Open Space

First Hollywood floated the plan. Now, Santa Monica is talking about adding open space by building over freeways. City officials in Santa Monica are exploring the idea of "capping" the 10 Freeway between 17th and 14th avenues as a way to add seven acres of land to the city and possibly create more open space. The City Council voted Tuesday night to authorize city staff to submit an application to the state for $250,000 in grant money to fund a feasibility study for the idea.

Ever concerned about urban sprawl, Crescenta Valley residents also are worried these days about the lack of recreational facilities in their community. In recent years, they said, they have seen horse-riding stables, swimming pools and a bowling alley either shut down or move away. Now residents are faced with a proposal to demolish the 50-year-old Verdugo Hills Golf Course in Tujunga and build 229 single-family homes.

Over the last 15 years, this 1960s two-story French farmhouse in unincorporated North Tustin has been transformed into an Asian-inspired contemporary with an emphasis on open space, built-ins and angled walls. Windows at the entry frame the dark-stained wood door. A thick glass surround supported by a metal frame brings light into the hallway but blocks the ability to look inside from outdoors. In place of a railing for the L-shaped walkway around the stairs leading to the first floor, a floating cabinet serves as both a stair rail and storage.

The Irvine Co.'s plans to donate 20,000 acres of open space to the people of Orange County -- increasing parkland by more than half of its current size -- has encountered a seemingly unlikely opponent: environmentalists. "Where's the budget, where's the money, and where's the negotiating room?" said Jean Watt, president of Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, at an Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting this fall where the donation was discussed. Watt was one of dozens of environmental activists who showed up to express doubts about the wisdom of the county's plan to accept the donation.

When construction workers removed the temporary fence around the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, it was to downtown denizens like the unwrapping of a giant holiday present. After years of demolition and construction, the dusty corner at Spring and 2nd streets suddenly gave way to a burst of greenspace, complete with a lush front lawn of grass that would do any suburban ranch house proud. The space along 2nd Street is technically an adornment, but to residents and workers desperate for open space, they are glad to call it a park.