Exposition Park Rose Garden

Exposition Park Rose Garden is a seven-acre sunken garden in the north-central part of Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Its interior measures about 861 by 354 feet and sits three feet below the surrounding ground. Four quadrants, each with a wooden gazebo, are arranged around a circular fountain and lily pond, with 166 concrete-lined beds holding about 19,000 rose bushes. A red brick wall from 1913 encloses the garden. The present design dates from 1926 to 1928, when city Parks Department landscape architects reworked an earlier sunken garden into a display rose garden. When finished in 1928 it was the earliest municipally operated public display rose garden in California and among the largest in the country. It reflects the City Beautiful movement and allowed visitors to study roses before planting them at home. Additions for the 1932 Olympics, including Art Deco lightposts and relief walls, remain. It continues as a public garden and test garden.