So Many Parks, So Little Summer...

Kicking it at South Pasadena parks...

When Jon and I moved to South Pas 8 1/2 years ago, our daughter -- who many longtime readers still think of as Little Bit -- was only 2.  That meant many, many, MANY sunkissed afternoons spent in local parks.  

Of all the choices in South Pas -- from the newish playscapes at Lower Arroyo to the vast, green goodness of Garfield -- I was partial to Eddie Park.  Little Bit is 11 now,  and totally over "the park with the outdoor fireplace and the good slide," but occasionally she will still appease her mom and go there to kick around a soccer ball.  (Before wanting to head home to play Minecraft.  Tweens!)

Eddie Park is a quaint, quiet Marengo neighborhood park with a stretch of grass just right for tossing the frisbee or having a picnic.  It rests on the lawn of an elegant, moody old house that looks like it should be inhabited by the ghosts of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.  Go there for a charming little hideaway picnic or, if you have a 2 year old, a good slide.

For a peek at all the other parks in South Pasadena, check out my video above.

Want to leave a comment? Head on over to the new Glimpses of South Pasadena Forum and start a conversation.

Caution: Here Be Dragons

Did you know that Pasadena has a park made especially for little pirates? Last April, the city opened Reese's Retreat at Brookside Park. (Walk east from the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center and you'll find it tucked behind the pools.) Reese's Retreat is the region's first universally accessible playground for kids of all ages and abilities -- and it's so cool that the even the most exhausted parent will be tempted to get off the park bench and join in the fun.

The entire setting resembles a pirate ship, complete with bells that clang and wheels that turn and even a plank for the most scurrilous little scallywags to walk. There are multiple levels to explore either by climbing or by using ramps. The setting offers kids of all physical abilities a safe place to scramble around. Even the soft, rubberized ocean floor is wheelchair-friendly.

The design is beautiful, blending into the landscape both playfully and artfully with lots of natural elements and neutral colors. The playground equipment offers the standard variety of things to climb up and slide down, but it also encourages exercise of the imagination with enough high seas props to inspire your inner Jack Sparrow. (Honestly, try not to bust out a hardy "Arrrrrr!" while pretending to hoist one of the ship's sails.) In a word: wonderful.

It all makes me wonder why South Pasadena can't create something similar in Lower Arroyo Seco Park? We certainly have the right setting. For four years I've driven by our city's forgotten park and wished that the gorgeous space could be put to better use. Garfield Park and Orange Grove Park have lovely play areas with safe, charming equipment while Arroyo Seco Park looks like a forgotten leftover from The Wonder Years.

I know there is a certain hipster fascination with rusting jungle gyms from the 1960s, but wouldn't it be more fun to have a safe playscape that local kids (and their parents) could actually enjoy? Not to mention the fact that our large, isolated park area attracts a certain element that really should walk the plank...

I guess it would take a bit of pirate treasure to make it happen, huh?

Tennis, Anyone?

I was wandering around the baseball fields at Arroyo Park the other day. While I was taking pictures of these cool shadows, a kid was playing catch with his grandfather. Their conversation went something like this:

"You've got to throw it harder!" The grandfather said.

"I don't want to practice anymore!" The kid said.

"You're going to keep practicing and that's all there is to it!"

"I'd rather ride my bike!"

"When I was your age, I didn't even have a bike!"

"Yeah," the kid said, "that's probably why you're so mean now!"

The grandfather started laughing. The kid joined in.

"Well," the grandfather said, "you certainly know how to throw a fast ball ... with that smart-aleck mouth of yours."

"If I do," the kid said, "I get it from your side of the family."

I can't help but think with all that volleying, they picked the wrong sport.

Baseball Blogging

Baseball fans, if you're not reading Sully Baseball -- the witty and informative blog of South Pasadena's own Paul Francis Sullivan -- you're missing out on some of the most thoughtful (and often hilarious) commentary about America's favorite pastime. Sully is an Emmy nominated TV producer, filmmaker, comedian and Red Sox fan whose savant-like knowledge of baseball would be frightening if it weren't so much fun. Not only does he write at length about all things related to baseball, he makes wonderful videos, too. This is one of my favorites.

