BEVERLY HILLS—On Tuesday, April 5 Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch and the Friends of Beverly Gardens Park attended the ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony while the newly restored Electric Fountain at Beverly Gardens Park was unveiled. Hundreds arrived for the ceremony and the Beverly Hills High School Marching Band provided music.
Residents of Beverly Hills, city and civic leaders spoke about the historical and cultural significance of the Electric Fountain and the entirety of the park. The designer for the restoration of the fountain was Ralph Carlin Flewelling and atop the fountain is a statue of a Tongva Native American tribe member designed by Robert Merrell Gage. The statue is kneeling and is symbolic of an Indian rain prayer that is meant to pay homage to the area’s early inhabitants.
Mayor Mirisch, who wanted to commemorate the fountain, and assure the public that the city of Beverly Hills still holds water conservation as a priority, made the following statement at the ceremony: “The City of Beverly Hills is honored to celebrate the dedication of the restored Electric Fountain which is brought back to its full beauty and glory and is one of the City’s most treasured landmarks. I want to emphasize that while our Electric Fountain is a water feature, the City of Beverly Hills maintains its dedication to water conservation and filled the fountain using water trucked in from the Cabrio Reservoir area. The fountain uses recirculated water to operate so we can continue to admire it in its full glory featuring an eight-minute water show timed to lights.”
The Electric Fountain restoration is part of a bigger plan to restore the entirety of the Beverly Gardens Park. The park is known for the 40 foot tall Beverly Hills sign and its lily pond, which was restored in 2014. The Electric Fountain was a gift from actor Harold Lloyd’s mother with the assistance of the Women’s Club of Beverly Hills and was originally installed in 1931 for $22,000. The restoration project cost $1.5 million and the city of Beverly Hills matched funds raised by the FOBGP.
“We will continue to restore and maintain our treasured landmarks for future generations so they can appreciate the vision of our forefathers and understand the historical and cultural significances of times past,” said Mayor Mirisch.
