Park Is Renamed to Honor Beilenson

Lake Balboa Park in Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area was formally renamed in honor of former congressman Anthony C. Beilenson at a dedication ceremony Monday.

New signs, reading “Anthony C. Beilenson Park,” were unveiled at the entrance, on the east side of Balboa Boulevard near Victory Boulevard, during the ceremony attended by local officials and representatives of the city of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

“This is a wonderfully generous gesture, and I am touched and enormously appreciative of what’s going on today,” Beilenson said. “It’s a big honor, but I must say that I am a little bit embarrassed by it all because the reality of the matter is the park exists because so many people were involved in creating it.”

Beilenson, 65, whose 34-year career included 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, was responsible for obtaining more than $18 million in federal funds for the planning and development of the park before its opening and dedication in 1990, said Jackie Tatum, general manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks.

“He was so instrumental in getting this lake here for us and getting the funding from the federal government, that it’s only appropriate for the park to be named after the person who made it happen,” Tatum said.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who also attended the ceremony, echoed those sentiments.

“Today, we are putting the right name in the right place because everyone knows of the contributions [Beilenson] has made,” she said.

Beilenson’s successor, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), proposed the name-change, which was accepted by Recreation and Parks in January.

“Anthony C. Beilenson’s record of public service is spectacular and unblemished,” Sherman said. “I felt that such a tribute would be a fitting statement of our appreciation for his lifetime of public service.”

The 26-acre artificial lake, the park’s centerpiece, will continue to be called Lake Balboa, Tatum said.