Old Sixth Street Wooden Bridge
1898, demolished 1968
Hollenbeck Park – map
Declared: 5/22/68
Don’t go to Hollenbeck Park to see Historic-Cultural Monument No. 54, the Old Sixth Street Wooden Bridge, because it was torn down nearly forty years ago (right after designation, too). But do go because, despite being hacked up to make way for the I-5 Freeway back in the early 1960s, Hollenbeck Park remains a pleasant Los Angeles space on the edge of Boyle Heights.
I’m throwing in here a few shots of the park as it is today as an ointment for those who had their hearts set on a lengthy pictorial on the old footbridge.
The park is named for John Edward Hollenbeck, whose widow donated one-third of the land. William H. Workman and his wife, friends of Hollenbeck, contributed the balance. Hollenbeck died in 1885, the park was was given to the city in 1890-1891. According to Harris Newmark, Workman also laid out the walks.
The lake is re-stocked every other Friday (the Fishing Network says there’s “rainbow trout from Winter through early Spring and catfish during the Summer months. There are also bluegill, largemouth bass, crappie, and carp in here”), and if you’re a kid you may fish there license-free. It’s also the site of Feria De Los Niños.
Of course, going to Hollenbeck Park today, you’ll need to put up with the white-noise drone of the Golden State Freeway – its pillars plunge straight into the southern portion of the lake. It’s a spot to say so long to this chunk of the I-5, which changes into the Santa Ana Freeway at the interchange with the 10/101/60 not far south.
Go here and here for collections of old Hollenbeck Park postcards. For a more personal perspective on the park and the surrounding area, see El Chavo!’s entry on Metroblogging Los Angeles.
The black and white shot at the top is from the UCLA Library Digital Collections.
Up next: Grauman's Chinese Theatre
10 comments:
Having grown up in the greater LA area, it's been interesting to get the history behind the naming of streets/areas from your posts. For example, I went to high school in West Covina, not too far from Hollenbeck and Workman Avenues...it's like putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Hey, great idea. I would totally buy a jigsaw puzzle of an old map of Los Angeles.
City of Los Angeles is planning on demolishing the new and Historic 6th Street Bridge.
why does Los Angeles do this???
I was driving through West Covina last night and was coming across street names I associated with L.A. like Cyprus and Hollenbeck. Oh, and a presbyterian river rock church in Irwindale. Is that on the list?
Not being in the city of L.A., an Irwindale church couldn't be on the list of L.A. City Landmarks.
Great photos of Hollenbeck park. I remember the bridge and the boathouse next to it..where you can buy a hamburger and a shake then rent a little 2-seater motor boat to cruise the lake. I grew up in Boyle and my mom worked at Santa Fe/Linda Vista Hospital right across the street for almost 25 years. If you want to see this park in film watch Laural and Hardy's 1929 short, Men O' War, where they play 2 sailors on leave with their girlfriends and they rent a boat at Hollenbeck park lake..mayhem ensues. The other is the Doris Day 1956 film, The Pajama Game. There is a long scene of a picnic and then a big dance sequence filmed at all around Hollenbeck park lake. You can make out the spanned bridge in the background.
Rudy
Thanks for the movie tips, Rudy!
4th st? or 6th?
Amazing not one person corrected this gigantic error this is OLD 4st BRIDGE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS 6th Street BRIDGE MUST BE CONFUSING AND NO DOUBT SENT OUT FALSE INFO TO A LOT OF PEOPLE ONLINE WHERE I JUST SAW IT TOO #LOSING #HISTORY NOT GOOD
6th street bridge is correct. It was my favorite place to play.
I played bookie when they were filming Panama Game and snuck a seat next to Doris Day at the crew lunch table.
,
4th street has two bridges. One over the LA River and the other by Lorena.
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