (1/16) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (1/23) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (1/30)
