Loma Alta Park in Altadena reopened Saturday with new features and revamped grounds after the popular local gathering place was damaged in the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department announced.
Touted as a “super park,” Loma Alta now has refurbished and enhanced areas along with expanded services and programs, officials said.
“Loma Alta Park is a vital gathering place where our community can come together, especially in times of healing,” Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said in a statement. “After the trauma of the Eaton Fire, having a space to reconnect, rebuild relationships, and support one another is incredibly important.”
Loma Alta is the first county park to reopen following the deadly wildfires in January, officials said. The new features and services aim to fill gaps resulting from the loss of other parks and public places that were in the Eaton Fire’s destructive path.
After the fire destroyed Altadena’s senior center, LA County Parks and the county Department of Aging and Disabilities created a satellite senior center at Loma Alta Park.
The Altadena Library District will now host a satellite library at Loma Alta Park with activities and events for children, families and seniors.
The county Public Health and Parks departments will provide 100 after-school slots for children ages 5-12. During the summer the program will run all day. Kids 3- or 4 years old can participate in the park’s Tiny Tots program.
The Eaton Fire caused the loss of 2,802 “licensed spaces” for early childhood education, destroyed 34 early childhood education licensed facilities and damaged four, according to LA County Parks.
The new Our SPOT Teen Center by the county health department will offer services to youth ages 12-18 daily.
The Department of Economic Opportunity and parks personnel will provide jobs for 15 youths from Altadena via the Youth@Work program. County funding also assisted with hiring 20 child care workers whose jobs or businesses were displaced by the fire.
Clinicians from the Department of Mental Health will now be stationed at the park to provide mental health services to Altadena residents.
The Loma Alta Park pool was reglazed and now ready for summer activities.
And the Altadena Rotary Club will relocated the group’s annual summer concert series to Loma Alta. The club regularly hosted the concerts at Farnsworth Park, which suffered extensive fire damage and was closed. Compete dates and times for the concert series are listed online in the club’s May 8 newsletter.
“Parks like Loma Alta help restore not only our physical surroundings, but our sense of belonging,” Barger said. “Social connection is essential to recovery, and this reopening is a meaningful step forward for Altadena.”
LA County Parks Director Norma García-González noted the more than 2,000 volunteers who helped refurbish the fire-ravaged park.
“Loma Alta Park was fortunate that none of its buildings burned, which allowed us to move quickly to meet this community need, and now it is ready to better serve Altadena with new and expanded services and facility improvements,” García-González said. “The community asked for the park to reopen, and knew we needed to meet the moment. Here we are, as promised, just two months later.”
With donations from local nonprofit Tree People, the Los Angeles Conservation Corp and nearly a dozen nurseries in the San Gabriel Valley, volunteers from throughout the county planted 44 trees, 32 tree seedlings, 818 plants and spread 50,000 square feet of mulch, officials said. Volunteers also painted murals in the park in addition to pieces by local artists Victor Ving and his Greetings Tour team, Eric Junker, Ryan Burch and Katie Chrishanthi Sunderalingam.
To inaugurate the rejuvenated and expanded park, county officials hosted several events Saturday, including a children’s play date with Bob Baker’s Marionette Theater, ribbon cutting for the new playground with special guests Mickey and Minnie Mouse, grand opening ceremony for the Dodgers Dreamfields, Jr. Clippers basketball clinic on the park’s new Clippers Court, a picnic with local restaurants providing a “Taste of Altadena,” pool and swimming activities and a live concert featuring Ledbetter Blues and DJ Blac House.
The total cost of the park renovation was not immediately available. Officials provided these funding highlights:
- FireAid, the January 30 benefit concert, contributed $2.4 million to help rebuild the park’s two fire-damaged playgrounds. “The two new playgrounds from Landscape Structures, with the impressive 3-story play structure that is completely ADA accessible, are the very first structures of its kind anywhere,” according to the Parks and Recreation Department.
- Barger’s office funded Alta Chat, a new meeting place at Loma Alta Park serving as for a community hub. “This new space features Adirondack chairs to inspire a much-needed lost neighborhood connection,” officials said.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation funded two Dodgers Dreamfields, which are the only baseball fields in Altadena, according to the county.
- The LA Clippers Foundation funded the renovation of the park’s gymnasium and sport courts and will offer the Jr. Clippers Basketball Program for Altadena youth and partnering with Pechanga Resort & Casino, provided dollars for a new computer lab and technology center. The new tech hub will provide a Wi-Fi for the park and computer services for teens and seniors, officials said.
More information on Loma Alta Park is online at parks.lacounty.gov/loma-alta-park.
