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A Park a Day: Laurel and Hardy Park (aka Del Monte Triangle), Silver Lake
July is National Parks & Recreation Month, and all month long LAist will be featuring a hand-selected park a day to showcase just a few of the wonderful recreation spaces--big or small--in the Los Angeles area.
Laurel and Hardy Park, a block south of Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake is hardly spectacular. But its location is historic. Also known as the Del Monte Triangle, the small wedge of land between Del Monte, Reno, and Vendome spitting distance from Silverlake Lounge is at the bottom of the Music Box stairs, distinguished landmark from the 1932 Laurel and Hardy short.
A recent visit to this sliver of Silver Lake on a sunny afternoon revealed three distinct pairs of area residents: two Latino men napping in the shade; two white dudes in tank tops and their two dogs. One of them remarked to that the park was purely for dogs, homeless people, and drunk hipsters trying to sober up after a night on Sunset.
Del Monte Triangle is open from dawn to dusk like most other city parks. Technically it is considered a "pocket park" according to its listing on the L.A. Parks Foundation website.
Laurel and Hardy Park is small and scalene in its orientation as far as triangular parks go but it is larger than the tiny rectangular city plot known as Rosewood Gardens in the Fairfax District. Still, the park's ironic "No Soccer Playing" sign stands tall and untagged.
The park and its surroundings have a history of gang violence and in 2003 a series of shootings disarmed new residents in the area, just as property values were on the rise. It has since been a meeting point for community gatherings and events overseen by the likes of the Silver Lake Improvement Association and L.A. City Council District 13. In 2009 a number of people camped in the park on the eve of Big Parade Stair Walk. Last October it was the site of the 16th Annual Music Box Steps Day Film Festival.
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