Augustus F. Hawkins Nature Park

Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park — a wetland built on a sewer pipe yard

For roughly ninety years this ground in South Los Angeles was where the city stored sewer pipe: a fenced brownfield behind barbed wire, useful to nobody who lived nearby. In 2000 it reopened as a nature park with a wetland, a stream, rolling hills, native plant communities and a nature center. The hills are made of earth trucked in from landslides along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, the planting was donated by the Huntington in San Marino, and the barbed wire was replaced with stone walls and hand-forged metal gates. Eight and a half acres, and one of the most deliberate acts of environmental repair in the city.

Highlights

• The wetland — a constructed marsh at the heart of the park, doing real ecological work in a district with almost no surface water left.
• The nature center — the park’s interpretive building, the Evan Frankel Discovery Center, where school groups and neighborhood children meet the site’s ecology firsthand.
• The made landscape — every hill and meadow here is artificial, shaped from soil hauled from Malibu landslides along the Pacific Coast Highway, then planted to look like it had always been there.
• Plantings from the Huntington — the botanical collection in San Marino donated plant material for the park, which is why the native and drought-tolerant planting is better than a municipal budget would normally allow.
• The amphitheater — an outdoor gathering space used for programming, performance and school sessions.
• The gates and walls — hand-made artistic metalwork and stone replacing the barbed wire that fenced the yard for most of a century, which is the whole argument of the park in physical form.

What you’ll find

Eight and a half acres arranged as a walkable sequence of habitats rather than as a single open space, with the built facilities clustered and the rest given over to planting and water.

• The wetland and riparian areas, with paths running alongside them.
• Rolling constructed hills and meadow planted with native and drought-tolerant species.
• The nature center, with exhibits and programming on weekdays.
• An amphitheater for performances and school groups.
• Gardening boxes for community growing.
• Walking paths, picnic tables, restrooms and a permeable parking surface that lets rainwater into the ground.

Things to do — and who it’s for

• Local families — a genuine piece of nature within walking distance in a part of Los Angeles that has historically had very little park land per resident.
• School groups — the nature center and the wetland make this one of the most useful outdoor classrooms in South Los Angeles.
• Birders — constructed wetland in a dry district pulls in species that have nowhere else nearby to go.
• Gardeners — the native and drought-tolerant planting is a working demonstration of what actually thrives in this climate without irrigation.
• Walkers — short, varied paths through several habitat types, enough for a real walk in a compact space.
• Anyone interested in brownfield reuse — a ninety-year industrial yard turned into functioning habitat, and the story is legible on the ground.

Getting there & practical

The park is in South Los Angeles, in the district south of downtown. Metro’s A Line stops at Slauson station, the nearest rail connection, and Metro local bus lines running the Slauson corridor and the north–south avenues serve the surrounding blocks. There is a small parking area on site, built with permeable surfacing as part of the park’s stormwater design. Entry is free — there is no admission to the park, the trails or the nature center — and the grounds keep standard Los Angeles Recreation and Parks hours. The nature center operates on its own shorter schedule, typically on weekdays, so check before planning a visit around it. Allow forty-five minutes to an hour to walk the site properly, longer with children or if you are there for a program.

When to visit

Spring is the strongest season — the native planting flowers, the wetland is at its fullest after the winter rains, and the bird activity peaks. Summer is dry and hot, and the park shows the honest condition of a Southern California landscape in drought: the meadows go gold, the wetland shrinks, and early morning is the only comfortable time to walk. Autumn stays warm well into the season here, with the light lengthening and the crowds light; it is a good time for a slow visit. Winter is the wet season, which for a wetland park is the point — rain recharges the marsh, the hills green up, and the park looks more like the ecosystem it was built to imitate than at any other time of year.

Good to know

The park is named for Augustus F. Hawkins (1907–2007), who in 1962 became the first African American elected to Congress from west of the Mississippi, taking his seat in 1963 after twenty-eight years in the California State Assembly. His legislative record is substantial: he was central to the drafting of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and he co-authored the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978. The site itself has a very different history. For roughly ninety years the City of Los Angeles used it as a sewer pipe storage yard — a fenced brownfield behind barbed wire in a neighborhood that had almost no accessible open space. The park was built at a cost of about four and a half million dollars and opened in 2000. Its topography is entirely engineered: the rolling hills and meadows were shaped from earth brought in from landslides along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The botanical collection at the Huntington in San Marino donated plant material, and the barbed wire came down in favor of stone walls and hand-made artistic metal gates. The result is a functioning wetland and native plant landscape on ground that a generation ago was industrial storage.

Visitor tips

• Check the nature center’s hours before you go. It runs a shorter schedule than the park grounds, generally on weekdays, and it is the best part of a first visit.
• Come in the weeks after winter rain if you want to see the wetland working. In late summer it is a much drier place.
• Walk the whole loop rather than sitting in one spot. The park packs several distinct habitats into a small area and the variety is the point.

Questions & answers

Who was Augustus F. Hawkins? A Los Angeles legislator who in 1962 became the first African American elected to Congress from west of the Mississippi. He had previously served twenty-eight years in the California State Assembly and was central to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978.

Is the park free? Yes. There is no admission to the grounds, the paths or the nature center.

What was here before? A City of Los Angeles sewer pipe storage yard, in use for roughly ninety years, fenced with barbed wire and classified as a brownfield.

Is the wetland natural? No, and that is the interesting part. The wetland, the stream and the hills were all constructed, using earth brought from landslides along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and then planted.

When did it open? In 2000, at a cost of roughly four and a half million dollars.

Is the nature center open every day? No. It keeps a shorter schedule than the park itself, generally on weekdays, so check before planning around it.

Is it good for children? Yes, particularly with the nature center and the wetland. It functions as an outdoor classroom for schools across South Los Angeles.

How long does a visit take? Forty-five minutes to an hour to walk the site. Longer with children or if you are attending a program.