Seriously, reviewing parks is hard, at least for me, so imagine how much harder it'd be for me to…read morereview a neighborhood parkette like this one! With additional encouragement from my Yelp friend, Lilah J, who also encouraged FTR of Lee Ware Park, here goes another FTR of another park in the City of Hawaiian Gardens.
Did I mention what city Pioneer Park is in? Did I mention it's on the northeast corner of Pioneer and 223rd? If you are traveling southbound on Pioneer, it's three blocks south of Carson Street, and you'll want to look to your left. There isn't a designated parking lot for Pioneer Park, and actually, when I first drove around the area, I couldn't find even one spot on the street that was within reasonable walking distance! That's when I decided to call it quits and visit Lee Ware Park that day.
I waited another day to visit Pioneer Park, and it's honestly a pretty low key park that it absolutely pales in comparison to Clarkdale, which isn't that far away. I mentioned in my Lee Ware Park review that it took me about 5 minutes to walk from Pioneer to Clarkdale in 90-degree weather, and it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Good exercise for the family or maybe a good route to walk your dog!
What Clarkdale Park has that Pioneer Park does not have:
Basketball court
Restrooms
Splash Pad
Picnic shelter with a roof
Swings, including a tire swing
And a Skate Park?! Yup, a skate park nestled in the midst of blocks of houses and houses.
What Pioneer Park has that Clarkdale Park does not have:
An American flag on the City of Hawaiian Gardens park sign
Fence between the grass and the sidewalk
And that's pretty much it lol.
The American flag decor on the Pioneer Park sign does look pretty cool and is worthy of some family photos, but other than that, if you visit Clarkdale or even Lee Ware Park, but bypass Pioneer Park, you're honestly not missing out on much.
The playground at Pioneer Park is designed for children ages 5 to 12, but is quite small. Hard to compare to the other parks, but I'd say it's about the same size as the one at Lee Ware.
A couple of picnic tables reside at this park, but as alluded to earlier, there isn't a roofed shelter. Depending on the time of day, you might get some shade anyways from the neighboring trees.
There's also a walkway that cuts through the park, but it's not really much of a shortcut if you want to round the corner at that intersection. In other words, you'd only be saving a few paces and seconds by strolling through this park.
And that's just about it lol. It would be difficult to hold a family gathering here like the one I saw at Clarkdale that day. I'd say it can comfortably fit about three families at any given time, but any more, and I'd call it pretty crowded.
But if Clarkdale is crowded, and you want to visit a quieter park nearby, this will suffice, assuming, of course, there aren't kids running with abandon. On my visit, I only saw one other person in the park sitting at a picnic table.
Compared to Lee Ware Park, which I gave 3 stars, Pioneer Park is no better. However, I don't see any reason to give 2 stars, so 3 it is then! Just don't come here with a basketball unless you're trying to extricate a kite from a tree.
