By Charly SHELTON

The park at the corner of New York and Honolulu avenues is a favorite among residents of the Crescenta Valley. When it was founded in 1925, it was known as La Crescenta Picnic Grounds. Some upgrades were made over the years including the addition of a stage, dance floor, parking area and kitchen. In 1934 it was rededicated and named for German President Paul von Hindenburg with a five-foot bust of Hindenburg installed at the back of the park.

In 1958, the park was sold to the county and became part of the already established Crescenta Valley Park. In 1992 the area was rededicated and renamed to Hindenburg Park.

“The park was redesignated by the county board of supervisors in 1992, and then a Boy Scout put up a little sign. People said, ‘Nobody can see that from the street, so let’s put up a bigger sign,’” said Hans Eberhard, national chairman of the Tricentennial Foundation and author of “The History of German-Americans in Early Los Angeles City and County.”

The new sign welcoming guests to Hindenburg Park was installed last week at the corner facing the street. It reads “Willkommen zum Hindenburg Park, The Historic German Section of Crescenta Valley Park.” The sign, which has been a project the Tricentennial Foundation has been working on since February 2015, was funded entirely by the Foundation, which worked closely with the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and the Parks Dept.

“We’re a foundation, you know, we have funds,” Eberhard said. “We do our annual fundraising and then whatever projects we decide to do comes out of the [general fund].”

Hindenburg Park was the site of the first Oktoberfest celebration in Southern California and remains a German heritage cultural site for German-Americans.

  Charly Shelton