Columbia Park, Torrance, California
Encyclopedia
Columbia Park is a 52 acres (21 ha) recreational urban
regional park
in the City of Torrance
, located in southern Los Angeles County
, California
. Columbia Park provides the community with soccer fields, baseball diamonds, a roller hockey rink, community gardening
beds, walking path
s, and a jogging
—competitive cross country running
trail. It is one of thirty parks in the Torrance Parks system.
The park also includes a 1.32 miles (2.1 km) walking path which is divided by a fence line to the east of the main soccer field into a 0.75 miles (1.2 km) west section and a 0.57-mile (0.92 km) east section. In addition, the park has a jog path that serves as a flat, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) exercise trail and competitive cross country running
racecourse. The heavily used soccer fields include lights for night play.
providing planting beds and 'community' for residents. It is one of twelve county-operated Smart Gardening Centers around the region. Columbia Park additionally serves as home to the Home Garden Learning Center, and is a backyard compost
ing demonstration center provided by Los Angeles County.
Edward J. Ferraro. In 1970, Ferraro acquired 50 acres (20.2 ha) of U.S. Navy surplus property for $250,000 to build Torrance's Wilson Park. At about the same time, Ferraro put a plan together to acquire approximately 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land in North Torrance to build 'Columbia Regional Park'. By December 1973, the Torrance City Council took a step closer to acquiring land for both Columbia Park and also for Madrona Marsh
Preserve, protecting the last vernal marsh and wetland
s remaining in the South Bay
area of Los Angeles
. In 1975 the state of California agreed to provide funds for the development of Columbia Park.
The park, located adjacent to an ExxonMobil
oil refinery
, includes a 494 feet (150.6 m) radio antenna
that services the Los Angeles all-news radio station KNX (AM)
. There are also 120 feet (36.6 m)-high electrical line towers, each of which supports 220,000-volt electrical lines maintained by electricity supply company Southern California Edison
.
Columbia Park was opened in 1983 as a 52 acres (21 ha) Torrance
recreational regional park
with large grassy expanses.
In 1983 Standard Brands Paint Company in Torrance donated a sculpture by public works artist Roger Berry to the park. The sculpture, entitled "Fujimihara", presently resides in the southwest corner of Columbia Park.
In the late 1980s, Columbia Park became the home field to the Manhattan Beach club women's soccer team 'Ajax America Women.' On Sundays at Columbia Park, Ajax and the other women's teams played as many as 16 games on four fields from September to April. U.S. woman's soccer standouts, defender
Joy Biefeld-Fawcett and forward
Carin Jennings, were members of 'Ajax America Women' and regularly practiced and played at the Columbia Park's soccer fields. These two Columbia park players would go on in 1991 to help 'Ajax' win the U.S. women's amateur championship, and then help the U.S. national team win the first FIFA Women's World Cup in China that same year. U.S. woman's soccer standouts, defender
Joy Biefeld-Fawcett and forward
Carin Jennings, routinely practiced and played in the soccer fields at Columbia Park in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In 2004, the Columbia Park parking lot at the southwest corner of 190th Street and Prairie Avenue was used by Chevrolet
as a filming location
for their television commercial.
to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day
.
association Soka Gakkai International USA donated the cost of 100 Cherry blossom trees to the city of Torrance as part of Torrance's Living Tree Dedication program that began in 1993. The plan for the program was to plant 10 cherry trees at Columbia Park as part of a ceremony each year for ten years beginning in 2001. This donation in particular was part of Sōka Gakkai's campaign to plant trees in cities across the nation as a way to "create a peaceful environment" in society and better the communities they live in. In August 2001, ten of those cherry trees were planted at Columbia Park. By April 2007, seventy cherry trees had been planted in Columbia Park. In November of that year, Soka Gakkai International USA increased its donation from ten to thirty cherry tree
s per year.
in the mid 1980s. In the summer of 1985, a sail skater was clocked by a police radar gun
doing 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) inside the park. Near the end of 1985, the Torrance City Council had enough and unanimously approved an ordinance that made it illegal to ride a "wheeled conveyance" equipped with sails on city streets, in parks or on other public property.
s and quickly attracted and maintained a gopher population of more than 600 animals. The gopher holes made it impossible to use the fields to play sports. The gopher population was so large that an "exceptionally sized" hawk
could perch on the top of the KNX antenna and repeatedly swoop down, snatch a gopher, and fly back to the top of the antenna to consume. Other animals also survived on the gophers.
