Ricardo and Marty

“We’re big advocates of public space and parks. We believe that public space belongs to all Angelenos. This park holds a lot of our history together, we even came here before we were married, it is an oasis in the middle of the city.,” Richardo says.

Marty begins to share part of that history, “My father was going to undergo a surgery. We brought him here so we could take his mind off of it. We played baseball together and were able to relax as a family. When I’m here I kind of sense a feeling of community healing. The programs that happen here help bring people together. They unite us to join forces for causes as well. In those moments I realized that if our communities had more access to joy, we would have different lives and lifestyles.”

Ricardo adds to this idea, “We think that having access to free parks is a very important part of LA, especially when waking up in this city feels like it already costs money. Arts programming also has a cost to it which often makes it inaccessible to people. To be able to access the arts at a park builds collective voices. Parks are like a blank canvas for public space and creativity, for people to gather. It can be a museum; it can be a concert; it can be a restaurant; it can be for exercise. It can be anything you want it to be as long as people actually have access to it,” Ricardo said. 

“Spaces like this park made me fall in love with my city and its people. Regardless of who we are in our backgrounds, we come together as a community at the park,” Marty said.