Just south of Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown, work continues to progress slowly for a new pocket park at the Pico Pico Library.

Under construction since 2024 at 649 S. Oxford Avenue, the project is building a new underground garage to serve the library, leaving space for an approximately 26,000-square-foot park above. Plans call for 50 stalls in the underground garage, as well as additional street parking to serve the library.

Construction at Pio Pico Library Pocket ParkJay Allen

JFAK Architects is designing the project, which is shown in plans with a playground, an event space, a shade structure, fitness equipment, a walking loop, benches, tables, trees, and landscaping.

"The Park is intended to serve the neighborhood and visitors to Koreatown," reads a narrative from the JFAK website. "It will function as an outdoor extension of the Library providing reading areas and social spaces for Library patrons. The project will also include façade enhancements to the public library, which fronts directly onto the park. The library’s new façade will include a new building logo that will form a bold graphic on the building and will help to enliven the identity of the park."

According to an initial study published in 2019 by the City of Los Angeles, construction of the pocket park was expected to take approximately 18 months.

Construction at Pio Pico Library Pocket ParkJay Allen

The Pio Pico Park is an attempt to make up for a failed CRA/LA effort to convert the once empty lot at 7th Street and Hobart Avenue into "Koreatown Central Park."  That plan fell through with the demise of the statewide CRA systems, and the proposed site has since been redeveloped with an apartment building called the Pearl on Wilshire. Koreatown remains one of the most park-poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles, though plans have recently emerged for a second small green space to the north along Kingsley Drive.

The library site abuts an existing office building at 3700 Wilshire Boulevard, which is slated to be transformed into housing by Jamison Services.

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