Ernest E. Debs Regional Park

Ernest E. Debs Regional Park is a large open space nature reserve and regional park in the Montecito Hills neighborhood of central-northeast Los Angeles, California.^[1]^[2]

It is named after former County Supervisor Ernest E. Debs. The park is operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.^[1]

Geography

Ernest E. Debs Regional Park is located in Montecito Hills, with views of the Arroyo Seco, San Gabriel Mountains, and Downtown Los Angeles. The park provides several miles of hiking and cycling trails. Access is from Griffin Avenue at Avenue 43, and off Monterey Road.^[1]

History

Between 1949 and 1963, the City of Los Angeles acquired property for Rose Hill Park, which remained open space and undeveloped. In 1968, the city leased the land to the County of Los Angeles for twenty-five years, with an agreement that the area would be developed into a regional park. When the land was returned to the city in 1994, the County had invested $900,000 into park improvements and had renamed it after Ernest E. Debs, a deceased county supervisor). ^[3]

On October 27, 2015, Gabriela Calzada and Briana Gallegos were murdered in Debs Park. ^[4]^[5]^[6]

On September 10, 2021, Jason Cortez was shot and killed in Debs Park.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Ecology

The park contains 282 acres (1.14 km²) of native California walnut (Juglans californica) and California oak woodlands (Interior live oak (Quercus wislizeni) habitats.

Ernest E. Debs Regional Park contains the Audubon Center at Debs Park.^[1]^[10] The Audubon Center building was the first carbon-neutral building constructed in the United States.^[11] The center provides nature education programs (all ages) and native plant restoration projects.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d L.A. Rec. & Parks — Debs Regional Park
^ Location of the park as shown on the Mapping L.A. website
^ "About the Park". Debspark.org. Debs Park Advisory Board. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
^ "One of the Women Found in Debs Park Was Shot in the Head, Coroner Says". 4 November 2015.
^ "Vigil to be held for women killed in Montecito Heights park". Los Angeles Daily News. 5 November 2015.
^ "Killing of Teen Girls in Park Was Gang Motivated, and Suspects Knew Victims: Chief Beck". 4 February 2016.
^ "Jason Cortez Was Killed by a Sniper While He Was Hiking in Los Angeles, Now His Family Pleads for Answers". 21 December 2021.
^ "Reward offered over Debs Park killing". 13 December 2021.
^ "$50K Reward Offered in Unsolved Murder of Jason Cortez, Who Was Shot in the Back While Hiking in Montecito Heights". 17 December 2021.
^ Debs—Audubon Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, accessed April 12, 2012
^ Audubon California, "A truly green building" Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine, accessed July 2, 2014
^ Debs—Green Programs Archived 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine accessed April 12, 2012