It was covered by only from three to five feet of soil, which led to unplanned dips on roads and trails and plumbing problems from pipes broken by shifting soil. The foundation’s ambitious building plans included an information center and clubhouse, a weather station, comfort stations, an administration/library building and an auditorium.Īdding roads and structures to the garden proved problematic because of the settling of the landfill over the years. The county may have approved the plan, but it left most of the work of developing the land to the South Coast Botanic Garden Foundation, the operating group founded in 1961 by Young and her colleagues.ĭuring 1961, the group planted approximately 40,000 plants they had acquired through donations from various sources, including the county arboretum. An estimated 200 people attended the dedication of the garden on May 20 of that year, a ceremony that included the facility’s first plantings - three gingko trees. Chace, in 1958 to set aside a portion of the landfill site to develop a regional botanic garden.Īfter much cajoling and persuading, the county agreed to the idea, officially designating the 87 acres of the landfill on the east side of Crenshaw as the South Coast Botanic Garden on April 1, 1960. Young, along with her South Bay Garden Club cohorts and a widening group of local gardening enthusiasts, began petitioning the Board of Supervisors, specifically Supervisor Burton W. The Palos Verdes Landfill operated on the site from 1957 to 1980. The county’s long-range plan was to turn the site into a park, but first, the decision was made to use it as a landfill before covering and converting it. By 1956, the mine had played out, and Great Lakes sold the land to Los Angeles County for $1.1 million. purchased the site and began mining it intensively. In 1929, open-pit mining began there and in 1944, the Great Lakes Carbon Corp.
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