Parks, Recreation and Marine

14th Street Park

History

This park is a strip 60 feet wide and is in the center of 14th Street from Chestnut Avenue to a half block east of Locust Avenue. In February 1950, the City Council authorized the purchase of this property for $440,000 from the Pacific Electric Railway Company, which had abandoned the line between 1924 and 1928. The park consisted of five block Picture of Alamitos Parklong parcels of right-of-way, each 60' x 316' in area, in the middle of 14th Street between Long Beach Boulevard and Chestnut Avenue.

In November 1950, the City Council voted to have it developed. In 1967, this strip was redeveloped with new landscaping. The easterly two blocks were paved for parking for local businesses.

The park remained a passive landscaped median strip and parking lots until 1992. As 14th Street Park was the only open space in the Washington School neighborhood, a neighborhood that experienced a substantial population increase in the 1980's as young families replaced senior citizen and naval personnel in the many high-density apartments in the neighborhood. In 1992, a preschool age playground was added with at the western (Chestnut Avenue) end of the park with funding from the Neighborhood Improvement Strategy program. In 1999, fencing was added around the playground along with concrete walkways and a pad for the storage of supplies for expanded recreational programming. This was followed, in 2002, by new playground equipment at the Pacific Avenue end of the Cedar to Pacific block, an additional storage container for the Bikes 90800 program, and a skateboard plaza and basketball court in the Pacific to Pine block.

In 2006, a KaBoom sponsored community built playground expansion was installed in the Chestnut Avenue to Cedar Avenue and Cedar Avenue to Pacific Avenue blocks, expanding and replacing the 1992 playground equipment.

In September 2009, the Micheal K. Green Skate Park was added at 14th Street and Pacific Avenue.

On January 17, 2010, The Michael K. Green Skate Park opened on the block between Pacific Avenue and Pine Avenue.

A basketball court opened on 14th Street between Pine and Locust Avenues on September 24, 2011. The facility has one full-size court and three half courts with news surfacing, seating and lights for evening play. 

A Fitness Zone with free exercise equipment was added in May, 2014 in the section between Locust Avenue and Palmer Court.

The Fitness Zone incorporates:

• Leg press machine with four seats
• Lower body exercise machine
• Stand up pendulum for abdominal exercise that accommodates four people at a time
• Cross country ski machine that accommodates two people at a time
• Vertical press for legs and arms (ADA Accessible)
• Pull down lift for lats (back muscles) (ADA Accessible)
• Chest press (ADA Accessible)
• Press and pull for upper body exercise These elements are surrounded by a colored paved path for circuit training.

Amenities

Don Knabe Basketball Courts, Playground, Fitness Zone, Micheal K. Green Skate Park

Map to the Park