Last week, community leaders celebrated the reopening of a greatly improved Elysian Valley Gateway Park - the earliest in a series of naturalized L.A. River pocket parks. The small parks helped to welcome people to the neglected river, setting the stage for additional revitalization.
The park, located along the L.A. River walk/bike path at the end of Knox Avenue, originally opened in 1995. It was the first of many new river parks that resulted from the early river advocacy led by nonprofits, including Friends of the L.A. River and North East Trees.
The site was a residential lot where apparently the home had been damaged in fire, then became a nuisance. The state's Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority purchased the site. They kept a couple of existing trees, planted native trees, added paths, a sign, a small grassy area, and access to the river. Neighborhood residents had long accessed the river via unofficial entry points, but now they had an additional official one: a modest gap in a chain-link fence.
The Elysian Valley section of the L.A. River walk/bike path opened in 2010 adding more official access points.
Federal, state, county, and city agencies - working with community groups - collaborated to add more than two dozen small parks along the fifty-plus mile long river, making it more accessible and welcoming. Those revitalization efforts continue today.
Elysian Valley Gateway Park remained a very simple patch of trees and grass for two decades.
Then in 2023, the MRCA closed the small park for a $1.3 million revamp.
Last week, City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez was among local leaders cutting the ceremonial ribbon to reopen the made-over site. New features include native landscaping, a rainwater infiltration arroyo/garden, picnic benches, a ramp for ADA and bike access to the river path, and more.
