This post originally appeared in Esotouric's Substack newsletter.
Gentle reader,
Right next to Angels Flight Railway, a secret garden is waiting for you.
Seized by eminent domain in the 1960s, marketed unsuccessfully as a skyscraper development site over decades of booms and busts, planted with shade trees and briefly accessible as a public park in the 2000s, since 2013 these 2.26 acres have been locked up tight.
At the end of this month, the city has to decide if it’s going to buy “Parcel Y-1” from the old Bunker Hill Redevelopment Plan, and what to do with the land, including the Edwardian era retaining walls that are still hard at work.
After 11 years of explaining to irritated people that no, that park is not really a park, and no, they can’t go inside to enjoy the shade, breeze and views, we’re convinced the best use of “Parcel Y-1” is what everyone already thinks it is: as a park!
And we’d like to see it named after Leo and Helen Politi, two wonderful Angelenos who lived in and loved the Bunker Hill neighborhood.
Leo’s paintings, drawings and historic preservation advocacy helped keep Bunker Hill alive in memory, even as redevelopment displaced 9000 people and demolished all the pretty buildings and old gardens.
Leo lived long enough to see his old friends the Angels Flight cars Sinai and Olivet back on track, and just last year, his Bunker Hill paintings were installed in two galleries in the children’s department of Central Library.
If you like the idea of making Angels Knoll a real park, here’s how you can help:
Send an email or call the office at councilmember.kevindeleon@lacity.org or (213) 473-7014 and ask that the councilmember ensures that Angels Knoll and the Hill Street Plaza are open to the public permanently, and that the upper portion is named Leo & Helen Politi Bunker Hill Park.
We truly can’t wait to see you there!
