Construction Starts on California Friendly Makeover to Transform Barnsdall Art Park into Sustainable, Water Conserving Landscape; Project Recalls Frank Lloyd Wright Vision for Hollyhock House ``Great Lawn''.

LOS ANGELES -- In keeping with architect Frank Lloyd Wright's vision, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, officials from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and the federal Bureau of Reclamation broke ground today to transform the "Great Lawn" adjacent to Wright's Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Art Park into a California Friendly(TM) landscape.

"Aline Barnsdall gave her home on Olive Hill to the people of Los Angeles to use for reflection and recreation," said Council President Eric Garcetti. "The new landscaping for the Great Lawn will beautify this public treasure and help educate the public about how their own choices can better reflect California's needs and its climate."

With views of the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith Park Observatory as a backdrop, a giant skip loader carved out a swath of water-wasting grass during today's event to symbolically mark the start of construction on the Barnsdall Art Park Great Lawn Landscape Restoration Project. The high-visibility project, adjacent to Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, will serve as a demonstration site for public education and awareness of sustainable landscape design, using California Friendly(TM) landscaping, weather-based irrigation, and other elements designed to promote outdoor water conservation.

"Water savings will be achieved through almost every element of this project. We anticipate a water savings up to 1.45 million gallons per year at Barnsdall Art Park -- enough to meet the annual water needs of nine families," said H. David Nahai, vice president of the LADWP Board of Water and Power Commissioners. "Barnsdall Art Park is one of about 70 Los Angeles City Parks that LADWP is targeting to improve the efficiency of water use through 'smart' irrigation and other measures."

The Great Lawn Restoration Project design was inspired by the original landscape architecture for the site created by Frank Lloyd Wright's son, Lloyd Wright, when the house was under construction between 1921 and 1925. The plant selection was based as much as possible on Lloyd Wright's original list of plants. Among them are 15 different species of shrubs and ground cover, and six species of trees -- all of which are water efficient and thrive in the Southern California climate.

The Barnsdall Art Park renovation will be the flagship of 21 projects in Southern California funded by Metropolitan's City Makeover Program, established to transform highly visible public spaces into native and California Friendly(TM) plant landscapes. The $75,000 grant provided by Metropolitan to LADWP will cover half of the $150,000 project. Additionally, LADWP and RAP will provide in-kind services valued at $50,000, and LADWP will provide $25,000 in water conservation incentives. Council President Eric Garcetti and his staff were instrumental in applying for the grant and fostering community support.

"This project is exactly what we were hoping would sprout from Metropolitan's City Makeover grant program -- this popular public space that will be remade into a vision of smart, environmentally sensitive landscaping. We hope to inspire some of the thousands of people who visit the park annually to adopt the California Friendly(TM) ideal for their own yards," said Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor for energy and the environment for the City of Los Angeles and a director representing the City on Metropolitan's Board of Directors.

"These partnerships create opportunities to illustrate we can do the right and smart thing for the environment without giving up play areas for our children, grass or beautiful flowers. The lessons people take away from this project will help Southern California stretch its limited supply of water while maintaining what we love about the region," said John Murray, a director representing Los Angeles on Metropolitan's board.

The landscape restoration of the "Great Lawn," nearly one acre in size and dramatically situated on a hill above Hollywood Boulevard, will feature native and drought-tolerant plants including kikuyugrass lawn that uses 21% less water than typical cool season turf. Native or drought-tolerant plants typically need 75% less water during the first two years and thrive largely on natural precipitation after that.

The irrigation system will use low-cost, high-efficiency sprinkler heads along with a state-of-the-art, weather-based controller to ensure the lawn is watered only when necessary. Weather-based irrigation has been shown to reduce annual water use by as much as one acre-foot (326,000 gallons) for each acre that is irrigated, explained Tom Gackstetter, LADWP water conservation manager.

Among other water-saving landscape elements, grading and soil rehabilitation will minimize precipitation runoff and retain irrigation through improved infiltration and reduced evaporation, while ensuring drainage away from the historic Hollyhock House.

LADWP, serving as the lead agency for the project, is overseeing construction, which is expected to be completed in June 2007. The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering in conjunction with the Department of Recreation and Parks provided the landscape design and planting plans.

Karen Constine, interim general manager of the Department of Cultural Affairs, said the Great Lawn Landscape Restoration Project will greatly benefit the diverse community that visits Barnsdall Park. "The Great Lawn Restoration will increase attendance and encourage cultural tourism at the Park's facilities, including the Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, Barnsdall Arts Center, and Junior Arts Center," Constine said.

The City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission declared Hollyhock House a historic-cultural monument in January 1963, and Barnsdall Center and Barnsdall Park historical-cultural monuments in February 1965. All three facilities were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 1971 by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation's largest municipal utility, provides reliable, low-cost water and power services to the City's 4 million residents in an environmentally responsible manner.