Sunday, October 4, 2026

What’s Coming to Charles White Park: A Look at Altadena’s Major Park Rebuild

The five-acre project will bring a recreation center, Disney-designed playground, water features, lighted pickleball courts, public art and extensive landscaping to the fire-damaged park.

Charles White Park is slated for a $10.5 million transformation that will add a recreation center, redesigned playgrounds, water features, lighted pickleball courts, public art and new landscaping to the five-acre west Altadena site as the community rebuilds from the Eaton Fire.

County plans call for remaking the largely passive neighborhood park on Mountain View Street into a more active recreation, cultural and community space, with new facilities for children and families, improved accessibility and gathering areas.

The redevelopment was already being planned before the January 2025 fire, according to Los Angeles County. The project now combines that earlier redesign with the replacement of facilities lost in the disaster.

The park’s two playgrounds and restrooms burned in the Eaton Fire, while its broad lawns and trees were mostly spared, the county said. The planned improvements extend beyond replacing what was destroyed.

A More Active Park

The redevelopment calls for a new Charles White Park recreation center and new and renovated playground areas with nature-based and inclusive play features.

A splash pad and creek-style interactive water feature are planned, along with lighted pickleball courts and exercise equipment.

Plans also include new and improved walkways accessible to people with disabilities, terraced outdoor seating and gathering areas, and three enhanced park entrances.

Lighting and electrical improvements are included, along with new benches, tables and drinking fountains.

The landscape plan calls for climate-appropriate plantings, shade trees and irrigation improvements throughout the park. The county says dozens of trees, including oaks, cedars and sycamores, will be added.

A demonstration garden and outdoor classroom are planned, while public art will be incorporated throughout the property.

Disney’s Role

The Walt Disney Company has contributed $5 million toward the restoration, according to the county. Disney Imagineers are also contributing design expertise to the new playground and gathering spaces.

“We wanted to use the expertise of our Disney Imagineers to help bring the park’s new playground and gathering spaces to life,” Disney representative Emily Dow said in the county’s announcement.

Dow said the partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation is intended to create spaces where children and families can play, connect and make new memories.

How Much Will It Cost?

The announced investment in the reconstruction totals $10.5 million: $5.5 million from the state of California, secured by Assemblymember John Harabedian, and $5 million from Disney, according to an Oct. 2 release from Harabedian’s office.

California State Parks lists the state’s $5.5 million contribution as an enacted appropriation for Charles White Park in the 2025–26 budget year, in its Proposition 4 Allocation Balance Report dated March 23, 2026.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office had already announced in November 2025 that $10.5 million was secured for the park, while identifying additional fundraising needs elsewhere in Altadena’s park-recovery effort.

A Project Shaped by Residents

The county says the redesign grew in part out of community meetings where residents of different ages, including children, offered ideas and suggestions for the park’s new features.

That input helped shape plans for a site intended to accommodate children’s play, outdoor learning, exercise, cultural activities and neighborhood gatherings, rather than serving primarily as an expanse of lawns.

Remembering Charles White

The redevelopment is also intended to make the park’s namesake and his work more visible to visitors.

Charles White, a Black artist who lived in Altadena, depicted African American life and history in drawings, paintings and prints during a career spanning more than four decades. His work was celebrated at the Art Institute of Chicago and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Public art and interpretive areas are planned to honor his legacy. The county says many parkgoers know little about the artist whose name the park carries.

White’s son, Ian White, described his father’s work as encompassing both major historical moments and everyday life, from Chicago and New York to his adopted home of Altadena.

“The reimagining of the park would profoundly touch my father,” Ian White said in the announcement. “To spark the creative imagination, young and old, was his greatest pleasure.”

The cultural elements will be part of the broader park redesign, alongside its recreation facilities, landscaping and gathering spaces.

Rebuilding Community Space After the Fire

The park’s redevelopment is part of a recovery effort that extends beyond replacing homes and businesses.

Harabedian said in the county’s announcement that rebuilding a community also requires restoring the places where people spend time together.

Norma E. García-González, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, recalled residents’ calls to reopen parks quickly after the fires. She described Altadena’s parks as communal backyards that provide more than recreation and respite.

“When we reopen a park here we restore the heartbeat of this close-knit community,” García-González said.

Other Altadena Parks Remain Part of the Recovery

Charles White Park is one part of the effort to restore recreational spaces affected by the Eaton Fire.

Yvette Lopez-Ledesma, identified in the county’s announcement as the incoming executive director of the Los Angeles County Parks Foundation, said the restoration should be repeated at other fire-impacted parks in Altadena.

She called for corporate and philanthropic partners to help fill remaining gaps in the park-recovery effort. The county lists fundraising for Charles White Park as complete in its July 21 project update.

What Comes Next

The county held a groundbreaking for the redevelopment Oct. 3.

Construction is planned from fall 2026 through fall 2027, with a grand opening projected for fall 2027, according to a county Parks Department update dated July 21.

The county plans to rebuild the park in three phases. The fall 2027 opening is a projection, not a specific reopening date.

Related coverage: Eddie Rivera’s on-the-ground report, “Ground Broken on Reimagined Charles White Park.”