Augustus_F._Hawkins_Park
Augustus F. Hawkins Park
Habitat in South L.A., California
Augustus F. Hawkins Park is a 8.5-acre (3.4 ha) public park south of downtown Los Angeles, California in the United States.[1] The park includes a nature center and plantings donated by the Huntington Gardens in San Marino.[2] Full-size oak trees were trucked to the site from Ramona.[3] Plantings native to California are prioritized, including sycamores and willows adjacent to the constructed wetland.[4]
The park attracts up to 5,000 visitors a week from the surrounding highly diverse neighborhood.[5] Community and educational programs are hosted in the nature center.[5] A park ranger lives on site.[6]
The park was built in 2000 at a cost of $4.5 million.[3] The location had previously been a municipal storage yard classified as a brownfield.[3][7] The land was formerly fenced off with barbed wire, which has been replaced by stone walls and hand-made artistic metal gates.[6] The land is on long-term lease from the LADWP.[3]