The cool thing about Yelp is that you can live somewhere for years, but not know about a hidden gem…read moreuntil you look it up on Yelp. That wasn't quite the case for me, but hopefully, this FTR (First to Review) will be for you if you've stumbled upon this review.
Palm Street Park is located on the north side of Palm St between Clark and Lakewood. Honestly, I didn't even know about this park until I was randomly browsing the neighborhood on Google Maps satellite view. It's right by the 91 freeway, but the park is so thin that it's easy to miss from a birds eye view. That, and you also have to zoom in at a certain level to even know that's a park and not some random patch of grass for the cows to graze on.
I turned right onto Palm St from Clark, and there was a huge line of cars parked on the street on the right hand side. There was a vacant spot before the start of the line, but as soon as I got out of my car, I noticed a "No parking" sign that indicated we couldn't park between 6 AM and 5 PM. The hour hand had not surpassed the 5 at the time, but like I said, I saw so many cars parked on the street! It confused me, and I wasn't sure if they were patronizing the park or simply visiting their friends/family who lived in the immediate vicinity.
Luckily, I remembered that there was a lot somewhere in the middle of the park, so I hopped back in my car and drove to that lot, which was mostly vacant, surprisingly enough.
First and foremost, don't bring any sports equipment because there aren't any basketball courts, baseball fields, tennis courts, soccer fields, or anything of the like at this park. There is a playground, walking trail, and a handful of picnic tables, but not much else at this park that you certainly wouldn't want to drive across town for.
However, the walking trail does make for a good place to stretch your legs, especially in the middle of a road trip on the 91 freeway. If you're going eastbound on the 91, take the Lakewood Blvd exit; also, if you want to get back on the 91 East, you can get back on directly from Palm St, conveniently enough. If you're going westbound on the 91, take the Clark Ave exit, but you'd have to take the Lakewood Blvd exit to continue towards South Bay.
The park may seem long at first glance, but it's really not as long as it may appear. I traversed the length of the park in 9 minutes, and that even included taking some photos along the way to supplement this review. There are two ways to get through this park: of course, the walking trail that I've alluded to in the previous two paragraphs, and the sidewalk. You can go from one end of the park to the other via the sidewalk, but not necessarily the walking trail. Let me try to explain further.
On the east end of the park, there's a short trail that cuts through the corner so you don't have to go around the Palm Street Park sign on the corner of Palm and Clark. The trail then ends at the sidewalk, and after a few more feet on the sidewalk, you can hop back on the trail and continue your westerly walk. Why they did it this way, I have no idea, but it was probably for the better, at least during my visit, since I noticed some strange people lingering about between those two segments of the trail. Luckily, they didn't bother me, but they were making quite a bit of noise compared to more upstanding denizens trying to enjoy some quality time for themselves.
The trail continues by the hillside where you cross a playground, picnic tables, and the parking lot. After the parking lot, the trail continues, but then you'd reach two junction points that let you branch off to the sidewalk early. Or you can stay on the trail until you can't stay on the trail anymore, which would be about halfway between the parking lot and the west end of the park. After that, the sidewalk will take you to the pedestrian crosswalk, denoting the end of the park.
And if you're still not sure you're at the end of the park, there will be double squiggly blue structures that denote the park's end. The north side of the park is pretty much the hillside, and there are signs in the park telling you to stay off the hillside for safety reasons. Even if you were allowed to, there's really no reason or rhyme to ascend the hill since it just leads to a wall, and the freeway is on the other side of the wall.
Between the playground and the east end, there's a dropoff zone next to a pavemented area that connects the walking trail to the sidewalk. However, when I visited, I saw short poles at either end of the dropoff zone, prohibiting vehicle entry.
You can also find a blue Little Free Library at this park, but when I visited, I saw no books inside.
Somewhere along the walking trail, there's an informational sign showing the plants in the park. However, the sign is so filthy it's practically illegible! A missed learning opportunity!
Overall, not a bad park, but definitely pales in comparison to Simms Park due north on Clark. And yes, I meant to rhyme here lol
