The park as it once was

• The tennis courts were once the most important element in the park. There were few weekends when they were not in use. But the neighborhood changed.

Asphalt covered everything

• I don’t know when the asphalt covering was applied, perhaps when Bella Vista School was built? But by the time I arrived in the early 70’s the park was wall to wall asphalt.

There were basketball courts

• But I seldom saw anyone using them. The rims were generally bent and unusable. This is the NE corner circa 2004.

Benches along 11th Avenue

• Notice the gated 11th Avenue entrance in the rear.

The baseball backstop

• Despite the asphalt there were baseball games played here, generally by smaller kids.

A play structure near the 11th Avenue gate

• This was built a short time before the renovation. An arson fire destroyed the structure in about 2005.

The storage building

• The old storage building that had been decorated with student art.

Bella Vista School in the background

• Taken from near the baseball backstop towards the NE corner of he park. The community garden of the time is middle left.

A portable classroom at Bella Vista School

• January 2005

Gate between park and school

• It was important in those days to keep the two places separated as the park was home to drug dealers, prostitutes and other undesirables.

10th Avenue gate

• Not much changed here after the renovation

The tennis nets are gone

• Gradually the tennis courts were vandalized out of existence. The space was used mostly for stickball games against the white wall in the background.

11th Ave to the left

• Typical of the overall bleakness of the park at the time. This space was replaced by the native garden.

Another backstop

• The fence to the right separated the tennis courts from the rest of the park. The sign on the fence concerned some kind of student activity, I think.

11th Ave gate

• The new play structure was on the left.

Basketball courts

• Tennis courts to the left.

Tennis courts

• Note the large palm trees on 9th Avenue boundary markers of the old Borax Estate) to the right rear.

11th Avenue side

• Someone forgot their jacket.

Tether ball poles

• 11th Avenue to the left.