- E
On March 18, sometime in the evening, a vandal or vandals did some heavy destruction of the statues and art throughout the area and destroyed the 1911 Buddha statue that has been watching over this space for decades. Many of the additional statues were donated by friends and some friends helped carry them up to this area.
My passion for this upper park,began with a weekend project to dig out the stairs up to the statue . In 2017, I was hiking with my boyfriend here in the former Japanese Gardens and I noticed up top a hill which was not easily accessible, there was a Buddha statue popping up from the dirt mounds around it. This entire area of the park was neglected with dead trees hugging the center of the area up to the Buddha and one huge boulder and dead tree blocking access to go further from the Buddha onward. What started out with one weekend of digging out the stairs (which have been dug out many other times too sometimes with help of my friends) has led to over five years of work, digging safe paths to Buddha that were buried from erosion. To help stop the erosion, I planted many many drought tolerant plants and trees, some native and many donated succulents from my neighbors and my own yard as well as from Lowes discount plant shelf, as it was a place that gave things like worn statues, art and plants a second change.
When going through historic pictures found online me and my boyfriend found that there was a wishing well, we dug up. I found a base of Buddha in a lotus flower bowl that was buried. In 2018, some vandals toppled over Buddha and I was able to unbury the orignal base that he rested on. With the help of six friends and ropes, we lifted him back up and put him on his resting place that was buried for over ninety years! From the fall, his nose was missing his nose, a cheek and part of one of his hands so I made a cement compound to give him the Hollywood "fillers" that built back his face. I cleaned out many new areas that were inaccessible because of fallen trees and lots of broken glass bottles and weekly "homeless visitors" that would leave vodka bottles, or needles that I would clean up. In the first two years, Each week new graffiti emerged on the entrance walls to this upper garden and on that wall and many calls to the city to paint over the graffiti were made but no action was ever made. Back then it was just me fighting off the gang members weekly with paint and one time when a tree toppled over the entrance, the city's solution was some yellow caution tape around it. I remember that day, removing many of the branches with a hand saw to go in and then after a few hours some gang members showed up so I quickly went up to the buddha to work and then they left their marks all over the front entrance, which I painted over. Soon after two years ago, plants were taking root, the gang members weren't coming back, nor the taggers (except after the Presidential election which had taggers tag poles/trees and walls). The community began to grow of hikers and the caring community began to help pick up trash left, and alert me of any dangers. During the last two covid years, a larger group of people discovered the park and for the first time, I would see families playing with the stacked rock formations I would make around the trail to the peace rock symbol that I created. Friends would come help and donate art pieces and sculptures, a bench and even a new area, some people that became friends created a "deck" At last a happy community was
buddha shrine to its glory, excavating the buried stairs and pathways as there wasn’t an easy way to go up to it. T
What was to be a weekend project, has since taken over five years of my life to nurture this garden back into healthy vibrant safe paths and spaces for Angelenos to come to hike or escape to be in nature with new friends made along the way and a community created of like minded people, planting, watering, helping and caring!! This is what community is about!
My passion for this upper park,began with a weekend project to dig out the stairs up to the statue . In 2017, I was hiking with my boyfriend here in the former Japanese Gardens and I noticed up top a hill which was not easily accessible, there was a Buddha statue popping up from the dirt mounds around it. This entire area of the park was neglected with dead trees hugging the center of the area up to the Buddha and one huge boulder and dead tree blocking access to go further from the Buddha onward. What started out with one weekend of digging out the stairs (which have been dug out many other times too sometimes with help of my friends) has led to over five years of work, digging safe paths to Buddha that were buried from erosion. To help stop the erosion, I planted many many drought tolerant plants and trees, some native and many donated succulents from my neighbors and my own yard as well as from Lowes discount plant shelf, as it was a place that gave things like worn statues, art and plants a second change.
When going through historic pictures found online me and my boyfriend found that there was a wishing well, we dug up. I found a base of Buddha in a lotus flower bowl that was buried. In 2018, some vandals toppled over Buddha and I was able to unbury the orignal base that he rested on. With the help of six friends and ropes, we lifted him back up and put him on his resting place that was buried for over ninety years! From the fall, his nose was missing his nose, a cheek and part of one of his hands so I made a cement compound to give him the Hollywood "fillers" that built back his face. I cleaned out many new areas that were inaccessible because of fallen trees and lots of broken glass bottles and weekly "homeless visitors" that would leave vodka bottles, or needles that I would clean up. In the first two years, Each week new graffiti emerged on the entrance walls to this upper garden and on that wall and many calls to the city to paint over the graffiti were made but no action was ever made. Back then it was just me fighting off the gang members weekly with paint and one time when a tree toppled over the entrance, the city's solution was some yellow caution tape around it. I remember that day, removing many of the branches with a hand saw to go in and then after a few hours some gang members showed up so I quickly went up to the buddha to work and then they left their marks all over the front entrance, which I painted over. Soon after two years ago, plants were taking root, the gang members weren't coming back, nor the taggers (except after the Presidential election which had taggers tag poles/trees and walls). The community began to grow of hikers and the caring community began to help pick up trash left, and alert me of any dangers. During the last two covid years, a larger group of people discovered the park and for the first time, I would see families playing with the stacked rock formations I would make around the trail to the peace rock symbol that I created. Friends would come help and donate art pieces and sculptures, a bench and even a new area, some people that became friends created a "deck" At last a happy community was
buddha shrine to its glory, excavating the buried stairs and pathways as there wasn’t an easy way to go up to it. T
What was to be a weekend project, has since taken over five years of my life to nurture this garden back into healthy vibrant safe paths and spaces for Angelenos to come to hike or escape to be in nature with new friends made along the way and a community created of like minded people, planting, watering, helping and caring!! This is what community is about!
We will rebuild or restore this historic statue! It represents one of the last artifacts of the history of this Japanese garden and a serene place people can come to meditate, take in nature and be at peace.
Thank you for your help!