“Just before visiting Los Angeles in the summer of 2008, I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about the opening of the first public park in downtown Los Angeles in over 100 years. I was intrigued by the description of the park created on a former oil field in a low-income area where residents are less likely to have access to a free public park. I remember being amazed during my first visit at how well the area that was once described as a dusty, weed-infested wasteland had been transformed into an urban oasis with wonderful views of downtown Los Angeles.
Kristy Serratos at Vista Hermosa Park in April 2022, photographed by her husband, John Sowell.
(John Sowell)
“I love that Vista Hermosa Park provides free access to anyone who can walk, bike, or drive there. I really enjoy watching children of different ethnicities climb the rocks, play in the pond and small waterfalls, and on the stuffed snake and turtle toys. I like walking along the trails looking at the flowers and different trees growing in the park. It is a little harder to see downtown as some of the trees have grown a lot since Vista Hermosa opened.
“I got married two years ago and introduced my wife, Kristy, to the park on our last visit in 2022. It was fun to watch the scene from Fitz and the Tantrums’ 2013 music video ‘The Walker,’ where the character walks across the grass toward the city skyscrapers in the background. The first time I watched the video, it was obvious that that’s where that scene took place.”
—John Sowell, Boise, Idaho