In 1987, the city assigned Hank "G-Man" Baranowski to the park to address the gopher problem. At that time, Baranowski was known as 'G-Man' due to his ability to "wipe out gopher populations" and his reputation as the city's "premier gopher grabber." Within a few months, Baranowski had eliminated the gopher population in Columbia Park. With the gopher problem resolved, the recreation fields at Columbia Park began to receive regular use.
as part of fixing the problem, by draining water off the new raised sections.
s, with two leash-free roaming sections separating large dogs from small dogs. In 2007, the city's Open Space Committee met to discuss the feasibility of adding city dog parks. Later in 2007 the Committee had determined the only area large enough to accommodate a divided area for both large and small dogs was the Southern California Edison
easement
at Columbia Park. The plan required Southern California Edison needed to approve the proposal, and start-up costs of at least $50,000.
In presenting the proposal to the Torrance City Council one month later, the Open Space Committee stated:
Urban park
An urban park, is also known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space or municipal gardens , is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality...
regional park
Regional park
Regional park is a term used for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government.-Definition:...
in the City of Torrance
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
, located in southern Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Columbia Park provides the community with soccer fields, baseball diamonds, a roller hockey rink, community gardening
Community gardening
A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people.-Purpose:Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment...
beds, walking path
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
s, and a jogging
Jogging
Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running.-Definition:...
—competitive cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
trail. It is one of thirty parks in the Torrance Parks system.
Recreation and sports
Columbia Park includes six soccer fields, two baseball diamonds, and a roller hockey rink.The park also includes a 1.32 miles (2.1 km) walking path which is divided by a fence line to the east of the main soccer field into a 0.75 miles (1.2 km) west section and a 0.57-mile (0.92 km) east section. In addition, the park has a jog path that serves as a flat, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) exercise trail and competitive cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
racecourse. The heavily used soccer fields include lights for night play.
Community gardening
Columbia Park features a Community GardenCommunity gardening
A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people.-Purpose:Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment...
providing planting beds and 'community' for residents. It is one of twelve county-operated Smart Gardening Centers around the region. Columbia Park additionally serves as home to the Home Garden Learning Center, and is a backyard compost
Compost
Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting for the materials to break down from anywhere...
ing demonstration center provided by Los Angeles County.
History
Columbia Park was conceived in 1970 and built in 1983. In 1985, the park's designer, Paul Saito, received an achievement award for the design and installation of Columbia Park.Phase one
Columbia Park first was conceived by former Torrance City managerCity manager
A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council-manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief executive officer or chief administrative officer in some municipalities...
Edward J. Ferraro. In 1970, Ferraro acquired 50 acres (20.2 ha) of U.S. Navy surplus property for $250,000 to build Torrance's Wilson Park. At about the same time, Ferraro put a plan together to acquire approximately 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land in North Torrance to build 'Columbia Regional Park'. By December 1973, the Torrance City Council took a step closer to acquiring land for both Columbia Park and also for Madrona Marsh
Madrona Marsh
The Madrona Marsh Preserve, located in Torrance, California, is the last vernal marsh remaining in the South Bay area of Los Angeles and one of few wetlands located within an urban landscape....
Preserve, protecting the last vernal marsh and wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s remaining in the South Bay
South Bay, Los Angeles
The South Bay is a region of the southwest peninsula of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The name stems from its geographic features stretching along the southern shores of Santa Monica Bay which forms its western border.The picture at right uses the broadest definition of the...
area of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. In 1975 the state of California agreed to provide funds for the development of Columbia Park.
The park, located adjacent to an ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
, includes a 494 feet (150.6 m) radio antenna
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
that services the Los Angeles all-news radio station KNX (AM)
KNX (AM)
KNX is an all-news radio station in Los Angeles, California, USA. The station operates on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio. KNX broadcasts from facilities shared with sister stations KFWB, KCBS-FM, KTWV, and KAMP on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile...
. There are also 120 feet (36.6 m)-high electrical line towers, each of which supports 220,000-volt electrical lines maintained by electricity supply company Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison , the largest subsidiary of Edison International , is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 14 million people with electricity...
.
Columbia Park was opened in 1983 as a 52 acres (21 ha) Torrance
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
recreational regional park
Regional park
Regional park is a term used for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government.-Definition:...
with large grassy expanses.
Sculptures
In 1983 Standard Brands Paint Company in Torrance donated a sculpture by public works artist Roger Berry to the park. The sculpture, entitled "Fujimihara", presently resides in the southwest corner of Columbia Park.
