In 1908, a visitor to L.A. encounters the greatest “working man’s park” he has ever seen, while the Park Board streamlines the park’s design to keep pace with surging business activity in downtown.
Working Men is based on the observations of Louis de Buff, a merchant from Oakland who visited Los Angeles in 1908, and the words of Park Commissioner Charles “Judge” Silent, the former lawman-turned-real estate investor who mustered the political will to redevelop Pershing Square (then known as Central Park) in 1910. To draft up the new plan, the Judge recruited John Parkinson, a local architect who designed many iconic buildings in downtown L.A.
Louis de Buff's Op-Ed*
(PDF - 1mb)
Judge Silent's Report
(PDF - 2mb)
*I could not find a photo of the astute Louis de Buff, so the above photo is of David Livingston. The two shared many similarities; both emigrated from Germany and ran dry goods businesses in the Bay Area around the turn of the century (source: US Census, 1900 & 1910).