A week after the November 11 Armistice brought World War I to an end, the main public square, which had been known as Central Park since 1894 was renamed in honor of General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in France. These days, Pershing Square has only a few patches of greenery, but back then, it was offered a calm and shady respite from the L.A. sun and a lovely fountain to splash in as we can see from this 1918 bird’s-eye view.
The auto-colorizer did a pretty good job of bringing this image to life.
A satellite image of Pershing Square in January 2020.
Nice crayon program to give it life. Of course, now, General Pershing will be very pleased to see the square looking like France in 1918 or Berlin by 1945!
Is that city run by a committee?
It’s pretty bleak these days, so I’m guessing it is, Al.
I can remember some greenery in the square when I was in high school — more than there is now, but way less than there was then. It would have been really nice to have it kept just as a green respite.
Wow! The current Pershing Square is even more hideous from above than it is on the ground, if that’s possible. I say make it a dog park.
Believe Pershing Square copied San Francisco’s Union Square in building a multi-story underground parking garage. Which would negate the large trees shown… but still doesn’t explain its hideous present form – Just Googled SF’s Union Square & even that isn’t nearly as “green” as it was in my childhood, but at least it still has perimeter trees around its edge.
Yes, the reason for Pershing Square’s bleakness is the underground parking structure. It’s very central and very handy but the city lost a valuable green-space.