Gloria Molina Grand Park

“Grand Park hosts many events. It's a great place to meet for marches, rallies, holiday venues,. I went to the "NO Kings" rally there there were thousands and thousands and thousands of very kind, polite people. A stage was set up (in most events there they have a stage area) where speakers can rally the people. Spread information. NAMI meets there for their annual Mental Health March for understanding. It has entrances on Grand across from city hall. Entrance on Hill street near the courts. Usually bus service is quite easy even with changes to schedules during events. Fourth of July is held there as well. Dia de Los Muertos just occurred at Grand Park. And you can just sit around and enjoy the day or lunch in the park.”

“I was there for the no King's rally. A lot of walking. Restrooms were decent”

“I've been going to Grand Park since its grand opening in 2012. That day I remember seeing actress Debbie Allen who I knew from the TV shows "Fame" and "Grey's Anatomy". They were also handing out flyers for Cirque du Soleil which we ended up going to. Since then, I've been to several other events including New Year's celebrations and protests in front of City Hall which is right next to the park. For New Year's, they project animated lights on City Hall leading up to the countdown turning the tower into a huge clock. Meanwhile DJs, live music, and food trucks keep everyone entertained. Once the clock strikes midnight, fireworks start going off and the grand finale tends to be a crowd pleaser. The event itself is well organized and safe with areas gated off so security checks can be made and there are plenty of Porta Potties lined up knowing that the onsite Starbucks wouldn't have enough toilets. However, it's the leaving that's an issue. Since everything is gated off, it leads to a bottleneck and people crammed shoulder to shoulder marching slowly off like cows being herded. I wish they would take down the gates as soon as the event is over to make exiting quicker and more efficient. Parking in the garages is even worse. The wait to leave takes as long as it took to get out of Grand Park itself. The issue of leaving is bad enough for me to swear off ever going again. Both Grand Park's benefit and flaw is that it's more of an open space than a regular park dotted with trees. The benefit is that is does allow for large gatherings like those for New Year's and protests. The flaw is that if you want to just lay out a blanket and lay under a tree, you're regulated to the edges where those trees are lined. Most recently, I went to a public planting of a Miyawaki Forest, which is a small space consisting of various native plants. Prior to the planting, Native Americans were invited to speak, do blessings, and perform traditional dances. It was both entertaining and informative. There's also something satisfying about knowing that I can now visit the park and visit the 2 plants I had planted and see how they've grown. The event itself went smoothly, but I overheard a couple of people who worked on the event say that it was a lot of work. They did a good job since they made it look easy. At this point, Grand Park has been a big part of my life from moments of celebration to moments of unrest. The park's motto is "The park for everyone" and in all the years that I've been coming here, it has proven to be just that.”