The new Hall of Environmental Education at the Arboretum has been completed and will open to the public shortly. The 8,000 sq. ft. auditorium in the new building accommodates nearly 1,000 people. It will be used for exhibits, classes and shows.
The fountain created by Millard Sheets which sits at the entrance to the Los Angeles County Arboretum may be removed and replaced by another water feature. The plan is in the early stages and the final decision will be make by the Arboretum Foundation Board of Trustees.
A rugged, two-tier rock drinking fountain, family-built and designed, now sits in a palm-shaded grove at the Arboretum. It is a tribute to retired Pasadena Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Sprankle.
Design contracts for architecture and interiors of the eight-story, $15 million Iwataya vertical shopping center in Fukuoka, Japan have been awarded to Chaix & Johnson Associates and Chaix, Pujdak, Bielski, Takeuchi & Daggett Associated Architects & Planners, Los Angeles. It was announced by Arcadia resident Robert H. Daggett, A.I.A., 1405 Rancho Road, a principal of both firms.
Francis Ching, 60, a native Hawaiian, is retiring after 20 years as supervisor of the Los Angeles County Dept. of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens, which includes the LA County Arboretum in Arcadia.
A 90-foot crane used for a movie shoot at the Arboretum toppled arm-first into Baldwin lake, which is being used as the set for the upcoming Columbia Pictures movie "Anaconda."
Man is riding bicycle on a path inside Rancho Santa Anita Park and Lake (later, the Arboretum), with many palm trees. Sign reads "Open to the Public Daily until 7PM, private property" and "Curves, drive slowly through park." The following information is from Sandy Snider: This is indeed, today’s Arboretum, but at the time the property was owned by a real estate syndicate named Rancho Santa Anita Inc. The enterprise was headed by the Chandler family (Harry until he died), and they bought the land from Anita Baldwin in 1936 for purposes of residential development. About 1939 they opened “the park” to visitors in hopes of encouraging land sales. About 30 acres surrounding the lake was sort of set aside as Santa Anita Park and Lake, that was roughly the area made available for movie location rentals and clearly for bicyclists, etc. 1939 is the circa date for this photograph, but it could have been anytime between 1936 and 1947 (when the land was sold to State and County for use as an Arboretum). The granite boulders lining roadways were typical Baldwin Ranch landscape features, and the pillars seen in the photo are also from Baldwin times. In the background you can see more boulders in a circular sort of shape – likely the old Baldwin Lily Pond.
Suzanne Gilstrap, who was paralyzed for life when a 20-foot-long tree limb fell on her at the Los Angeles County Arboretum on July 25, 1977, has won a $1,625,000 settlement from the County. Miss Gilstrap, now 16, has appeared as a paraplegic in a recent television movie, "Skyward," with Bette Davis.