Women's soccer
In the late 1980s, Columbia Park became the home field to the Manhattan Beach club women's soccer team 'Ajax America Women.' On Sundays at Columbia Park, Ajax and the other women's teams played as many as 16 games on four fields from September to April. U.S. woman's soccer standouts, defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
Joy Biefeld-Fawcett and forward
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
Carin Jennings, were members of 'Ajax America Women' and regularly practiced and played at the Columbia Park's soccer fields. These two Columbia park players would go on in 1991 to help 'Ajax' win the U.S. women's amateur championship, and then help the U.S. national team win the first FIFA Women's World Cup in China that same year. U.S. woman's soccer standouts, defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
Joy Biefeld-Fawcett and forward
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
Carin Jennings, routinely practiced and played in the soccer fields at Columbia Park in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Redesign - walks and trails
When Columbia Park first was designed and planned, the design supported soccer and other field sports, but didn't serve the needs of walkers and joggers, the present day walkways and trails were not part of the original park. In 1984 Landscape designer Paul Saito returned, to redesign Columbia Park to include walking paths and running trails, adding exercise challenges and aesthetic enjoyment. After receiving of San Diego, California, Saito had the park laid out according to his plan, with enjoyable concrete pathways winding around the hilly landscape. The park has, with sponsorship by Hydro-Scape Products Inc., around 100 distinct automated and water conserving sprinkler stations-zones to irrigate the 52 acres (21 ha). The California Landscape Contractors Association awarded Paul Saito the 1985 Achievement Award, for his creativity in the completed project.Phase two - southwest
To enlarge Columbia Park, in 1985 the city council awarded Terra-Cal Construction a $173,655 contract for construction of the southwest portion of the park, expanding public access and amenities, and community green-space.Phase three
In 2000, plans were made to increase the number of parking spaces serving the park users. In addition, the plans included attractive gazebos, which are located near 190th Street park area.In 2004, the Columbia Park parking lot at the southwest corner of 190th Street and Prairie Avenue was used by Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
as a filming location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
for their television commercial.
Tree dedications - urban forest
On April 22, 1995, a tree was planted in Columbia Park by The Friends of Madrona MarshMadrona Marsh
The Madrona Marsh Preserve, located in Torrance, California, is the last vernal marsh remaining in the South Bay area of Los Angeles and one of few wetlands located within an urban landscape....
to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day
Earth Day
Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...
.
Cherry blossom trees
During the summer of 2001, the BuddhistBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
association Soka Gakkai International USA donated the cost of 100 Cherry blossom trees to the city of Torrance as part of Torrance's Living Tree Dedication program that began in 1993. The plan for the program was to plant 10 cherry trees at Columbia Park as part of a ceremony each year for ten years beginning in 2001. This donation in particular was part of Sōka Gakkai's campaign to plant trees in cities across the nation as a way to "create a peaceful environment" in society and better the communities they live in. In August 2001, ten of those cherry trees were planted at Columbia Park. By April 2007, seventy cherry trees had been planted in Columbia Park. In November of that year, Soka Gakkai International USA increased its donation from ten to thirty cherry tree
Prunus
Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. There are around 430 species spread throughout the northern temperate regions of the globe. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for fruit and ornament.-Botany:Members of the genus...
s per year.
Living Tribute Trees program
The Torrance Living Dedication Tree Program is coordinated and by the City, so that families, individuals, and groups can sponsor the planting of a new tree in the park to honor a person or commemorate an event with a living tribute Tree Dedication.Sail-Skating
The long, winding cement walk pathways and usually vacant parking lots of Columbia Park quickly became a popular place for skate sailingSkate sailing
Skate sailing is a sport where people on skates are propelled by a sail. Traditionally ice skates are used, but other kinds, such as roller skates can also be used....
in the mid 1980s. In the summer of 1985, a sail skater was clocked by a police radar gun
Radar gun
A radar speed gun is a small doppler radar unit used to measure the speed of moving objects, including vehicles, pitched baseballs, runners and other moving objects. Radar speed guns may be hand-held, vehicle-mounted or static...
doing 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) inside the park. Near the end of 1985, the Torrance City Council had enough and unanimously approved an ordinance that made it illegal to ride a "wheeled conveyance" equipped with sails on city streets, in parks or on other public property.
