One of our members and local historians, Evan Decker of Santa Clarita, has brought to our attention something concerning a park in his area. William S Hart Park, the former home of the silent film actor, is currently a park owned and administered by Los Angeles County. This arrangement is due to the stipulations in the will of William S Hart, who deeded the land and associated structures in perpetuity to Los Angeles County.
The City of Santa Clarita, in an effort spearheaded by the current major Laureen Weste is looking to take over the park. By itself, it would seem like a “home rule” sort of issue, which can be a good thing. However, the City of Santa Clarita has a poor track record of preserving history and keeping it safe. This has been shown with the “disneyfication” of the central business district of Newhall, among other things. We feel this change would be a detriment to the historical value of Hart Park and would not be to its best interest.
If you would like to help with preventing the City of Santa Clarita from taking over William S Hart Park, Even Decker has set up an online petition to sign. He also strongly recommends contacting the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and tell her you’re against this project.
We, the Historic Highway 99 Association of California, only want to help preserve and protect the history along Highway 99. Newhall was one of the towns along the earliest alignment of US 99. Hart Park represents a part of that early history.
Please sign the petition created by Evan Decker to tell the City of Santa Clarita that you want the park kept as-is and not in City hands.
What does disneyfication of the CBD mean?
It means turning Newhall into a caricature of itself, which happened under the direction of the City.
They’ve changed the name of San Fernando Road (an early routing of 99) to Newhall Avenue and Main Street. No historical awareness.
Hart Park is run by the Natural History Museum, along with the Tar Pits. Maybe they feel this is not really part of their mission; maybe not, but they can’t be allowed to unload it onto Santa Clarita, who would probably try to privatize/monetize it.
I was always bothered by the lack of awareness when it came to history in Santa Clarita. Changing the street name to something it never was didn’t help. There was a plan many years ago to extend Newhall Avenue to the Sierra Highway junction and would have run parallel to San Fernando Road to that point. Through Newhall itself, Spruce Street would have been a better option as it was the historic name of the street. Instead we get two names that aren’t historic but being touted as such.