“Just before visiting Los Angeles in the summer of 2008, I read a story in the Los Angeles Times about the opening of the first public park in downtown L.A. in more than 100 years. I was intrigued by the description of the park being built on a former oil field in a poor neighborhood where residents were less likely to have access to a free public park. I remember being amazed during my first visit at how well the area that had previously been described as a weedy, dusty lot had been transformed into an urban oasis with a beautiful view of downtown L.A.
Kristy Serratos at Vista Hermosa Park in April 2022, photographed by her husband, John Sowell.
(John Sowell)
“I love that Vista Hermosa Park offers free admission to anyone who can walk, bike, or drive there. I love seeing children of different ethnicities climbing on the rocks, playing in the pond and the short waterfalls, and on the soft toys of snakes and turtles. I love walking the paths and looking at the flowers and different trees that grow in the park. It’s a little harder to see the center because some of the trees have grown a lot since Vista Hermosa opened.
“I got married two years ago and introduced my wife, Kristy, to the park during our last visit in 2022. It was fun to match the scene from Fitz and the Tantrums’ 2013 music video “The Walker,” where the character walks across the grass toward the city skyscrapers in the background. The first time I saw the video, there was no mistaking that scene for the park.”
—John Sowell, Boise, Idaho
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