The Big Names in Politics Aren’t Best for Parks

Brad Sherman may be a freshman congressman, but he’s acting like an old-time pol with his proposal to rename Lake Balboa Park as Anthony C. Beilenson Park.

Why is it politicians love things named after themselves? I’ve always found this an annoying practice with a noticeably dulling effect. And what’s up with the middle initial? Are they afraid of being confused with the other politicians with the same first and last names? Do they really feel that they deserve such immodest tribute?

Twenty-five years ago I worked as public information officer for the L.A. County Parks and Recreation Department. I was a flack for a government agency, yes, but I told myself that I could do a lot of good. Fact is, I loved most of those parks, and they had some great names. Devil’s Punchbowl, for example, sits right on the San Andreas fault. Vasquez Rocks, for the bandit who hid out there, is also visually descriptive. Moreso than, say, Tiburcio J. Vasquez Park.

My favorite name was Puddingstone. The park has a volcanic rock that looks like whipped pudding. But you’ve probably never heard of it because a quarter of a century ago, it was renamed in honor of the county supervisor in whose district it lay.

That supervisor just happened to be on vacation when a colleague proposed renaming Puddingstone Park as Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park. Catchy, isn’t it? Of course, the entire plan was known ahead of time by virtually everybody, with the idea originating from the offices of guess who?

Remember the Pilgrimage Theater near the Hollywood Bowl? It’s an Old Globe sort of place famous for Shakespeare plays and concerts. One day the supervisors renamed it for one of their own, and it became the John Anson Ford Theater.

Will the city rename the Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge? The Sepulveda Reclamation Plant next to it became the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, for not even an elected official, but a city engineer who helped design it.

Why is it when people just do what they’re supposed to be doing it is seen as reason to name the whole place after them? Beilenson no doubt did a lot to get funds to help build the park, but that was his job.

There is much more to this than changing a few signs. We will actually be expected to say, “Hey, everybody, let’s go over to Anthony C. Beilenson Park and take a boat out on Anthony C. Beilenson Lake.” Later, as the darkness falls, the younger relatives will ask me to tell them again the legend of Anthony C. . . . well, you know. At least Balboa was an explorer.

This is not ideological. I supported Beilenson and like his record. I also voted for Sherman. But there should be a law against naming things for officials, especially politicians. But then, who would pass it?

I hope the city Recreation and Parks board votes not to change the name of Lake Balboa Park, but if it does, it would be nice to see Beilenson modestly, gracefully and politely decline.

In writing this, I reviewed an old portfolio with some of my parks department work. On the cover of a copy of Parks & Recreation News was a quotation from Lord Mott: “The very pyramids have forgotten their builders, or to whom they were dedicated. Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great.”