Barnsdall Art Park is a city park located in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Parking and arts buildings access is from Hollywood Boulevard on the north side of the park.

Venue: Barnsdall Art Park
Town: Los Angeles, US

Barnsdall Art Park is a city park located in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Parking and arts buildings access is from Hollywood Boulevard on the north side of the park. The park is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. The Barnsdall Art Park Foundation, a nonprofit organization, helps manage Barnsdall Art Park and the activities there. Aline Barnsdall donated Barnsdall Park to the City of Los Angeles for arts and recreational purposes, including the preservation of the historic architecture and landscape features. Located at the crest of Olive Hill, Barnsdall Art Park overlooks the city of Los Angeles, and the Hollywood Hills, including Griffith Park. The park is centered on Barnsdall's Hollyhock House designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, a city and national landmark and World Heritage Site. The site's previous owner, Aline Barnsdall, was an oil heiress from Pennsylvania who had wanted to develop an arts and live-theater complex. Before Barnsdall owned Olive Hill, it was undeveloped and had contained olive trees since the 1890s, when J. H. Spires had planted an olive grove there. Despite being close to streetcar routes, Olive Hill was not appealing to developers because it was not near either Downtown Los Angeles or central Hollywood. The hill had hosted Easter services for years before Barnsdall's acquisition of the site. At the time of Barnsdall's purchase, the olive trees were planted 18 to 20 feet (5.5 to 6.1 m) apart on a grid, and the hill was accessed by two roads from the southeast and northeast. Barnsdall first met the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago by 1915, when she hired him to design a building for the Chicago Little Theatre. After vacationing in California, she decided to erect the theatrical building there instead. Barnsdall bought the site in June 1919, and Wright worked on designing Barnsdall's theater and house during that year. P