South Pasadena has always had a fascination with baseball. Thousands of innings of Little League ball have been played across the fields of Lower Arroyo Park alone. But back in 1925, South Pasadena caught World Series fever. Mission Street merchants built an elaborate platform on the Alexander Building at the corner of Mission and Meridian for the sole purpose of announcing the games in real time. Pasadena Star News donated a telegraph operator who relayed the action directly from the ball park. An announcer on the platform gave running play-by-play commentary as a scorekeeper marked a chalkboard. Incidentally, the Pirates beat the Senators 4-3 in that series, making the Pirates the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit during a Fall Classic. I'll bet Sully didn't know that story.

Then again, I'll bet he did.

Check out Sully Baseball right here.

(I continue with my week of iPhone camera shots. This one was taken with the Retro Camera app, using the Fudge Camera setting.)

Wait... where'd it go?!

I swear there was a rabbit right there when I pointed the camera.

The Play's the Thing

Arroyo Seco Park is one of South Pasadena's tucked-away treasures. It spans 19.9 acres of parkland and includes soccer fields, baseball diamonds, horse and hiking trails, picnic tables, barbecues, undeveloped wooded areas and a flood channel. It's a quiet, breezy getaway curving along the Arroyo Seco with the skate park, racquet center and wonderfully retro golf course on one end and San Pascual Stables on the other. You'll even find a tiny, underused river rock amphitheater behind one of the baseball diamonds. (Why underused, you ask? Well, although the stone stage begs for a Hamlet soliloquy, the poison oak warning signs behind it are a bit of a buzz kill...) All in all, this is a beautiful oasis ideal for taking a jog, kicking a ball or just stretching out under one of those heritage maple trees.

But seriously, what's up with the playground equipment?!

Garfield Park and Orange Grove Park have lovely, well-maintained playscapes that are not only safe for little exploring hands but challenging for little developing minds. By contrast, Arroyo Seco Park has a few tired swings, a jungle gym that makes you hope your tetanus shots are up to date and a slide that is to playground equipment what Charlie Brown's Christmas tree was to holiday decorations. Come on, South Pas! Who do I have to bug to make this playground fun for the preschoolers and worthy of the magnificent surroundings?

Rash Decisions

On my 24th birthday my roommate organized a picnic with a big group of friends. It was somewhere in the Hollywood hills near Laurel Canyon. Or maybe it was off a trail somewhere near Patrick's Roadhouse up PCH. I forget. But I do remember the many bottles of cheap Chianti from Trader Joes and someone's bright idea to gather wildflowers from the pretty meadow. Gathering turned into drunken frolicking with attempts at weaving daisy chains and making leaf pile angels. The Smiths/Cure/Depeche Mode mix tape on the boom box was turned off in favor of a group rendition of Age of Aquarius, complete with choreography. We were modern day wood nymphs! We were one with nature! We were ... good lord ... covered in welts.

If only there had been signs.

Hoofing It

With two local stables (and a little girl who squeals like Christmas morning every time she sees a scene like this one) it's easy to envision a horse in my family's future. While nearby rush hour drivers fight freeway squall, here a few riders meander along the Arroyo with a peaceful clip-clop. Say what you will about Los Angeles and its car culture. In this neck of the woods the horses get the right of way.

Whatchamacallit

I'm not sure what it's called. I'm not even sure exactly what it does. But I'm so glad that it's painted all those happy colors...

Infinite Possibilities

Today, let's all celebrate the birthday of a woman who has always taught me to reach for the sky and never look down. (Well, except when climbing palm trees.) Happy, happy, HAPPY Birthday Dixie Jane!

This is for you, Mom!
And this, too.
(And I couldn't forget this.)

Kind Art

I've featured this mural before. It was painted by girl scouts many years ago and still brightens the small tunnel under the overpass near lower Arroyo Park. "It is not enough to give signals," Enzo Cucchi once said about art. "Things can only ever last if they have functioned as signs."

Things that go bump in the night...

A baseball diamond is cheerful and friendly in the daylight... but just look how spooky it is in the wee small hours, behind the silhouettes of all those trees. Lower Arroyo Park seems desolate and dreamlike late at night. (Can't you envision a goblin hiding back there behind one of those trees?)

South Pasadena will have quite a few goblins and ghouls prowling its streets tonight, in search of all things chocolate and caramel. Our neighbors told us that El Centro alone got over 700 trick-or-treaters last year. Even if you subtract for hyperbole, given all the kids who live in South Pas I have a feeling we're gonna see a lot of little monsters around here as soon as the sun goes down...