It’s Deja Vu for Memory Garden

Natalie Navarette enjoyed digging, shoveling and watering the soft soil at Memory Garden. She spent several years helping bring the flowers and trees back to life.

She and her husband, Felix, spent nearly every Saturday on their designated plot of land at Brand Park, pulling weeds and joking with other volunteers from Friends of the Memory Garden.

When Natalie suffered a heart attack last month, she went to the hospital and learned she also had cancer. The disease claimed her life May 13 at the age of 71.

“I wish she was here to see what she helped create,” Arleta resident Felix Navarette said Sunday about his wife of 40 years. “She was so dedicated to helping out. This project brought joy to her.”

The Navarettes were just one couple among the hundreds of volunteers who worked to restore Memory Garden after years of neglect. Although it sits in the shadow of Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana, Memory Garden had become a distant memory as weeds took root in what was once a lush urban oasis.

The sun shone Sunday as a crowd of about 50 gathered for a garden rededication ceremony and Festival of Flowers at Brand Park, located on San Fernando Mission Boulevard between the San Diego and Golden State freeways.

The garden’s restoration signaled the completion of the first phase in a three-part plan to improve Brand Park. The $5,000 garden project was paid for with funds from Proposition K, the park tax measure approved by city voters in 1996.

Phase II of the project began in early May with the remodeling of the park’s restrooms, scheduled for completion by fall. The third phase includes building a $500,000 indoor plaza for community events, which should be completed by the end of summer 2000, said state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar).

So far, about $450,000 in state funds has been earmarked for the project’s final phase, according to state Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), another supporter of the garden who attended Sunday’s ceremony.

“This community has embraced the park and dug their hands into the soil to get this project done,” Alarcon said as he sampled a juicy grapefruit picked from a tree in the garden.

The three-year restoration project has been a collaborative effort between the city parks department and a group of dedicated volunteers that Alarcon supported from the beginning. Alarcon initiated the work during his tenure as a Los Angeles councilman; he established the Friends of Memory Garden volunteer group.

For years, the garden had languished. Weeds grew taller than the bushes. Trees and flowers were dying.

In 1996, volunteers, local schools and community groups finally stepped in and pruned trees, repaved sidewalks, covered graffiti, refurbished picnic areas and restored columns that once supported overhead vines.

“This was a facility that really needed some tender loving care, and the community did a great job helping out,” said Leroy Chase, vice president of the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission. “We will make sure it’s maintained this time around.”

San Fernando Mission’s Msgr. Francis Weber said a prayer for the garden and sprinkled holy water on the crowd during the rededication ceremony. Then he sprinkled holy water on Alarcon during the blessing.

“You need some, too,” Weber told the politician.

Followed by several people from the community, Weber slowly walked through the garden and sprinkled all the new flowers. Ten young members of Mariachi Cobras de Jalisco were close behind the procession, playing “Cielito Lindo” (“Pretty Little Sky”) and other favorites.

“I come here with my children after school sometimes,” said Guadalupe Martinez of San Fernando. “It’s very beautiful and very historic. I’m happy that they fixed it up.”