Amplified Sound OKd for Frederick Lang Memorial

Anticipating a large crowd at Sunday’s memorial for Frederick M. Lang, well-known environmentalist and landscape architect, the City Council took the unusual step Tuesday night of granting organizers permission to use amplified sound for the service.

The council also accepted the donation of a tree from Lang’s family and friends. The Torrey pine will be planted at Frederick M. Lang Park, which was named for the architect in 1991 and will be the site of the memorial service.

The use of amplified sound is prohibited in Laguna Beach city parks, but the council occasionally grants special exemptions. In this case, Mayor Kathleen Blackburn asked that the permit be granted because the service is “a singular occasion that deserves city support.”

Later Tuesday night, former Councilwoman Ann Christoph, who landed her first job as a landscape architect with Lang 25 years ago, reminisced about her mentor, who died last month at age 81.

“He had this very personal understanding of plants, what they grew with and how they grew naturally and the whole compendium of organisms that are a part of a plant’s life,” she said.

An advocate for the preservation of open space and the native species of chaparral, Lang received the lifetime achievement award from the Laguna Beach Guild in 1993.

Besides running a business from his home in Laguna Beach, he taught landscape architecture at UC Irvine and Cal Poly Pomona. Sunday’s service will begin at 4 p.m.