Vintage Photo Friday

Article about the NEW Recreation Center @Roxbury Park, 1958

This time of year makes me melancholy.  I live in approximately the same location where I grew up.  Our house is about 2 miles from my childhood home.  A big part of my life when I was a child was being able to play in Roxbury Park, on the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills.  Roxbury Park was built around 1927-28 in the bean fields that bordered Tenth St. and Roxbury Drive. Tenth Street was what Olympic Boulevard was called before the 1932 Olympics. Also, before the 1932 Olympics, Tenth Street stopped at 20th Century Fox Studios and picked up west of the Studio as Country Club Drive. Later, the Studio added a bridge over Olympic Boulevard to their north lot (now Century City). After 1941 the park was renamed Roxbury Memorial Park to honor Beverly Hills residents who died in military battle.

BH Rec. Center, built 1958

The Roxbury Recreation Center where I spent many hours was built in 1958.  The architects were George Allison and Ulysses Rible.  The contemporary mid-20th century design was sleek, beautiful and efficient.  There were plans in 2011 to completely remodel my beloved Recreation Center.  Many ideas were talked about, including building a multi-story building with a gymnasium, party rooms and more.

The new and improved Rec Center @Roxbury Park, 2014

RTK Architects (2014)

I'm happy to say that these plans were scaled back.  The result is a lovely new building with small meeting rooms, a kitchen, snack and card room, exercise studio suitable for dance classes, a small library, a huge multi-purpose room, a comfortably furnished lobby with views of the park and a lovely outdoor seating area.  The new building is very reminiscent of the 1958 Recreation Center in scale and style.

View of the Rec Center Lobby from the Park, 2014

Yes, things change, but sometimes for the best.

Ken and Ellen Bloom @ Roxbury Park, 1955