MacArthur Park

MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park" is a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally written as part of an intended cantata rejected by The Association, it was first recorded by Richard Harris in 1968 and then covered by many other performers. One of the best known covers of the song is Donna Summer's 1978 disco hit. Maynard Ferguson performed a dynamic big band jazz version.

The song is named after MacArthur Park, a park in Los Angeles, California. Its lyrics, which include the memorable line "Someone left the cake out in the rain", are more symbolic than descriptive, beginning as a poem about love, then moving into a lover's lament. English poet W. H. Auden said, "My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain."[1]

MacArthur Park (formerly Westlake Park) is a park in Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.[1] It is located in the Westlake neighborhood of the city.[1]

Geography
The park is divided in two by Wilshire Boulevard. The southern portion primarily consists of a lake, while the northern half includes an amphitheatre, bandshell and children's playground. The bandshell, recently renovated, was in the past and is once again host to jazz, big band, salsa, and world music concerts.

The lake is fed by natural springs (although an artificial bottom was laid during construction of the Metro Red Line which opened in 1993). In the past a fountain with a reflecting pool on the northern end also was fed by springs.

The Metro Red Line runs underneath MacArthur Park and can be accessed through the adjacent Westlake/MacArthur Park station.[2]


[edit] History
The park, originally named Westlake Park, was built in the 1880s, along with a similar park, Eastlake Park, whose lake is artificial, in East Los Angeles. The park was re-named shortly after the end of World War II; Eastlake Park was re-named Lincoln Park.

In the mid-1800s the area was a swampland; by the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. In the early part of the twentieth century, the MacArthur park area became known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles.

Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street (which ran from Figueroa to Alvarado) into downtown Los Angeles. Orange Street was renamed Wilshire and extended east of Figueroa to Grand. This divided the lake into two halves; the northern one was subsequently drained.

Despite the rather poetic homage paid to it in the 1968 song, the real MacArthur Park became known for being a violent place after 1985 when drug-dealing, shoot-outs and rumored occasional drownings became commonplace. The Westlake area also became infamous for the street sale of fake identification cards. When the lake was drained during construction of the Red Line tunnel hundreds of handguns (likely used in the commission of crimes) were found to have been disposed of in the lake bottom over the years.[citation needed] Before the decline of the neighborhood, the park featured the traditional paddle-boats and a large fountain in the center of the lake.

Beginning in 2002 the Los Angeles Police Department, and business and community leaders The Alliance: MacArthur Park led a revitalization effort that has led to the installation of surveillance cameras, the opening of a recreation center, increased business, a new Metro station, the return of the paddle boats and the fountain, and large community festivals attracting thousands. Most recently, in 2005 the park was celebrated for having the highest reduction of crime statistics per resident in the United States.[citation needed]

Gang-on-gang violence sometimes happens in and around the park. On September 15th 2007 infant Luis Angel Garcia was hit by a stray bullet as his mother and hundreds of other shoppers strolled amid the stores and outdoor vendors near the corner of 6th Street and Burlington Avenue. Authorities said the gunmen (part of the 18th Street Gang) were targeting a street vendor who had refused to pay $50 in "rent." The vendor, Francisco Clemente, also was shot, as was the baby's mother and the vendor's girlfriend. [1]

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