Jorell Singfield - From Oil Fields to Playing Fields: The Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area

The sign that greets visitors as they enter the park.

Introduction

I think it's safe to say that everyone has at least one fond memory of playing at their local public park. Whether it was a first soccer game, learning how to ride a bike, playing on the playground, flying a kite for the first time, or maybe even a first date . Public parks can be a beautiful dream for some and a nightmare for others depending on the are that the park is located. If the park is in a predominantly white, middle class neighborhood then said park will likely be a beautiful green space with with well-maintained facilities and fields. If said park is in a predominantly minority community then said park will likely be less modern and will feature a poorly maintained brownfield. No place was a greater example of this trend than the great city of Los Angeles. Parks and fields in communities of color looked like something one would see in an apocalypse movie compared to the pristine, gleaming parks in the upper class neighborhoods. Children don't deserve to grow up playing on dusty fields and faded playground equipment. Children should have a safe place to play and enjoy themselves regardless of where they live or what ethnicity they are. Fortunately, Los Angeles is addressing this issue with a new wave of building and upgrading/updating its local parks, especially those in communities of color. The focus of this blog will be on the history and development of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area (KHSRA), and why this park's massive size and versatility is a godsend to the communities of color that surround it. 

Research Process

When it comes to research material, this project left much to be desired. I was able to get a few very reliable sources for it in the end. The primary source on the history of the KHSRA is a 2007 article written by Jason Byrne, Megan Kendrick, and David Sroaf, titled The Park Made of Oil: Towards a Historical Political Ecology of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. It is a full encompassing view of the park from it's decades prior to the thought of that land becoming a park through its development and ending in its present state. My research has revolved around this article. However I have also taken from more than a few other sources that analyze the importance of green spaces. One study by the American Public Health Association conducted research on how access to public parks links with physical activity with a focus on residents in low-income, minority communities. There was no bias in this source as it was based on data and science rather than opinion. Finally the last major source I draw from in this blog post is a national report given to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, a federal advisory committee to the US Environmental Protection Agency. This 1996 report not only outlines the importance of eliminating brownfields in urban areas but also in developing these urban areas for the sake of the future and points out the role race and class plays in environmental justice. For it to be a federal document from 25 years ago, this source had modern views on the struggles of urban revitalization. 

Historical Analysis/ Image Analysis

                What do the Olympics, A Dam Disaster, and Oil Fields all have in common?

    Funny enough, what is now known as the KHSRA was once home to the 1932 summer olympics, the Baldwin Hills Dam, and what was once the second most productive oilfield in the state. The stories for each phase of the KHSRA's development are all interesting enough to be their own essay topics but for now a wide view of each step is appropriate. The summer Olympics in 1932 were held in Los Angeles and the first Olympic Village was set up in Baldwin Hills. An entire town was built to accommodate the athletes of the world. This town had everything from a telephone exchange, a post office, and a banking facility for money exchanges and a large administration building (San Pedro News Pilot, 1932). According to the local newspaper, over 1,000 building were built in total. This was the first-ever Olympic Village. This aerial view of the village really shows its massive scale. It had to be large to not only house the hundreds of athletes who were planning to attend the games but also the many facilities they would have at their disposal. The 1932 Olympics held here in Los Angeles really set the standard for what an Olympic Village should be going forward.

An Aerial View of the First-Ever Olympic Village. Baldwin Hills, 1932

    Fast forward 30 years from those lovely games and a new reservoir has appeared alongside the Baldwin Hills Dam. Constructed in 1951, the Baldwin Hills Reservoir sat atop the tallest hill in the region and was confined by dikes on three sides and the dam on the fourth side. The dam was 232 feet high and was 650 feet long, holding about 250 million gallons of water (Barnes, 1992). It was the primary water supply for all of South Los Angeles. Unfortunately on December 14th, 1963, the Baldwin Hills Dam breached and released the majority of its stored water into community below, now called Village Green. Sadly, five people were killed and the water caused about $11 million in property damage (Barnes, 1992). Engineers were luckily able to spot the water beginning to drain from the dam hours before it actually ruptured, allowing enough time for the evacuation of the residents, saving potentially thousands of lives. Interestingly, it was County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn who would initially come out days later and announced that the break was caused by earth movements. He noted cracks on roads in the nearby areas thus pointing to a seismological event (Desert Sun, 1963). However we now understand that the disaster was caused by the nearby oil drilling fields. Below are images of the dam after the disaster as well as the town the dam destroyed. Here is also a link to a video with footage of the dam break and the resulting flood. 

