It’s a Dogfight : Fur Flies in Bid to Transform Canine Haven Into Kiddie Park

By conventional standards, it isn’t much of a place, just a four-acre flat spot covered with grass and trees and placed far enough down a slope from Mulholland Drive to have kept it out of sight of most of the world.

But, in the minds of those who know it, love it and think of it as their own, little Laurel Canyon Park above Studio City has become a battleground of heroic causes.

As one might suspect in a fight involving public land, the antagonist is government, in this case the City of Los Angeles. Arrayed against its bulldozers and bureaucracy is a band of citizens who go by the name ParkWatch.

Kiddies or Dogs?

The bone of contention is whether a kiddie playground should be built in a park that now is dominated by dogs.

The members of ParkWatch are dog lovers. In this neighborhood of million-dollar homes and vast views, they bring their pets to the park to walk them, train them, play with them and even, in open acts of petty lawlessness, let them cavort without leashes.

Often there are 30 or 40 dogs cavorting in the park. The only amenities they require are the 14 “pooper scoopers” stored against the park’s trees, courtesy of ParkWatch members.

ParkWatch founder Jane Purse, a spunky, white-haired woman, believes that any change would ruin what she calls “our park.”

She quickly becomes emotional when giving her version of what is at stake. Dog people are often single and have no one else in their lives but their dogs, she says.

“That’s why at 5 or 5:30 you see people come with their dogs. It’s an event. It cuts through a certain layer of loneliness for a lot of people. This park has been a great social event in these people’s lives,” she said.

A kiddie park, along with the lighting and telephone that would go with it, would break the spell, she said.

“I would feel it wasn’t any longer the park that I really love.”

If ParkWatch is vague in explaining its opposition to the kiddie park, there are those who think the reason is clear.

“I think the bottom line is they don’t want the children,” said Renee Witzer, a deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs. “They have taken this little park for themselves. By us putting in a little kid’s play area, it is going to interfere with the use for them.”

At one time a little diplomacy might have helped. But the rhetoric has apparently gone beyond easy solutions.

Wachs believes the city’s integrity is at stake.

Park for Everyone

“It isn’t going to be any one person’s park,” he said. “I think dogs are wonderful. But they’ve got to be kept on leashes, like everyone else.”

Purse, on the other hand, sees a personal mission in the struggle.

“You can look upon this as my obsession,” she said. “It probably is. I’ve agonized over every tree in that park. I find it a very lovely, healing place. I’ll fight for that park till the last breath I’ve got.”

Purse is not daunted by the city. She said she and ParkWatch have already defended their park against more redoubtable opponents.

Three years ago, Purse said, Laurel Canyon Park was being terrorized by a notorious group of auto racers called the Mulholland Racers and by drug dealers, rapists and hoodlums.

“Trees and grass were mutilated,” she said. “Tables and benches were vandalized. Fences were leaning, and every morning the park was littered with cans, smashed glass and assorted trash.”

Purse organized ParkWatch to battle the park marauders. Its members, now numbering about 300, contributed to buy locks and chains for the entrance gate and to hire a security patrol to open and close the gate, Purse said.

“We fought the Mulholland Racers for five months,” she said. “We spent $174 in locks and chains. The Mulholland Racers did everything in the world to make our lives miserable. I said, ‘They’re winning some of the battles, but don’t give up. We’ll win the war.’ ”

And win they did, Purse said. She attributes the victory to the dogs.

‘It Wasn’t Safe’

“Nobody would go into that park unless you had a dog,” she said. “It wasn’t safe if you didn’t have a dog. I think that’s how dogs got started in that park. They were the people who were willing to go out in that park and keep it clean. There were no mommies and daddies and kiddies in that park.”

Not everyone in Laurel Canyon reads the story exactly that way, however.

Rick Kahn, a member of a group called Committee for Laurel Canyon Park, was interested in the park before ParkWatch came into existence.

His committee led a community effort, in cooperation with Wachs’ office, to have the park developed in the 1970s. Kahn said the group has always wanted a kiddie playground there.

Now, he said, the group is getting fed up with the doggie set.

“My position is that the park is being usurped and is being used for things no park is intended for,” Kahn said. “We feel this organization, which calls itself ParkWatch, is a group that has only one purpose for existence, which is to have a place to exercise and train dogs. They don’t want any kids down there for any reason.”

Kahn thinks Purse’s claim that her group fought off the Mulholland Racers is ridiculous. He said community effort, new city ordinances and heavy policing got rid of the racers.

Tension Escalating

Meanwhile, tension over the dogs in the park appears to be escalating.

Elaine Kohn, a member of the Laurel Canyon Parents’ Assn., said her group finds the dogs a problem.

“We are not happy with the present situation with Laurel Canyon because no one can use it,” Kohn said. “When you go out to a park and there are numerous large dogs roaming about wild off the leash and you have a small child, there is no way you can use that park.”

Purse talks of a conspiracy among Wachs and others to get rid of the dogs.

“Since January, we had been subjected to a lot of harassment.” she said. “We had a woman come down and park and make very uncomplimentary remarks. Then there were people who would come down and lay a picnic blanket on the grass, in spite of the fact that there were tables, and then a dog comes over and we’d get hit with another letter” to City Hall from disgruntled park users.

The Department of Animal Regulation has started paying regular visits to issue leash-law citations, she said. She said Wachs sent them to make life miserable for the dog owners.

“If he kicks us out, which he seems bent on doing, he can’t have private security because security needs backing,” Purse said. “How is he going to keep peace in that park? The minute we leave, the word will get out and the gangs will be back and the drugs will be back.”

Vendetta Denied

Witzer, Wachs’ deputy, confirmed that patrols of dogcatchers have increased, but she denied that there is a vendetta.

At one time, she said, Wachs considered the alternative of dedicating the park exclusively for dogs, just as some parks are dedicated to activities such as horseback riding and model plane flying.

But the city attorney rejected that idea because it would involve official suspension of the city’s leash law and would expose the city to liability should anyone be injured by a dog, she said.

Witzer said said her hope for reaching a compromise died recently when ParkWatch came up with an alternative plan. The group suggested building the kiddie park at Fryman’s Outlook, a state scenic overlook a short distance away. The state rejected that idea, Witzer said.

Now, the councilman is determined to have the playground, she said.

“We don’t feel putting in a children’s play area would change the nature of the park,” Witzer said.

Although the tide of battle may be turning against the park as Purse likes it, she can still wage a fight.

60 Protesters

Over the weekend, about 60 members of ParkWatch joined her in a protest in the park. They carried signs that said “Save Our Park” and “This House Against Joel Wachs.” And they played with their dogs.

One member of the group chastised another whose dog was running loose. She said it was not a good idea for people to flout the city’s leash law in front of the news media.

“Just get your dog out of here,” she yelled at a man with a leashless dog.

But there were about 30 other dogs running loose at the same time. So she eventually gave up.

A victory, at least for the moment, for the dogs.