Photo credit: Los Angeles
We may not often feel like we have the time to stop and smell the roses in Los Angeles. But we’ve definitely got the place. It’s a sunken garden measuring just over 7 acres and presenting roughly 20,000 bushes in bloom from March through November. The hyper-organized beauty of the Exposition Park Rose Garden numbers it among the state’s most beloved public sanctuaries; a florid, perfectly arranged paradise open to all at no charge. Yet it grew from seedy origins. And we mean that in more ways than one.
The Days (and Nights) of Agricultural Park
It’s difficult to envision Exposition Park out of its modern context, engrained in our minds by our community experiences with the Natural History Museum, Coliseum, BMO Stadium, and the many other attractions that populate its 160-acre grounds. But just a little over 100 years ago, Exposition Park wasn’t a thing. Rather, Los Angeles had Agricultural Park. And Agricultural Park was a different place, to say the least.
You wouldn’t find the African American Museum at Agricultural Park, but you would find the longest bar in the city. Yes, “bar” as in bar that serves liquor. And you wouldn’t find the California Science Center, but you would find camel races. Sometimes horses, dogs, and eventually cars too. And you wouldn’t find the hulking construction of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. But you would find one of the city’s chicest brothels. And we’ll just stop there, confident that you understand Agricultural Park wasn’t just a rose by another name.
The Dawn of Exposition Park
Viewing Agricultural Park as a sprawling beacon for vice and sin, Los Angeles attorney William M. Bowen decided to spearhead the effort to turn it into a place the whole community could enjoy. In 1911, the year that would have marked Agricultural Park’s 40th anniversary, it was reborn as Exposition Park.
Under Bowen’s plans, Exposition Park would offer Angelenos an exposition hall (hence the name), armory, and museum. And the community fully got behind these initiatives, bringing each to life in some form by 1914. Perhaps drunk on this inertia, the city vowed to establish a wildflower garden at the center of Exposition Park. But in much more characteristic LA speed, the resulting rose garden we know today wouldn’t bloom for another 13 years later.
Yet, a field was more or less there for the planting. It mostly consisted of grass, a few trees, and sidewalks that culminated in a circular concrete nexus at the center. At one point, this circle would have supported a grand memorial fountain. But when World War I was declared, the fountain idea withered in the shadow of more pressing issues.
The Bud of the Exposition Park Rose Garden
The Exposition Park Rose Garden started to take shape in the autumn of 1921 when the California Association of Nurserymen used the non-descript sunken field as the site of their big horticultural show. The greenest thumbs in Southern California showed up to plant thousands of species of plants and trees, turning the field into a bountiful garden of greenery. They even made good use of the concrete island at the center. When they were through, a fountain punctuated with lavish lilies stood in its stead. Through the Association of Nurserymen’s efforts, the potential for Exposition Park’s green infrastructure was finally explored in earnest.
But it wasn’t until 1926 when rose experts George C. Robinson and Fred H. Howard paid a visit to Exposition Park as guests of the city’s Parks Department. Thus began a collaborative effort between the “rosarians” and the city’s landscape designers to bring to life a rose garden like no other in Southern California.
To create fertile ground for the sensitive rose species, specialists extracted richly decaying fallen leaves and soil from Griffith Park. After removing eight inches of topsoil from the Exposition Park site, landscapists planted 15,000 rose bushes comprising over 100 distinct varieties, meticulously arranged in a grid of 166 plots bordered in rectangular perimeters of concrete. The majority of the bushes were donated by local nurseries, no doubt thrilled to see representative cultivars thriving in a community setting.
Art Amongst Roses
While the roses were undoubtedly the main attraction, the Exposition Park Rose Garden was always more. Technicians installed lights to set a radiant glow to the central fountain. Builders erected four gazebos toward the corners of the garden, further reinforcing its rigid adherence to symmetry. And to that same end, Danish sculptor Thyra Boldsen temporarily donated four of her striking statues. By 1936, each stood dominion over its own quadrant. Boldsen would go on to point out that, while men had built tributes to bravery and boldness for eons, her statues were in homage to “love, life, and joy.” The statues were entitled:
- “The Blessing”
- “Nymph Finding Pipes of Pan”
- “The Start”
- “Terpsichore”
Angelenos were only able to enjoy Boldsen’s marble guardians for a few short decades. In 1968, one of her heirs reclaimed them. Fortunately, Boldsen’s statues weren’t the only pieces of art gracing the Exposition Park Rose Garden.
In 1946, two pieces from sculptor Caroline A. Lloyd were donated for permanent display by the artist’s daughter. You can still see one of these statues, “Repose” at the gazebo to the garden’s northwest. However, if you go looking for “Poise”, you’ll only find a mounted pair of bronze feet. No, it’s not a foot fetishist ode to the garden’s risque origins. Rather, at some point, allegedly in the 1970s or early ‘80s, thieves sawed through the piece’s legs, stealing the statue. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but grand theft must be right behind it.
Roses for the Community
However, millions of Angelenos have had a much more lawful enjoyment of the Exposition Park Rose Garden over the years. In 1932, it served as a gorgeous entry point to the Coliseum when the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games. In preparation, city officials installed a series of concrete benches, lamp posts in the Art Deco style at the north and south ends of the garden, and friezes to the north, meant to echo the tradition’s Greek origins.
Many of the rarest roses on display in the Exposition Park Rose Garden are the descendants of donations from the All-America Rose Selection, an elite organization of rose specialists. In 1940, they started the tradition of donating their prestigious Rose of the Year to the garden, making it something of a living museum.
In the 1950s, the city’s Parks Department started taking advantage of the roses’ January dormancy by introducing an open pruning competition. Thousands of gardeners would visit the Exposition Park Rose Garden, seeking honor and pride over beauty. Panelists discussed pruning techniques and advances in rose gardening, culminating in the crowning of Van Nuys High School’s “Rose Queen.”
In the sweltering summers, when many of the rose varieties were in full bloom, shutterbugs would arrive in droves for “Camera Days.” The Parks Department would supply models (human, canine, and feline!) so that photographers could formulate lifestyle shots accentuating the vibrant garden.
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Despite these lovely snapshots of the Exposition Park Rose Garden throughout history, not everyone was a fan. For example, the Raiders attempted to replace the garden with their own practice field a full two years before making the move from Oakland. In 1986, a plan was floated to raze the rose garden in favor of an underground parking garage in its place. But public outcry quickly sent it packing.
Decades earlier, the garden was nearly abandoned during the Great Depression, less out of disregard and more out of desperation. The funding simply wasn’t there. But somehow, it skated by. A semblance of salvation came in 1991 when the Exposition Park Rose Garden was granted a place on the National Register of Historic Places, giving it some extra insulation from future plans of displacement.
Plan to Stop and Smell the Roses
By the 1980s, the rose garden had amassed over 20,000 fragrant rose bushes boasting more than 200 varieties. Over a million people pay a visit to the grounds each year, touring the garnished grid and taking in its brilliant grandeur. Some use its pastoral splendor as the backdrop for their wedding day. Others come to its petaled aisles as an escape from the concrete and glass of the urban landscape. No matter how you use it, it’s yours every day from 8:30 am until dusk. Thorns and all, the Exposition Park Rose Garden illustrates the beauty of our city in full bloom for all to experience.
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