Pasadena Arroyo Parks and Recreation District

Pasadena's Arroyo Parks and Recreation District occupies the Arroyo Seco canyon along the city's western edge, about 700 acres in total. The Central Arroyo holds the Rose Bowl Stadium, Brookside Golf Club and Brookside Park, with its baseball fields, tennis courts, aquatic center and picnic areas. The quieter Lower Arroyo has a naturalistic landscape with trails, a casting pond and clubhouse, an archery range, and the Bird Sanctuary. Arroyo stone retaining walls, fountains and trail edging, many built during the Depression, give the canyon an Arts and Crafts character. Roads, bridges and a concrete flood control channel link the areas. The district matters because it shows how Pasadena protected the canyon's scenery while building public recreation facilities, guided by the 1918 Arroyo Seco Park Plan. Its period of significance runs from 1909 to 1939, and many historic uses continue where they began, including baseball at the field later named for Jackie Robinson.