Sunday, July 3, 2011

Peck Road Park

When Karen Klein spoke with passion about Peck Road Park in her guest author post here the other day, I had no idea where the park was. Apparently I'm in the majority. And that's one of the park's many pluses.

Just get off the 210 at Myrtle and head south. Myrtle becomes Peck and there you are.

You may want to see this on a map.

It took about 20 minutes to get there from my place in Pasadena. If you live in Arcadia, Temple City or Monrovia it'll be even less.

The park is undergoing improvements, thanks to the volunteers at Amigos de los Rios. Talk about urban interface. It's right in the middle of everything. That's the gist of Peck Road Park; right in the middle of everything you've got an oasis of trees (mature beauties plus acres of new plantings), picnic tables, walkways, bike trails and a lake--a lake which was once a quarry. I never saw the quarry but I'm going to stick my neck out here and say the lake is an improvement.

Speaking of necks: ducks and geese! Living together! Is nothing sacred?
Amazing, isn't it, what's right in the middle of everything, right under our noses?

15 comments:

dive said...

What a beautiful spot. People (as well as wildlife) need to be around water, especially in a land as parched as yours. This little oasis gives the community a breathing space. I'm glad it's being well looked after.

Petrea Burchard said...

Dive, it's a nice place. It helped me to see what Karen was talking about the other day--how these spots are being reclaimed. There's still work to do--the water's not yet safe to swim in, for example. But it's getting there.

Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed by the dedication of the volunteers. They were out there weeding in 100 degree temps yesterday. But their work has really paid off; I think it's lovely.

Petrea Burchard said...

I'm glad you mentioned that, Karin. When Karen showed me the area they had weeded I couldn't believe it. They had removed invasive weeds from a wide swath of ground near the lake. And it was hot yesterday.

Katie said...

Looks like a great park. Kudos to the weeding volunteers who braved such brutal temps. At least the ducks and geese have found a nice shady spot. I mapped my route to get there: 13 to 580 to 5 (which I gather turns into the 5 at some magic spot) to the 210. Piece of cake! Except for the 285 miles on 5.

TheChieftess said...

Once again you've opened my areas to something new to me in the area I've lived a great part of my life!!! I've driven down Peck road (there's a cabinet manufacturer somewhere down there) but never saw the park!!!

Steve Scauzillo said...

Yes, Petrea. It is a great place. So much potential.

Petrea Burchard said...

Ha ha, Katie, I'm not sure where 5 turns into "the 5." Probably somewhere north of Bakersfield.

It's easy to miss, Chieftess. You can barely see it from the road and you've really got to watch for the sign. But once you're there, you'll want to return. As Steve says, much potential, and it's already a lovely park.

Ms M said...

Looks like a beautiful place. Kudos to those who are donating their time to improve and maintain it.
And good to see the fowl are living together without too many foul words...

Susan Campisi said...

It does look like an oasis. I've never been but I applaud the volunteers for working so hard to make it beautiful, especially in this heat. The ducks and geese applaud them too.

Steven said...

Were there was green alligators to go along with those long-necked geese? I swear there was a folk song about green alligators and long-necked geese when I was growing up back in the olden days. Really nice photos you captured.

Petrea Burchard said...

Ms. M, there's always room here for a foul pun.

Susan, those volunteers are amazing.

Steven, it's The Unicorn Song. Enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPsuOEH1fY

Pasadena Adjacent said...

Lake front property in El Monte. Kind of unexpected

Petrea Burchard said...

It's what I'm sayin'.

Karen said...

Amigos de los Rios is doing amazing things, with Peck Park being just the most recent project.

What's wonderful about the group, and exec. dir. Claire Robinson, is that it is revitalizing long-neglected parklands in the "urban interface" - i.e., dense, lower-income neighborhoods mostly home to immigrants and the working poor.

Claire is terrific at bringing diverse groups of volunteers together to fight for these oases, particularly the SGV rivers that were channeled, concreted and rerouted so they are mostly inaccessible today.

We're going to do a river bike tour in the fall. You'll be thrilled to see how lovely they are in their natural state and how unlovely in their paved status.