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ANAHEIM, Calif. (Sept. 17, 2024) — Anaheim broke ground today on the transformation of two roadways into a gateway promenade to La Palma Park, one of the city’s largest and most iconic parks.
North La Palma Park Way and Swan Street, which run alongside La Palma Park, are set to be turned into a walking-friendly, tree-lined promenade that will serve as an entry to the 21-acre park along Harbor Boulevard in north Anaheim.
Built in the late-1930s with funding from the Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration, La Palma Park is Anaheim’s second-oldest park after nearby Pearson Park and home to Anaheim High School football, the city’s first dog park and an iconic baseball field that once hosted Jackie Robinson.
The promenade is the start of a $20 million, multiyear reinvestment at La Palma Park that will bring much-needed soccer fields, a basketball court, picnic areas, walkways and other renewed community spaces in the next few years.
“This is the start of a loving reinvestment in one of our most historic parks,” Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said. “This initial project will create a gateway to all the great things to come at La Palma Park, with kids playing soccer, families celebrating special events, Friday night lights football and dogs enjoying some off-the-leash time. This renewed park will be Anaheim at its best.”
The promenade project will better the experiences of those walking, driving or riding their bikes to and around La Palma Park.
At the same time, Anaheim Police are leading a concentrated effort to address public safety issues at La Palma Park by targeting drug use and sales and other illegal activity, all while offering help and services to everyone encountered.
And Anaheim’s homeless teams are working to address the tragedy of homelessness around the nearby Riverside (91) Freeway, which has brought spillover impacts to the park.
As part of the promenade project, La Palma Park Way and Swan Street will see more than 200,000 square feet of new roadway paving along with six crosswalks to encourage walkability.
Thirty planters will line the promenade, capturing water and debris to help keep it from entering city storm drains and going to the ocean.
Other improvements include the planting of 48 shade trees and more than 500 drought-tolerant plants along La Palma Parkway and Swan Street.
The trees will provide more shade, a more attractive promenade and a better environment for exercise, play and enjoying La Palma Park.
The landscaping makeover will reduce urban heat from pavement while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing more than 100 tons of carbon over several decades.
The $4 million project will see 15,700 square feet of underutilized roadway lining La Palma Park Way enhanced with planters, rocks and other landscaping.
Tree, shrubs and other landscaping will capture and retain stormwater, helping to replenish the city’s groundwater supply.
A new monument sign at La Palma Park Way and Harbor will welcome visitors, while a mural will be added to the area near Glover Stadium.
“La Palma Park is the heart of north Anaheim in District 3,” said Council Member Natalie Rubalcava, which represents the area including La Palma Park on Anaheim’s City Council. “For many families and nearby businesses, La Palma Park is their park and greenspace. With the promenade project, enhanced public safety and more investment to come, we are restoring La Palma Park as one of our most treasured parks.”
The project, marked by a groundbreaking event Tuesday and funded by a $2.6 million Clean California grant from the California Department of Transportation, includes new waste bins and a littering prevention campaign featuring Andy Anaheim, the city’s mascot.
“Caltrans selected the La Palma Parkway Promenade project to receive the Clean California Local Grant funding for its promise to advance equity and livability in this community,” said Eric Corona, strategic investment planning lead for Caltrans District 12. “This project supports a Caltrans goal of meeting the diverse needs of individuals, so that every person ¾ regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or where they live ¾ benefit equitably from our roads and beautiful public spaces.”
The promenade project and others build on a La Palma Park’s place in Anaheim and national history.
Once the site of an auto scrap yard, the park opened in 1939.
Soon after opening, La Palma Park hosted a Pacific Coast League spring training game between the Seattle Rainiers and Sacramento Senators minor league baseball teams.
The park’s baseball stadium went on to hold 1940 spring training for the Philadelphia Athletics, now the Oakland Athletics, and was the 1946 spring training home of the St. Louis Browns, now the Baltimore Orioles.
Baseball great Joe DiMaggio, better known as “Joltin’ Joe” during his 1940s stint as a New York Yankee, played at La Palma Park with the Santa Ana Air Base team during World War II.
Famously, baseball trailblazer Jackie Robinson filmed parts of “The Jackie Robinson Story” at La Palma Park in 1950.
La Palma Park’s Glover Stadium is named for Richard Glover, an Anaheim High School football coach from 1931 to 1957.
The first football game at Glover Stadium saw Anaheim High face off against Redlands High School in 1956 before a capacity crowd of 9,000. The Anaheim High Colonists still call Glover Stadium their home field today.
Dee Fee Field, the park’s baseball field that adjoins the football stadium, is named for Dee Fee, who worked for the Anaheim Parks Department from 1937 to 1987.
In 2015, Anaheim opened the city’s first dog park at the eastern edge of La Palma Park. The dog park includes a monument of Bruno, an Anaheim Police dog shot in the line of duty in 2014.
La Palma Dog Park is now one of three in Anaheim, along with Olive Hills Dog Park in east Anaheim and Maxwell Dog Park in west Anaheim.
