Barnsdall Art Park contains 333 olive trees. (photo by Katherine Pakradouni)

The city of Los Angeles, Barnsdall Art Park Foundation and Los Angeles Parks Foundation are excited to announce a community initiative to restore and sustain the historic olive grove of Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. The world-renowned 11.5-acre park and cultural destination includes Hollyhock House, created by Frank Lloyd Wright for Aline Barnsdall, which is Los Angeles’ only UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Barnsdall Art Park Foundation has contributed $25,000 to the Adopt-a-Park program run by the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Those funds are being used to pay for the horticultural survey and analysis of Barnsdall Art Park’s olive grove, the necessary care of the site’s 333 existing olive trees for one year and the development of a comprehensive strategy for planting additional olive trees at the park.

The Barnsdall Art Park Foundation has also begun raising money to plant and maintain new olive trees through the Los Angeles Park Forest program, created and managed by the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. The mission of the Los Angeles Park Forest initiative is to add trees to city parks to offset the carbon footprint, cool surface air temperatures and educate the public about climate change. The Barnsdall Olive Grove Initiative will improve the air quality of the East Hollywood community and support the city of Los Angeles’s goal to plant 90,000 new trees as part of L.A.’s Green New Deal.

“Barnsdall Art Park is a unique and priceless gem in the city of Los Angeles, and this Olive Grove Initiative is yet another reminder as to why,” said City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District. “Preserving the existing trees and propagating new, healthy olive trees into the campus’s landscape is an essential step in preserving this historically significant grove that is an essential contributor to this cultural resource we all cherish, Barnsdall Art Park, and UNESCO contributor, Hollyhock House.”

“The Los Angeles Parks Foundation is committed to restoring our city’s urban forest through tree-plantings and restoration projects,” Executive Director Carolyn Ramsay said. “We are honored to work with the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation and the city of Los Angeles at this significant historic site and beloved community park.”

For information, visit barnsdall.org/landscape.