several family and teen activities.
“It’s a wonderful park and we’re really proud we can offer this to the community,” said Hamp Simmons, City Hall’s cultural affairs coordinator.
The event is being organized by Community Arts Resources, the same group which spearheads the Santa Monica Festival.
The park is located at 2200 Virginia Avenue.
FUN FOR EVERYONE Festivities begin with a noon ribbon cutting at the corner of Pico and Cloverfield boulevards. Park guests will then follow the Santa Monica Police Department Explorer Color Guard and the Santa Monica High School Marching Band through the park to the festival stage.
There, emcee Maria Elena Gaitain will play host to the Cubano stylings of Maggie Palomo and El Son de Los Angeles, as well as the rhythms of the Tom Nolan Band. Also performing are the John Adams Middle School Jazz Band, inspirational melodies from the Calvary Baptist Church and the Santa Monica College Emeritus Gospel Choir.
Mariachi Voz de America will entertain shoppers strolling the community and vendor booths.
East Los Streetscapers artist Wayne Healy will talk about the park’s new mural, “Our Pico Neighborhood,” in front of the artwork.
The 9.5-acre refurbished park will showcase its many new features.
FUN FOR KIDS For children, the Santa Monica Museum of Art will host a children’s workshop in the new patio building. Other children’s crafts will be led by members of the city library in the neighborhood square.
The Virginia Avenue Project will lead youth acting workshops in the park center’s fitness room. Police Activities League instructors will give martial arts demonstrations.
Grupo Folklorico Herencia Mexicana, the park’s youth dance program, and local Bulgarian band Veselba, will both perform in the Thelma Terry building.
FUN FOR TEENS Festival activities in the 2101 building and the courtyard will focus on the teenage crowd. Artist Joseph “Nuke” Montalvo of UNSK8 will teach teens airbrush and painting techniques as they create a mural for an interior wall of the teen center.
Longtime Virginia Avenue Park supporter DJ A-Ski is set to turn the courtyard into a hot music spot.
The Pico Youth & Family Center will host a Hip Hop workshop and contest.
ABOUT THE PARK Free parking is available at Santa Monica College’s parking lot structures “A” and “C” at Pico Boulevard and 17th Street. A free shuttle will transport people to and from the park. Big Blue Bus lines “7” and “11” also serve the park.
Previously covering 5.8 acres, the new Virginia Avenue Park is bounded by Pico Boulevard to the south, Cloverfield Boulevard to the east and Virginia Avenue to the north. Residences along 21st Street border the park’s western edge. The police substation previously on Pico Boulevard is also being moved into the park.
The park has basketball courts, playgrounds, community meeting rooms, as well as an outdoor stage.
Work crews renovated two buildings along Pico Boulevard that used to belong to Plastic Mart. The Plastic Mart buildings — at 2101 and 2115 Pico Blvd. — are to be used for a youth center, park activity rooms, administrative offices and a fitness room for PAL.
There’s a seasonal water-play area and a tree-shaded area for the Santa Monica Farmers Market, said Karen Ginsberg, assistant director of City Hall’s community and cultural services department.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 3, 2005. Read the original PDF.