Gophers
The grassy expanse of the newly developed Columbia Park turned out to be an ideal habitat for gopherGopher (animal)
The term gopher as it is commonly used does not relate to any one species, but is a generic term used to describe any of several small burrowing rodents endemic to North America, including the pocket gopher , also called true gophers, and the ground squirrel , including Richardson's ground squirrel...
s and quickly attracted and maintained a gopher population of more than 600 animals. The gopher holes made it impossible to use the fields to play sports. The gopher population was so large that an "exceptionally sized" hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
could perch on the top of the KNX antenna and repeatedly swoop down, snatch a gopher, and fly back to the top of the antenna to consume. Other animals also survived on the gophers.
In 1987, the city assigned Hank "G-Man" Baranowski to the park to address the gopher problem. At that time, Baranowski was known as 'G-Man' due to his ability to "wipe out gopher populations" and his reputation as the city's "premier gopher grabber." Within a few months, Baranowski had eliminated the gopher population in Columbia Park. With the gopher problem resolved, the recreation fields at Columbia Park began to receive regular use.
People
In May 1993, a fight broke out among members of two gangs in Columbia Park. One of the gang members fired a gun that hit a bystander. However, a necklace worn by the woman stopped the bullet from completely penetrating her chest. As a result of the shooting, a neighborhood association's lobbying the city for park improvements, and homeowner complaints about "non-residents" using the basketball court and causing trouble. Torrance officials sought to improve security and took the unusual step of closing the park's basketball court by removing the basketball rims and padlocking the entry to the court.Floods
Plans were created in 2001 to realign portions of the Columbia Park jogging path that were in lower areas or overlapped by sprinklers, to prevent flooded and slippery paths. The city added decomposed graniteDecomposed granite
Decomposed granite, also known as DG, is granitic rock that has weathered to the point that it readily fractures into smaller pieces or chunks of weak rock. Further weathering produces rock that easily crumbles into mixtures of gravel, sand, and silt-sized particles with some clay...
as part of fixing the problem, by draining water off the new raised sections.
Play equipment
In 2003, the Firetruck used as play equipment at Columbia Park was determined to not meet the Federal Safety Guidelines for preventing head and hand entrapment, and protecting children from falling off the vehicle. In response to concerns about children playing on the firetruck it was fenced off. Three years later in January 2006 both the firetruck and fencing were removed, with plans to replacement with "neat, fun, and attractive play equipment with rubberized matting."Dogs
In 2006 Torrance considered possible sites, at both the city's Columbia Park and Wilson Park, for fenced-in dog parkDog park
A dog park is a facility set aside for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners...
s, with two leash-free roaming sections separating large dogs from small dogs. In 2007, the city's Open Space Committee met to discuss the feasibility of adding city dog parks. Later in 2007 the Committee had determined the only area large enough to accommodate a divided area for both large and small dogs was the Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison , the largest subsidiary of Edison International , is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 14 million people with electricity...
easement
Easement
An easement is a certain right to use the real property of another without possessing it.Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond...
at Columbia Park. The plan required Southern California Edison needed to approve the proposal, and start-up costs of at least $50,000.
In presenting the proposal to the Torrance City Council one month later, the Open Space Committee stated:
"a dog parkAt that same meeting, the Dog Obedience Club of Torrance asserted that a Torrance Dog Park could bring potential liability to the city through dog fights, dog caused injuries, and spread of diseases and that the money would be better spent on the city's animal shelters. By a voice vote, the city council agreed that a dog park was not an essential element of Torrance's city park system.Dog parkA dog park is a facility set aside for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners...
in Torrance is not an essential element of our park system due to a lack of unused open space and the absence of a grassrootsGrassrootsA grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
community group supporting this type of park."
Reservations and events
Columbia Park and the 29 other Torrance city parks were deemed busy enough satisfying the citizens pleasure and recreation needs. Reservations are available from the Community Services: Parks Department, and needed for group picnic areas, organized sports fields, and larger special group events in the park and its facilities.- Online Information Desk for:
- Artists, Craftmen's, & Quilters Guild
- Arts and Craft Boutiques
- Co-Rec Dances
- Dog Obedience and other Charter Clubs
- Lap Swimming hours
- Registration (classes, instructors, etc.)
- Rental for Parks & Buildings
- Senior Services, (taxi, bus ID's, housing), Senior Income Tax
- Sports; teams, field reservations, locations.
- Torrance Symphony info.
See also
- City of Torrance Parks
- Madrona Marsh Wildlife Preserve & Nature CenterMadrona MarshThe Madrona Marsh Preserve, located in Torrance, California, is the last vernal marsh remaining in the South Bay area of Los Angeles and one of few wetlands located within an urban landscape....