Back in 2019, we reported on the opening of a new playground at Pan Pacific Park that was part of a larger park renewal project shepherded by then-City Councilmember David Ryu. The improvement package also included new athletic fields, a rebuilt baseball diamond, and new irrigation. Sadly, on July 12, the toddler portion of the new playground was heavily damaged by an early morning fire, and much of the 3-year-old play equipment was heavily damaged.
While little official information is available so far about the blaze, there are two short user-generated videos posted on the Citizen app, timestamped at 12:48 a.m., one of which shows the fire in progress.
The origin of the fire has not yet been confirmed, but neighbors posting on NextDoor.com in the days after the fire said they’d heard reports that it was started by a homeless person, and a story in the Beverly Press on Thursday quoted an unnamed park employee who said, “We’re going on a pretty secure guess that it was a homeless [individual] that set it on fire.”
City Councilmember Paul Koretz said in a statement provided to the Buzz this morning: “ What a sad situation that this play structure that was part of a park improvement project under Councilmember Ryu only a few years ago was destroyed in such a heartless and totally destructive manner. This barbaric and heartless act is the worst kind of vandalism – it hurts the community as well as families throughout Los Angeles who love bringing their children to the Pan Pacific park facility.”
A Koretz spokesperson also said his staff “plans to meet with the Department of Recreation and Parks this coming week to learn more,” so there’s no word yet about potential repairs or replacement of the damaged equipment.
Here are some more photos of the damaged play area:
Finally, just to be clear, the adjacent play equipment (the blue and orange structures a few feet away from the damaged green and brown structures), for slightly older kids, was not damaged in the fire, and is still safe, clean, and open for play.
