NORTH HOLLYWOOD : LAPD Breaks Ground for New Station

Irene Bokman remembers when the only dirt at 11640 Burbank Blvd. was on the pitcher’s mound in the park’s Little League field.

Now the only thing left is dirt--mounds of it--in a 10-foot-deep crater carved into the former field of dreams.

But the gaping hole in the ground does not bother Bokman. It makes her feel safer, since it will soon be filled by the Los Angeles Police Department’s new North Hollywood station.

“It’s a good thing,” Bokman, 39, said of the station’s construction, which was celebrated Monday at a ground-breaking ceremony. “The field was sitting here empty. It hadn’t been used in years. In fact, I was going to call my city councilman and recommend they do something when they started digging things up.”

City Councilmen Joel Wachs and Richard Alarcon, whose districts are served by the North Hollywood Division, were among those who, along with LAPD Chief Willie Williams, lauded the $15.2-million project.

“We must have new facilities,” Williams told a crowd of about 75 police and community supporters. “This is one of two or three that must go up right away.”

The new 37,340-square-foot facility will be twice the size of the current North Hollywood station, house 234 vehicles, provide closer access to the Hollywood Freeway and be located in the middle of the division’s patrol area, police said.

“We will be more centrally located, so we will be able to respond quicker,” said North Hollywood Patrol Capt. Robert McNamara. “I think we will be more in touch with the community. And the facility will also facilitate the modernization of our computers.”

The project, whose construction actually began last month, is expected to be completed by October, 1996. When finished, it will replace the LAPD’s second-oldest station at 11480 Tiara St. Opened in 1958, the current station has become outdated and too crowded for the division’s 210 officers.

“We have been out of space for a very, very long time,” McNamara said. “We have had to use some of the jail cells for interviews and storing of records.”

The current North Hollywood Station on Tiara Street will be turned over to the city Department of Parks and Recreation, which owned the old park at 11640 Burbank Blvd. The two agencies simply swapped land, McNamara said.

The new North Hollywood station is the first of three replacement stations to be constructed with cash from Proposition 2, a bond fund approved by voters in April, 1989.

Two other stations, the 77th Street and Newton divisions in Los Angeles, will be torn down and rebuilt on the same sites beginning in the next several months.

Meanwhile, North Hollywood Capt. Richard Wahler and the officers under his command will just be happy monitoring their special hole in the ground.

“You’d be surprised at how excited we can get seeing all this heavy equipment digging dirt,” Wahler said.