Sycamore Grove Park – Los Angeles CA

Description

An Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners described early New Deal work in the park:

“This is one of the most important parks in Los Angeles to picnickers. Practically all State Societies and other large groups hold their picnics here as there are ample facilities in the way of accommodating crowds, speaker platforms, and a public address system. In the Arroyo, east of the park, 15,840 lineal feet of new roads were constructed, with the help of Reconstruction Finance corporation and County Welfare workmen, which caused the removal of 73,500 cubic yards of dirt. Rip-rap work a distance of 1,432 feet was built on the banks of the channel to prevent erosion from flood waters, 160 acres were cleared on the east side of the Arroyo Seco and 14,500 feet of firebreaks built.

Five thousand trees were trimmed, with the help of the unemployed men, and the wood which was cut from the trees was split into firewood for the picnic stoves. one hundred cords of firewood was thus obtained.”

A 1940 date stamp on other stonework in the park (pictured below) suggests the New Deal continued to work in the park, most likely through the WPA.