THE RUDOLPH VALENTINO MONUMENTS: DE LONGPRE PARK

Hollywood's De Longpre Park, a little park just one block south of Sunset Bl, is named after  Paul De Longpre, a paiter who came to California at the turn of the century and became famous paiting flowers. He created a gigantic park full of flowers in the area, which was one of Hollywood's first tourist attractions. For an idea of how that park looked, see the following link.

The park's claim to fame is that it houses one of the most famous public sculptures in Los Angeles, "Aspiration".  a tribute to Rudolph Valentino that was unveiled on May 6, 1930, the 35th anniversary of Valentino's birth.  It is one of the very few public monuments to an film actor in Los Angeles.

The story behind the sculpture as follows. The early death of Valentino in 1926 became the first movie-related media sensation in America. Valentino was a sex symbol, and many women went crazy for him.  Thousands of people tried to witness  the funeral mass in New York, and there was a public debate as to where he would be buried. Although Valentino died an American citizen, Italy wanted the body flown back to his hometown. At that precise moment, Los Angeles' movie community stepped in, arguing that most of Valentino's friends were in California. the place he had made his home.  A petition that he should be buried in Hollywood was signed by people like Charles Chaplin....and they persuaded Valentino's brother to make the decision to have the body flown back to Los Angeles.

Valentino was so popular those days, that there was talk of a gigantic mausoleum to house his remains.  "Aspiration" was created in that context.  That is why it is a statue that seems more at home at a cemetery than a park.  At the same time, from the beginning there were discussions of making an Italian park in Hollywood, which would include some type of statue of Valentino.

By 1930 some of the excitement had died down, and reality set in. Something had to be done to appease Valentino's many fans, but the City did not support a new public space. So De Longpre Park was chosen for a film actor's first public monument in Hollywood. 

 Sometime in the 30s, the monument was placed in the middle of a fountain, but probably the maintenance cost was high, so the fountain was filled up as shown. 

 

 

Many years later, in 1978, some money for another monument was left in the will of a Valentino fan. So a bust was made by sculptor Richard Ellis, this time in the likeness of the actor and placed in a white concrete pedestal.