Nine years after the initial proposal to create a pocket park in the Los Angeles Koreatown neighborhood, the project is finally set to begin construction.
On July 30, the office of Councilmember Heather Hutt of District 10 announced that a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at noon on August 5 at the Pio Pico-Koreatown Branch Library, located at 694 S. Oxford Avenue. The new park will be constructed on the existing library parking lot.
“We’re inviting Korean Americans and community organizations to come out and celebrate the park coming to Koreatown,” said Jungmin Lee, Deputy of Constituent Services at the Office of Heather Hutt.

A fence has recently been installed around the Pio Pico Library parking lot, indicating that construction is set to begin soon. The City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (DBS) issued a building permit for the $26 million project on July 22.
The plan involves building a 26,000-square-foot park. The current library parking lot will be removed for the project and replaced with a new underground parking garage that will provide approximately 50 parking spaces.
According to JFAK Architects, the project’s designer, the new green space will feature event facilities, a playground, shade structures, fitness equipment, walking paths, benches, tables, trees, and landscaping.

The city expects construction to take about 18 months, meaning the park will likely be finished and ready for use by late next year or early the following year.
The groundbreaking of this pocket park is significant for Koreatown, as the project has faced numerous setbacks over the years.
A decade ago, an effort to develop a vacant lot near 7th Street and Hobart Avenue as “Koreatown Central Park” fell through when the state’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which was supposed to provide funding, was shut down. The site was subsequently redeveloped into an apartment building.
In 2015, the city of Los Angeles moved forward with a pocket park in the parking lot of the nearby Pio Pico Park. This proposal was initiated by then-Councilmember Herb Wesson in response to public outcry over the lack of green space in Koreatown.
However, the project remained in limbo due to rising construction costs, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a vacancy in the Council District 10 seat, which delayed progress for a significant amount of time.
The pocket park plan was dramatically revived in May last year when Councilmember Hutt filed a motion to request funding for the project.
BY SUAH JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.suah@koreadaily.com]