Local groups requested that the name be changed to commemorate Marquis de Lafayette, a military officer of the American Revolutionary War.

It was expanded by architect Stephen Kanner, whose firm improved the classrooms, community rooms, and gymnasium.

These have been featured in popular media, such as the 1992 sports comedy, White Men Can't Jump, during which 20th Century Fox performed renovation to the facilities.

[4] The park's vicinity has seen the construction of numerous architecturally significant buildings of which several are listed in the National Register of Historic Places: the Sheraton Town-House, Felipe de Neve Branch Library, and Bullocks Wilshire, all built in 1929.

It has since moved east into a newly constructed facility at 1401 West 6th Street, the site of the former emergency receiving hospital.