Catfish in Baldwin Hills : This Park Is Jumping

Twelve-year-old Jack Kwiatek and his pal, Martin Frackiewicz, 13, went fishing Friday in the dry, brown Baldwin Hills as thousands of automobiles zipped over the pass on La Cienega Boulevard and oil well pumps bobbed nearby.

Jack, who lives in Culver City, used worms and thought the new fishing lakes at the Baldwin Hills State Recreation Area were “nice.”

Martin, a Westchester resident, favored crawfish and found the lakes “interesting.”

Scores of others, ranging in age from children to the elderly, joined Jack and Martin in angling for 600 pounds of channel catfish that St. Anthony Fish Farm of Mecca dumped into the fishing holes after ceremonies dedicating Phase II of the park.

The park, on the east side of La Cienega between Rodeo Road and Stocker Street, now covers 318 acres--83 of them fully developed at a cost of $27 million. As the Baldwin Hills oil field pumps give out, planners expect to acquire another 1,000 acres or so and turn the entire complex into the fifth-largest urban park in the United States.

Speakers at Friday’s dedication focused on the urban aspect of the recreational area, where city-bound residents can enjoy a mountain-like stream and fishing lakes.

It was a big day for Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who told listeners he felt “like a million dollars.” Hahn is credited with suggesting the park one day in 1968, while driving down La Cienega and observing the area. Since then, he has worked with federal, state and local officials to see it become reality.

Jim Park, a county Department of Parks and Recreation planner who is helping develop the facility, said Friday that it is not intended to be intensely used. There are no baseball diamonds, for example.

“We would like to keep it as a quiet place--a little sanctuary in the city,” he said.

Fishing is one of those low-intensity activities fitting the pattern. To provide it, about a million gallons of water is circulated by pumps from a tank into a pond, down a stream, into a half-acre fishing area, then over a small dam to a three-acre lake.

The fishing areas will be stocked three or four times a year with catfish and possibly bluegills, Park said.

Doug Pratt, an Inglewood resident, attended Friday’s dedication. He intended to talk with Hahn about establishing an archery tournament range in a section of the park within a year or so.

“I think the park is wonderful,” said 75-year-old William Bell of Los Angeles. “I love to fish. I plan to come back here as often as I can. At least we know the fish are in there, but they won’t bite today.”

Willie Clay, a Los Angeles resident, said he thinks the park is the “greatest thing to happen to this county. It’s near people’s homes.”

Clarence Beauford and his wife, Cynthia, of Inglewood, brought their eight children to the park to fish.

“I love fishing, and my family loves fishing,” Beauford said.

“With a family as big as ours, we hope we can catch some fish,” his wife added.