What will it take to bring more parks to LA’s most crowded neighborhoods?

Most L.A. residents agree that their neighborhoods could use more parks, but the lack of green spaces in Los Angeles is nowhere more glaring than in Koreatown.

Parks appear like postage stamps on neighborhood maps, surrounded by apartment towers and busy corridors. When parents want to take their kids to play outside, they often have to leave their immediate neighborhood. The city has even put a number to it: About 18,000 residents in Koreatown live further than half a mile from a park, according to a recent report on park needs, which also notes that access to green space is key to mental and physical health.

“One of the things that makes this neighborhood amazing is the fact that it’s so active and vibrant,” said Adriane Hoff, parks advocate and a longtime Koreatown resident. “But then there’s also the flip side of it, that we don’t have that place where we can sit back and recharge.”

And yet, officials have done little to address the problem over the decades. So, The LA Local is digging into why it’s been so difficult to develop green spaces in Koreatown, Pico Union and Westlake — some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in LA and made up predominantly of renters.

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It has been about a decade since the city announced and approved the Pío Pico Library Pocket Park, Koreatown’s first new park since the 1920s. The 0.6-acre space would transform a parking lot into a park on top of an underground structure. It is expected to open in early 2027 with a budget of $26 million.

An aerial view of Liberty Park in Koreatown.

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Brian Feinzimer

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For The LA Local

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Right around the corner is Liberty Park, a privately owned green space that has only escaped development into a 36-story tower because residents rallied for it to be designated a historic-cultural monument in 2018. The simple lawn, without any of the amenities you might expect to see in a park, has hosted street fairs and World Cup viewing parties, as well as being a mecca for dog walkers and yoga classes.

“As the community has become much more dense, much more residential in nature, this park has taken on even more importance,” Adrian Fine, president and CEO of the LA Conservancy, said about Liberty Park.

Overall, Los Angeles has not prioritized its investment in park spaces, according to the Park Needs Assessment report from the Department of Recreation and Parks.

L.A.’s per-capita investment is dramatically lower than other cities of similar size, population and density. The city invests $92 per capita, versus the average of $283 in other cities.

And it’s the city’s poorest residents who feel that the most. Many residents who live in areas identified as needing parks the most earn less than 80% of what the median household earns in the state, according to the latest available data from the city.

Delfino Chocoj plays soccer at Seoul International Park in Koreatown.

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Brian Feinzimer

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For The LA Local

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There are bright spots in Koreatown, Pico Union and Westlake. Efforts are underway to renovate or expand existing park spaces, updating outdated facilities or expanding the footprint of the green space, like at Seoul International Park.

Then there’s the question of MacArthur Park.

The 30 acres in Westlake, replete with lake, soccer field and playground, has been described as an open-air drug market with a growing unhoused population. City officials want to install a fence to address “safety concerns” — a move at odds with proposals to instead open up the park to more people by making Wilshire Boulevard a car-free zone.

Harm reduction outreach workers have in particular raised concerns about the impact of a fence. They say if the park is closed off, then many of the unhoused people who need services will be forced out of the area and likely will not receive the services they need.

On one recent morning, people dozed off on the grass, ducks argued on the lake and a pickup soccer game played out in a nearby field. A police cruiser drove onto the park grounds and a pair of officers spoke to a group of people.

“To me, it feels like the city tries to make it better and then doesn’t go far enough,” said Lidia Reyes, who took a 5-minute bus ride to the park with her daughters.

“It’s nice in the day,” said Reyes as her daughters played nearby. “And not so nice at night.”