Fountains Flow Again at Restored Gardens

Water fountains at Memory Garden in Brand Park are flowing for the first time in more than 25 years, thanks to a collaborative effort among the city’s parks department, Councilman Richard Alarcon and group of dedicated volunteers.

The restored fountains, which were reactivated for the first time Thursday evening, are one aspect of a major overhaul that has transformed the long-dilapidated garden into a vibrant urban oasis, volunteers said.

The work has been ongoing for 18 months in preparation for this weekend’s bicentennial celebration of San Fernando Mission. “It was such a mess. You wouldn’t believe it’s the same place,” said Natalie Navarrete of Arleta, who belongs to Friends of Memory Garden, which was established by Alarcon’s office in 1996 to restore the garden.

“I still have blisters--actually they are more like calluses now,” said Navarrete, who, together with her husband, Felix, has volunteered almost every Saturday for the past year and a half, raking, shoveling and watering in an attempt to nurture the garden back to life.

“It’s been worth it; it looks great,” she said. “There are roses now where it used to be only weeds.”

In addition to replanting the majority of the garden’s flower beds, the group, with the assistance of the Department of Recreation and Parks, has pruned trees, repaved walkways, restored columns, removed graffiti, fixed irrigation pipes and refurbished picnic areas. Alarcon said that before Thursday, the garden’s fountains had not been turned on since 1971.

“When we started this project, Memory Garden was a disaster. Overgrown weeds and bushes made it impossible to move in the area, the water didn’t work and it was a mess,” Alarcon said.

“This was a major undertaking by the community, and I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished,” Alarcon said.