MacArthur Park - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

  • MacArthur Park is famous for the song named after it, written by Jimmy Webb and first performed by Richard Harris in 1968.
  • MacArthur Park/Westlake Park and its boats figure prominently as the scene of a murder in the 1949 film noir Killer Bait (AKA Too Late for Tears) with Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea and Arthur Kennedy.
  • MacArthur Park is featured in the 2008 video game, Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
  • In the Simpsons episode "A Fish Called Selma", Troy McClure's agent, voiced by Jeff Goldblum, is named "MacArthur Parker."
  • The MacArthur Park bandshell was painted by local artists and graffiti artists under the direction of Otis Parsons. Some of the artists involved were: Robert Williams, Skill, John "Zender" Estrada, Hector "Hex" Rios, Geo, Exit, Trip, Hate Prime, Relic, Galo "MAKE" Canote, RickOne and others. Various Dates. Some of the artwork was featured in the book Spray Can Art by Henry Chalfant and Jim Prigoff
  • The park was the setting for Joseph Wambaugh's novel The Choirboys.
  • MacArthur Park was featured in the 1997 film Volcano, as well as the 2005 film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
  • MacArthur Park was also featured in the 2001 Sundance film MacArthur Park.
  • In one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Carlton Banks decides to take a trip to MacArthur Park after dark in an attempt to win a bet and prove to Will that he can "make it" in Compton, California.
  • In the horror novel World War Z, it is said that MacArthur Park is being used as a potato farm.
  • Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park" is referenced in the Michelle Shocked song "Come a Long Way": "I heard the screams of the dying dark / Through the sweet green icing of MacArthur Park."
  • The song "Leave It" by the progressive rock group Yes, from the album 90125, includes the line "MacArthur Park in the driving snow".
  • In the Gym Class Heroes music video for Cupid's Chokehold (the As Cruel as School Children version) directed by Alan Ferguson, Travis McCoy and factitious girlfriend Katy Perry meet in MacArthur Park along with dancing cupids
  • In the movie Training Day, Jake stops two drug addicts from raping a 14 year old girl near MacArthur Park.
  • Rob Dyrdek's MTV show Rob & Big featured MacArthur park in an episode where Rob broke two skateboarding world records bringing his total that day to a total of 21 separate skateboarding world records. (305 - Guinness)
  • The song "Lazy Days" by the pop group Shwayze, from the album Shwayze, mentions "walkin' through MacArthur Park."
  • In the film Havoc, Allison meets Hector in MacArthur Park the afternoon before she is arrested.
  • In the film Money Talks, Chris Tucker's character named Franklin Hatchet goes to a nightspot looking for someone named Aaron. A doorman opens and Franklin proceeds to explain how he knows Aaron. "Tell him I was there when he shot Baby Bro at MacArthur Park."
  • On the television show The Shield, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) instructs a Salvadoran gangster Guardo Lima (Luis Antonio Ramos) to place $50,000 in a trash can by the lake.
  • MacArthur Park also appeared in the Numb3rs episode "Hangman" (season 6, episode 1).
  • MacArthur Park is featured in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire.
  • MacArthur Park is featured in the 2011 FX series American Horror Story.
  • In the 1987 sci-fi thriller The Hidden, a sociopathic alien that can possess human bodies leads the Los Angeles Police Department on a high-speed car chase through MacArthur Park.

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