William Brien, until recently the mayor of Beverly Hills, was asked by author Jeryl Brunner about his favorite place in Los Angeles.
Brien picked the Beverly Gardens Park, which he said reminds him of his childhood, when there was a lily pond in front of the Beverly Hills sign:
The lily pond was something that was unbelievable. You had a beautiful lily pond with lily pads, fish, frogs. It was a really fun place to go hang out with my family and my brothers and sister. We used to go in to the cactus park on most weekends and there were places you could walk through the cactus garden, where you could crawl under some cacti.
Brien also says in his piece that as he grew older, he'd walk or jog through the park, and came to realize what a 'tranquil, peaceful place it was, in the middle of a busy urban city."
Brien also refers to the city's efforts to restore the park in the item:
We're going to bring back the lily pond. We're going to restore the cactus park...And we're going to redo the fountains and bring back the eighty different water elements on the Electric Fountain and put some tender loving care on the fountain on the east side of Doheny.
Look for more about that on the site shortly.
Brien's answer is included in Jeryl Brunner's new book, "My City, My Los Angeles: Famous People Share Their Favorite Places," published by Globe Pequot Press.
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