Architect Zoltan Pali, far right, and architect Sid Majumdar, second from far right, gather input on plans to rebuild the Houghton Park Community Center during a meeting about the project on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Staff Writer
Architects and city officials gathered input from high school students, senior citizens, land preservationists and residents at a community meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 14 to discuss rebuilding the aging Houghton Park Community Center in north Long Beach.
The diverse crowd of about 50 people brought up concepts including: installing an indoor gym; developing a computer lab for children and seniors; creating more “quite spaces” and possibly building community gardens surrounding the center.
Another concept brought forward was to incorporate other nearby ongoing infrastructure projects, including the new north library and Jordan High School renovations, into an updated “master plan” for Houghton Park.
The community meeting organized by 9th District Councilmember Rex Richardson is the latest in a series of meetings that his office is conducting, along with Culver City-based Studio Pali Fekete Architects, which was hired by the City, to receive input from the community on the new center’s design. The architect presented a 3D model of the park during the presentation.
“This has been the heart of our community here in Uptown,” Richardson said during the community meeting. “This has been one of the only areas for almost 100 years for people to convene, and we really want to see it receive the attention that it deserves.”
Local youth look over a 3D model of Houghton Park during a community meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 14 about a project to rebuild a portion or all of a historic community center that dates back to the 1930s.
City officials and architects, however, confirmed at the meeting that the City is planning to possibly preserve a portion of the existing historical center as a local landmark at the request of land preservationists.
The Long Beach Heritage Foundation has objected to the demolition of the existing center. According to the organization, the original clubhouse structure has Spanish-revival-style architecture that dates back to 1930 and should be deemed a historic landmark.
Three acres of a farm owned by the family of Col. Sherman Otis Houghton, a famed landowner and early American pioneer who was elected to the United States Congress after serving in the Civil War, was donated to the City for the purposes of building the park located in the 9th Council District at 6301 Myrtle Ave. off of Atlantic Avenue.
As part of ongoing renovations to Houghton Park, the City plans to build a new community center expected to cost nearly $10 million, according to city staff.
City staff states that the City Council has appropriated $3 million from one-time surplus funds in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget during former 9th District Councilmember Steven Neal’s term for the design phase of the project, however it was determined that only $1.3 million would be needed for the design. The rest of the appropriated funding would be used for construction.
The 9th District Council office has launched a website about renovations to the park at imaginehoughton.com .
