Home / Cities / Los Angeles / Westlake / Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA

MacArthur Park

Los Angeles, CA

MacArthur Park was originally built in the 1880s as Westlake Park, which is the source for the name of neighborhood. The lake was originally a drinking water reservoir. The park was reportedly renamed for General Douglas Macarthur on 7 May 1942, although the timing of such a memorialization on the eve of WW-II seems curious.

My romantic association with the park was the 1972 Jimmy Webb song, or more accurately, Maynard Ferguson's big band cover version. Despite the best efforts of the city and the presence of a wide variety of avian wildlife, the park is a refuge for the unwanted and retained it's historic seediness when I visited in 2013.

04/08/2013 11:11:18
Macarthur Park, NW entrance
04/08/2013 11:09:12
Department of Public Social Services across the street
04/08/2013 11:15:54
Soccer field
04/08/2013 11:18:42
The lake, American Cement Building in the background
04/08/2013 11:06:00
American Cement Building
04/08/2013 11:19:24
Birds
04/08/2013 11:19:42
Island
04/08/2013 11:19:56
The Lake (video)
04/08/2013 11:21:10
Fountain
04/08/2013 11:21:20
Island
04/08/2013 11:23:04
The Lake
04/08/2013 11:23:14
Two mating pairs meeting
04/08/2013 11:23:42
Mating pair
04/08/2013 11:23:50
Nesting
04/08/2013 11:24:16
Fountain
04/08/2013 11:24:56
Macarthur monument
04/08/2013 11:25:38
The Lake
04/08/2013 11:26:32
The Lake
04/08/2013 11:27:18
The Lake
04/08/2013 11:31:30
The Lake
04/08/2013 11:32:18
Macarthur Park is melting in the dark

Next: Elsewhere in Westlake / Koreatown