A view of the flooded town with the broken dam in the background overlooking the town

An aerial view of the broken Baldwin Hills Dam and the town it destroyed

The real culprit of the disaster, poor oil drilling practices

    The culprit behind the disaster? "Tectonic movement, accelerated by oil extraction, supplemented by reinfection of waste brine into the ground, on fault movement beneath the reservoir" (Meehan & Hamilton, 1971). So the historic oil fields in the Baldwin Hills area caused the Dam disaster. The history of the oil fields in The Baldwin Hills is a normal oil story. Named after Elias 'Lucky' Baldwin, a late 19th century land speculator, the Baldwin Hills were believed to be worthless and only good for cattle grazing (Byrne et. al., 2007). Only 15 years after his death were the oil fields discovered and soon afterwards, the Standard Oil Company of California came in and turned Southern California into one of the worlds largest oil producers. By 1925, the Inglewood Oilfield, which includes Baldwin Hills, had 147 wells yielding 3,248,109 barrels per acre. The blessing of oil in the region was also a curse as a half century of oil drilling caused major environmental destruction. According to Byrne, "Hillsides were terraced, vegetation was stripped from the landscape, pools of oil and chemicals seeped into topsoil, and oil fires regularly filled the sky with plumes of acrid black smoke... vegetation, city streets, streams, and wetlands were smeared with oil when weals frequently blew out after drilling crews hit pockets of natural gas" (Byrne et al., 2007). The roaring 20s were literally the best of times for oil development but the worst of times for real estate and recreational development. As the years went on, however, housing and development began to improve and after the end of the Great Depression housing surged all around the Baldwin Hills. Below is a picture of one of the currently operating oil rigs in Baldwin Hills. The striking thing about this image is its vicinity to the houses in the background. I personally would never want to pay that much for a house when I have oil rigs in my view. Not only the view but also the pollution that's definitely associated with the rigs themselves. 

One of the currently running oil rigs in Baldwin Hills today

Kenneth Hahn Turning Oil Fields into Playing Fields

County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn 

    Five years following the Dam Disaster, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Kenneth Hahn had something of an epiphany when looking at the empty reservoir and knew that he had to build a park there. However, there were many obstacles in his way to develop his dream park. He knew that the hills themselves were, "degraded, heavily contaminated and of marginal value without extensive remediation" (Byrne et al., 2007). Regardless of the obstacles, Hahn knew how to get things done. He was very politically astute and knew how to network. He enlisted help from every branch of government including the executive branch. Some convincing to Vice President helped seal the deal and in 1968, Hahn began setting money aside to fund the park. Hahn's plan was authorized by the LA county board of supervisors in 1975 and park planning began with a $2 million budget. More funding was allocated by a variety of different sources including local and for even a park as massive at the KHSRA, it only costed a total of $27 million to complete. Hahn was known for his parks and his philosophy echoed the importance of accessible public parks for the youth. At one of his park opening ceremonies at Alondra Park in 1959, Hahn said,"relatively small expenditures in recreational facilities now can save taxpayers millions of dollars by preventing juvenile delinquency" (Hahn, 1959) A week later he made a similar statement saying, "It is much wiser and more economical to spend money constructively in providing our youth with good parks and playgrounds than it is to be constantly building more jails, juvenile halls and detention camps and adding police, probation officers and judges"(Hahn, 1959). He recognized that both children and adults needed open green spaces where they could relax and enjoy themselves to escape from the tensions of modern living. Hahn did not care about race and ethnicity, he cared about people and wanted to help them however he could. He was the first one to greet Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he arrived in Los Angeles in 1961. Kenneth Hahn knew exactly what he was doing the building the park where he built it, surrounded by communities of color. 

