Beverly Gardens Park

Beverly Gardens Park

This 1.9 mile linear park spans 22 blocks as Beverly Hills’ most visible expanse of green space. The landscape architects and planners who pioneered the park design in 1911 anticipated growing urbanization as tracts were sold and homes were built as part of the original adjacent subdivision of Rancho Rodeo de Los Aguas. The park is still known for its iconic fountains, long shaded garden walkways, specialty gardens, and the pergola structures welcoming all that visit the city.

In 2012, Studio-MLA prepared a Restoration Plan to update this expanse of gardens by prioritizing future park improvements that included inventory and analysis of the existing site conditions, studies of specialty features, recommendations for improvements, a phasing strategy, and an estimate of probable costs. The team examined how to rehabilitate each block individually to revive its character. The plan considered careful rehabilitation introducing new technology, park lighting, and planting that recognized and adapts to water savings. Additional recommendations were based on meeting the needs of the current community, increased park patronage, additional park programming, and strategies for sustainable park design.

Community members gave support and voiced ideas at a series of public workshops and open houses, and The Friends of Beverly Gardens cultivated the donors to contribute to the construction fund to rehabilitate the gardens. Through a public and private partnership of fundraising, the City started to implement the rehabilitation. The first two gardens completed in time for the Beverly Hills’ 100th year anniversary included the Electric Fountain at the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards and the Monument Sign and Lily Pond between Beverly and Canon Drives.