• Management Team and Board of Directors
• Builders and Contractors

In October 2006, the Friends of La Laguna formed in response to the city of San Gabriel's announced demolition of the Laguna de San Gabriel, affectionately known as "dinosaur park", located in Vincent Lugo Park. We held rallies and a petition drive, collecting more than 2,500 signatures on paper and via the internet. Our efforts caught the attention of local media and were featured on KCET's program "Life and Times" and NPR's morning show "Day to Day". In January 2007, we entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with city to preserve and protect the Laguna.

However, the primary obligation for the restoration and preservation of "Dinosaur Park" rests with the Friends of La Laguna. Since our efforts began, we have become a non-profit and received a generous grant from the Annenberg Foundation which has enabled us to start some much needed assessments of the park. Nevertheless, the road to a well-restored and preserved Laguna is long and we are looking for more partners.

Historic Nomination: This is the first step that FoLL is undertaking in our efforts to protect "Dinosaur Park". We hope to make a successful nomination to the State Register of Historic Places, which would "landmark" Dinosaur Park and make it eligible for protection as a historic and cultural resource. This is important because it would formally articulate the value that the park holds for our community.

Assessments: Anyone who has spent time at "Dinosaur Park" recently is aware that the various play-sculptures are in need of repair. Before we can begin the restoration, we need to assess the pieces for emergency stabilization and to develop a plan for their rehabilitation and maintenance. This is work is being done with an eye to future generations and leaving a clearly documented plan for the continued preservation of the pieces. We have submitted a grant application to the California Cultural and Historic Endowment to help us meet this goal.

Restoration: We have not gotten to this phase of the work, but FoLL anticipates that we will need to raise between $300,000 and $500,000 to completely restore the Laguna and to make the pieces more accessible to park visitors. This will hopefully include placing foam transit pieces between the sculptures so that people with restricted mobility might be able to move in between the structures. We partner with the city in our concern for safety and accessibility, but we are advocates for the preservation and restoration of the Laguna.

Preservation: Playgrounds like the Laguna are an increasingly rare feature of city landscapes. We felt that the Laguna de San Gabriel, created by Benjamin Dominguez in 1965 is a rare treasure to our community. We are dedicated to protecting this resource and hope that you will join us in being... a friend of la laguna!