Hahn greeting King before he even steps onto the tarmac 

A map of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area

As the map above shows, the KHSRA is surrounded on all sides by communities of color. Crenshaw and View park-Windsor Hills with a large African American communities, Culver City and Baldwin Hills have a large percentage of Asians and Hispanics. A large, beautiful was very much needed for all of these communities. A study done by the American Public Health Association found that, "public parks are critical resources for physical activity in minority communities... the number and location of parks are currently insufficient to serve local populations well" (Cohen et al., 2007). Public parks not only create more opportunities for exercise but also to get out, meet neighbors and make friends in the community. Exercise plays an important role in a variety of facets of every day life. Exercise can help with depression and anxiety, it can decrease the risk of heart disease, and of course it can help control weight. All of these problems affect communities of color disproportionately and thus emphasizing the need for more public parks in low-income minority communities. 

Conclusion

The Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area is a beautiful park with an absolutely gorgeous view of the City of Los Angeles.

The park is gorgeous. It is a paradise in the hills. The trees are well maintained and the so are the facilities. People are constantly walking and hiking and making use of all the amenities the park has to offer. It's wonderful to see and Kenneth Hahn would be as proud today as he was on the park's opening day in 1984. However, while the KHSRA is a triumph, the same needs to be done in communities of color all across the state. Children shouldn't have to go across town in order to feel safe when playing. When I was growing up down in San Diego, there was a slide in our local playground that was closed for over a year because it was unsafe to ride. A whole year is too long but because I was living in a predominantly hispanic area, the state was in no rush to fix it. Kenneth Hahn is an example to be followed. His heart was in the right place when he said that it was 'critically important' that kids have 'healthful, wholesome recreation available to them' (Hahn, 1957). For a park with so much history, it seems that everything has worked out pretty well. At the same time, there is still plenty of work to be done. Legislators should not rest until everyone has access to a local park in their area no matter the color or income of that area. Public parks are good for everyone and thus everyone should have one. 

Hahn pictured with a black family at the opening ceremony of his namesake park 

References

1. Barnes, Marla J. “Famous Failures: Revisiting Major Dam Catastrophes.” Hydro Review Magazine, 1992. 

2. Byrne, Jason, et al. “The Park Made of Oil: Towards a Historical Political Ecology of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.” Local Environment, vol. 12, no. 2, 27 Apr. 2007, pp. 153–181., doi:10.1080/13549830601161830. 

3. Cohen, Deborah A., et al. “Contribution of Public Parks to Physical Activity.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 97, no. 3, 2007, pp. 509–514., doi:10.2105/ajph.2005.072447. 

4. “Description & Background.” ASDSO Lessons Learned, damfailures.org/case-study/baldwin-hills-dam/. 

5. “Earth Movement Said Cause of Dam Disaster.” Desert Sun, 18 Dec. 1963, pp. 10–11. 

6. Hamilton, D. H., and R. L. Meehan. “Ground Rupture in the Baldwin Hills.” Science, vol. 172, no. 3981, 1971, pp. 333–344., doi:10.1126/science.172.3981.333. 

7. Historycomestolife, director. Baldwin Hills Dam Breaks Los Angeles December 14, 1963. YouTube, YouTube, 9 Feb. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUowiNeF_Rw&t=45s. 

8. Kenneth Hahn at the Launch of the Baldwin Hills Park. Huntington Beach , 1983. 

9. “Kenneth Hahn Manuscripts.” 30 Oct. 1959. 

10. Klein, Norman M. Twentieth Century Los Angeles: Power, Promotion, and Social Conflict. Regina Books, 1991. 

11. Location of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. 

12. “Olympic City Will Be Built.” San Pedro News Pilot, 4 Apr. 1931, pp. 11–11. 

13. Quan-Wickham, Nancy. Cities Sacrificed on the Altar of Oil: Popular Opposition to Oil Development in 1920s Los Angeles. 1998.