New Waterfront Park Opens at the Port of Los Angeles

The $77.3 million new park offers unprecedented public access to the water’s edge for the Wilmington community where 18% of the total land area is taken up by oil refineries — almost 3.5 times more space than is dedicated to green space.

2 minute read

March 5, 2024, 11:00 AM PST

By Clement Lau


Person-height red 'Wilmington Waterfront Promenade' sign on concrete walkway with palm trees in background on waterfront walkway at the Port of Los Angeles, California.

The Wilmington Waterfront Promenade at the Port of Los Angeles. | Waterfront Los Angeles / Wilmington Waterfront Promenade

As reported by Shane Reiner-Roth, the community of Wilmington recently celebrated the grand opening of a new park called Wilmington Waterfront Promenade. Located along the water’s edge at the Port of Los Angeles and adjacent to Banning’s Landing Community Center, the new open space development features three distinct visitor experience areas: the promenade, the bluff, and the upland expanse. Each area includes unique seating and views of the water, convenient pet stations, drinking fountains and trash/recycling receptacles. 

The promenade measures about 1,300 feet in length and incorporates a variety of seating, including swing benches with shade structures, precast terraced tidal seat steps, and a plaza area with additional seats. Connected to the promenade is a new 5,400-square foot public pier with picnic tables over the water, and a 120-foot public floating dock to accommodate visitor-serving vessels. 

Above the promenade is the bluff and open space area, featuring swing benches with waterfront views. A highlight of the bluff is a play area, complete with mountaineering ropes, climbing nets, rockers and a custom tower slide. Integral colored concrete and concrete pavers accent the space, with three 45-foot-tall floodlight poles illuminating the area. 

The upland expanse features pedestrian and bicycle trails, and seating with elevated views of the Wilmington Waterfront.  In terms of landscaping, the park has over 200 pink trumpet, Italian stone pine, Torrey pine and palm trees along with planters featuring California native and drought-tolerant plants. 

Sasaki Associates, along with the Port’s Engineering Division, designed the Wilmington Waterfront Promenade project. To learn more about the new park, please read the source article.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024 in The Architect's Newspaper

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