There is nothing so American as our parks.
– FDR

What's New?

In July, FHCP president, Laurie Goldman attended the City Parks Alliance 2012 International Urban Parks Conference in New York. The action packed conference provided FHCP with fresh insights and new ideas from the wealth of information, networking opportunities and park tours. From original thinking to sustainable innovations to strategic planning and budgets, the Re-Imagining Parks for the 21st Century conference provided FHCP with a larger and deeper platform from which to build the Hollywood Central Park.
Money donated by the Aileen Getty Foundation will help fund the project's environmental impact report. Plans for creating a 44-acre park over the Hollywood Freeway are moving forward "one major step" following the announcement of a substantial donation to the planning process.
Rendering of Hollywood Central Park
Can you imagine a 44-acre park above the 101 freeway from Santa Monica Boulevard to Hollywood Boulevard? The above renderings offer a peek into the plan, and a generous donation today to Friends of the Hollywood Central Park (FHCP) has advanced the project closer to fruition.
Rendering from the Friends of the Hollywood Central Park
Friends of the Hollywood Central Park (FHCP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a 44-acre street-level park over the Hollywood Freeway in a densely populated and park-poor area of the city, accepted a $1.2 million gift today from the Aileen Getty Foundation. The donation, combined $825,000  from the city fully funds the park’s environmental study, a study needed before fundraising can truly begin for design and construction.
HOLLYWOOD: Closing today on a positive note: philanthropist Aileen Getty has donated $1.2 million to the effort to cap the 101 freeway in park-poor East Hollywood with a 44-acre green space.
Hollywood Central Park booth at the Hester Street Fair
One booth that caught my interest was the Hollywood Central Park booth. The Hollywood Central Park is an active 10-year project creating a forty-four acre street level public park between Hollywood Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard right above the 101 freeway! In my opinion, it is an efficient way of making use of the open space above the freeway, and it will hopefully create new jobs, promote healthy communities, and a cleaner environment.
While Ventura's project could span two or three blocks, plans to cap Highway 101 in the Los Angeles corridor include a mile of freeway. Called Hollywood Central Park, the $1 billion project would go from Hollywood to Santa Monica boulevards — a total of 44 acres.
Kate DeFronzo reports that an ambitious 44-acre freeway cap park envisioned for Hollywood took an important step towards reality last week, with the blessing of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The ANBlog spots freeway cap parks, specifically the proposed Hollywood Central capping Highway 101, creating a... "...44-acre street level urban park [which] allows us to rethink and reimagine our physical environment [...] Park features would include “an amphitheater, walking trails, a dog park, a children’s playground, water features, recreational facilities and much more."
LA’s proposed 44-acre Hollywood Central Park, which would be set atop the capped 101 Freeway between Santa Monica and Hollywood boulevards, made new friends in Washington last week, according to the LA Daily News.
Larchmont Buzz reported on the Hollywood Central Park project – a plan to build a cap over the top of the Hollywood Freeway in order to create a 44-acre Hollywood park.
The supporters of Hollywood Central Park have friends in high places. Friends of the Hollywood Central Park have been pushing for their ambitious plan to create a 44-acre park over the 101 freeway from Santa Monica to Hollywood boulevards for years now, but this week the effort got a boost from officials in D.C.
The seemingly wild dream of a park on top of the Hollywood Freeway took a baby step toward reality Tuesday.
Advocates for more open space for the park-starved community of Hollywood had a moment to shine yesterday. Congressman Adam Schiff, members of the Hollywood Central Park Committee and other neighborhood advocates had a meeting with USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss their proposal to place a 44-acre street level park “on top” of the 101 Hollywood Freeway.
A page from Olin Studio's Powerpoint presentation
The third annual meeting of the FHCP Board of Directors was held on January 6, 2012. The FHCP Board is comprised of 10 Hollywood residents and 10 Hollywood small business owners along with 4 nonprofit representatives and 8 large business owners. FHCP officers Phil Aarons, Laurie Goldman, Alfred Fraijo, Jr., David Eads and Terri Gerger were unanimously re-elected to a one year term.
Phil Aarons, Daryl Hannah and Eric Garcetti
More than 400 guests gathered on January 5, 2012 at the incomparable Taglyan Center to support the Friends of the Hollywood Central Park’s third annual For Love of Hollywood Gala. Los Angeles booster and FHCP supporter Council Member Tom LaBonge hosted the spectacular evening and kept the audience amused with Hollywood anecdotes and personal stories. Co-Chairs John Goodwin and Scott Rynders presided over a fun-packed evening featuring entertainment by the multi-talented Jim Meskimen’s Jimpressions.
Though Hollywood, California, is arguably one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world, one thing it is not known for is its park space. Instead, it is known for the Hollywood Freeway, a busy expressway traversing the community as one segment of U.S. Route 101. Read about the myriad benefits a proposed billion-dollar cap park over the freeway trench would bring to the city.
HOLLYWOOD: Friends of the Hollywood Central Park--the group backing placing a tidy 44-acre park over the Hollywood Freeway--will hold their second annual For the Love of Hollywood celebration on Jan. 6, 2011. Recipients of this year’s Real Stars of Hollywood awards are ...
The idea of creating a public park out of thin air above the Hollywood Freeway may not be a pie-in-the-sky notion anymore. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) has agreed to request $5.85 million to launch planning for the park. That’s viewed as a crucial early step and vote of confidence.

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