Isaac Ceja | La Opinión
Bobby Armenta grew up in an apartment right across from Hollenbeck Park, where he spent hours playing with his brother.
“When your house is across from a park, it makes a big difference in your life,” Armenta said.
For Armenta, growing up across from a space where he could unwind and have fun is something of great value.
“Even when I moved to a different place, it was right across (from another park), and I think that’s when I started getting involved in sports teams. That helped me stay away from the gang life,” Armenta said.
Armenta avoided a world where several of his youthful friends ended up falling in and, he explained, today, most are in jail or struggling.
Armenta lives in Burbank, but still goes to Boyle Heights to get his hair cut, get his car fixed and get his taxes done. Hollenbeck Park lives on in his life, because now he takes his children there.
“It’s incredible,” he added. “Not many things last these days, and it seems like there was a real investment of tax dollars because it looks new, clean and beautiful.”
Hollenbeck Park is one of East Los Angeles’ most iconic parks, located just under the I-10 Freeway in Boyle Heights between Fourth and St. Louis Streets. It’s a spacious park with a lake, a jogging path and various types of animals like geese, squirrels and hummingbirds, among others, as well as a playground for children.
Other area residents have unforgettable memories of Hollenbeck Park.
Alejandra Rodriguez, originally from Michoacán, Mexico, held a birthday party for a friend under a tree she’s always loved.
“This tree is very huggable,” said Rodriguez, who added that she felt very comfortable under its shade. The Michoacan woman, celebrating her friend’s birthday, brought her own chairs and tables and organized it on a weekday so they could have a leisurely breakfast with handmade tortillas and red mole.
An unforgettable memory she has was made 17 years ago during her cousin’s quinceañera, when the whole family had fun for over 12 hours under the same old tree. What she appreciates most about the park is being able to be surrounded by nature, surrounded by trees and walking around the lake. The park is just a few blocks from her house.
Another resident of the area, James Avalos, takes his daughter to Hollenbeck Park every day after school. He also frequented it when he was young.
“My parents took me to the park after school, and they also came to this park when they were young,” he said. “Playing in this park is something that passes down from generation to generation.”
The young man emphasized that the park has made a big difference in his life.
“Growing up around animals and nature helps you escape the city and perhaps the problems you face in your youth,” Avalos said, adding that his own daughter always looks forward to going to the park where she loves to play on the swings and see the turtles, and has grown accustomed to the routine they’ve created: First they go to the park, and then take a nap at home.
“It’s a tradition, and I continue it,” Avalos said.
After living in the area for more than four years, Mariposa Balam recently went to Hollenbeck Park for the first time.
“I’ve never come to visit because I was afraid there would be too many homeless people, but today I took the opportunity because I wanted to sit, enjoy the water and be surrounded by the different animals,” Balam said. As she rested under a tree, several birds approached her and made her feel comfortable, but unexpectedly, she saw a hummingbird, a type of bird she hadn’t expected to see there.
“It was right in front of me, flapping its wings, and I felt like we made eye contact for a good minute,” Balam said. “I really felt a sign from our creator or our ancestors or whoever it was, that everything was going to be okay and I should just keep going.”
After that experience, Balam said, she was glad she went to the park and received an unexpected welcome from the hummingbird, instead of sticking to her routine of just working or staying home. She also loved seeing the diversity of people there, and said she plans to go there more often.
“It was so beautiful to see all the different people there, and I saw new love and old love in the sense that I saw older people walking with their partners, parents with their children, mothers playing in the park, people exercising, and also people just walking, so I will definitely go back,” Balam said.
Along the sides of the lake, different types of birds of all colors basked in the sun or searched for food.
Thirteen years ago, Vicente Picón went to the park for the first time and has continued to come back to feed the birds. Four or five times a week, the young man goes to different parks to feed the birds.
“The birds are very grateful because they recognize you when you come and even look at you from a distance, moving and making noise,” he said.
Picón tries to look for deals in stores to buy as much food as possible for the birds, including wheat bread, and sometimes he brings them sweet bread, which they love.
“Sometimes there are birds that are already half-blind, and what I do is approach them and use my nose to poke them in the mouth so they eat,” Picón said. “And I try to make sure that the others who are looking closely don’t harm the disabled birds because they are the ones who deserve it the most.”
Manuel López first came to Hollenbeck Park four years ago and loved the peaceful environment, filled with animals and with plenty of space to do jumps and tricks on his BMX bike. The park is only 10 minutes from his home, and he said he loved having a place he can go after work instead of being at home. During a day of jumping on his bike in the park, however, he took one of the biggest jumps he could and injured himself.
“I couldn’t even ride my bike anymore because I sprained my foot and had to walk,” Lopez said. But he always returns to the park to get some fresh air and do his bike tricks as a way to de-stress from his construction job.
“I come here and ride a few laps and do some tricks and de-stress,” he continued. “It’s like my mind is focused only on doing the trick well.” He likes to jump his blue bike with lights and colored straws on the rims along the sidewalks, standing on the front tire; on a few occasions, he’s even jumped over a goose that was sleeping on the road near the lake.
Compared to other parks in the area, López feels safer at Hollenbeck, which is one of the reasons he and many other locals always keep coming back.
This story was produced by American Community Media in collaboration with the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) at UCLA as part of the Greening American Cities initiative supported by the Bezos Earth Fund. Read more stories like this by visiting the Greening Communities homepage.
