Our 13th Annual day of Community Service

On L.A. Works Day thousands of volunteers representing Los Angeles' rich cultural mosaic joined together for a one day all-out community service blitz. We started our morning in California Plaza with rousing calisthenics and then were bussed off to make a difference at six different community sites! Volunteers transformed schools, a fire station training center, a cultural art center, and historic Angel's Flight. Here's a peek at the day:

Angels Flight Railway - Downtown L.A.

Volunteers kicked-off the restoration of Angels Flight Railway, one of Los Angeles' most treasured historic landmarks. The 'shortest railway in the world' rises from Hill Street to our L.A. Works Day central site at California Plaza. Skilled painters from the Painters' Union painted the station house, and regular volunteers painted railings, fences and freshened up the surrounding area.

Hollenbeck Middle School - Boyle Heights

Hollenbeck Middle School is one of the oldest active campuses in the city. Situated on a hilltop, it is a focal point, as well as a safe haven, for the surrounding communities. Our project at Hollenbeck was part of L.A. Works' Inner-City Community Extreme Make-Over Program. Over a thousand volunteers completely transformed the campus - repainting most of the facilities, and installing a new landscaping design which won first place in a UCLA Graduate School of Landscape Architecture competition.

L.A. Fire Department's Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center -
Elysian Park

The Academy is another of L.A.'s historic landmarks housed in the old 1934 Naval and Marine Recruiting Center in Elysian Park. Named for Frank Hotchkin, a fire fighter who lost his life fighting a fire that threatened to destroy this building in 1980, the Academy is also the site of L.A.'s 9/11 Memorial. Volunteers begin the first step in another of our 'extreme make-overs' prepping, painting and planting at the site.

Plaza De La Raza - Lincoln Park

Volunteers continued the ongoing transformation of Plaza de la Raza, L.A.'s premier Chicano performing and visual arts community education center. In 2004, we began an extreme make-over with employees of Deloitte who painted La Plaza with 17 different colors inspired by the palette of Frida Kahlo and designed by renowned Chicano artist, Frank Romero.

Ann St Elementary School - Lincoln Heights

Volunteers added a fresh coat of paint on classrooms and decorated the campus with colorful murals throughout. Volunteers also entertained and educated neighborhood children with interactive activities including arts and crafts, kite building, playing on Fire Trucks, and creating theatre under the guidance of the Espresso Theater.

Sunrise Elementary School - East Los Angeles

Volunteers put the finishing touches on another L.A. Works campus make-over that began the previous week as part of Deloitte Impact Day 2005. The entire campus has been transformed into a colorful muralscape, with bright colors and animation everywhere the eye can see!