NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — Driving down 4th Street or Euclid Ave in National City, It’s almost impossible to miss the 25-acre recreational land — El Toyon Park. El Toyon Park has been a staple of National City since it was dedicated in 1957. Ever since, the park has seen a variety of grants and improvements transforming it into the busy community-serving area it is today.
El Toyon Park is a community landmark in National City, just as Golden Gate Park is in San Francisco and as Central Park is in New York City, just with the exception that El Toyon Park is a light 800 acres smaller. The park is the second-oldest in National City with Kimball Park being the first opened park in the city.
On any day you can catch the grass fields and walkways of El Toyon park bustling with people. Some enjoy the company of friends and family with events, some doing their regularly-scheduled exercise and others play sports with those closest.
“For National City, there is a growing population where there is always a need for more park space,” Jhoanne McGhee, lead of staff at National City’s Parks, Recreation, & Senior Citizens Advisory Committee, said. “In particular when I was growing up here we lived in an apartment so we didn’t have a backyard, so our parks are our backyard.”
Much of the community takes pride in being able to embrace the opportunities provided by the park.
McGhee, a San Diego State University Alumni who now works with the committee, has lived in National City for much of her life and has used her previous passion for parks in National City to inspire her career.
“We came to America when I was very little and we lived in National City,” McGhee said. “My parents struggled so working was an important role for me to take the burden off my parents. When I turned 15 I got a workers permit and I worked for the city of San Diego as a recreation aide. I kept doing that and then I found that they had an actual degree in Parks and recreation, I was like, ‘this is so cool!’”
El Toyon Park sits nestled next to a sloped hill off the 805 in the North of National City. It is encompassed by a surrounding of homes, apartments, schools and local shops.
“It's really residential and really a hub for people,” McGhee said.
In late 2021, National City received an around $5 million grant to improve and expand the already existing park as part of Prop. 68’s Statewide Park Program.
The planning for the grant, according to ParksforCalifornia.org, stated that National City would, “Construct a community event and farmers market area, 4 pickleball courts with fencing, a community garden, Class I bikeway, walking paths, 3 new shade structures, a new scoreboard, public art, a sports warm up area, a gateway entry, and security cameras, with new lighting, landscaping and signage throughout the park,” and much more including renovations to the existing facilities.
The funding for the grant needs to be expended by the year 2025 but the city council have already approved some of the developments.
“Part of Prop 68 has proposed to have that (football) field resurfaced. They’re still very much in the development and design phase so no shovels have been put in the ground yet but they are proposing to expand the field to make it a more comprehensive playing space.”
Many people make no waste of the vast array of recreational land provided at El Toyon Park.
As early as eight in the morning, you can find professional soccer players such as Brandon Zambrano and Larkin Russel training and working on their technical abilities at the soon-to-be-renovated football field. Zambrano and Russel have both been making use of the free-to-use field to better their skills during their offseasons,
“Since High School I would come train,” Zambrano said. “It's a lot to do.”
Zambrano lives four minutes away from the park and constantly attends since it's one of the closest. He’s almost a native in National City having spent much of his life here.
“We moved from Mexico when I was eight,” Zambrano said.
Both Zambrano and Russel expressed their gratitude for being able to have open parks to play soccer. Russel even reflected how it can be difficult to find places to play soccer in many places around the world - referencing a specific occasion in Cyprus.
Soccer is just one of many uses for El Toyon Park and parks around the world. The trio of National City residents, Ray Becamon, Alex Garcia and Jason “JJ” Marcelo also spend their time playing sports at the park, but instead they’re basketball fanatics.
“It’s just a staple for the community, Marcelo said regarding the park.”
“I see almost the same people here every day,” Garcia added.
The trio are long-time residents in the city. Becamon has been living in National City all 25 years of his life, Marcelo all 24 and Garcia has lived there 14 of his 23. They are also long-time visitors of El Toyon Park.
The trio are long-time residents of the city. Becamon has been living in National City all 25 years of his life, Marcelo all 24 and Garcia has lived there 14 of his 23. They are also long-time visitors of El Toyon Park.
“(I’ve come) since I was four,” Becamon said. “I would say since I was eight years old,” Garcia said subsequently. “Since I was 14,” Marcelo added.
Developing and maintaining El Toyon park as well as other parks around National City is important for the development of the community, but it's also vital in National City — a city limited in land space that is also somehow riddled with empty/abandoned parcels of land. Pollutants from transportation, roads and certain types of facilities such as industrial, port and military bases have most likely significantly affected air and water quality which has resulted in industrial toxic pollution and air pollution around the city and also potentially in Brownfields, which is property that may be complicated by the presence, or potential presence, of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
According to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s CalEnviroScreen 4.0, National City is in the higher percentiles for areas in San Diego with toxic release from facilities, pollution burden, asthma, hazardous waste, groundwater threats and even housing burden. In 2010, according to the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health, National City was home to 32 million pounds of hazardous substances and 870,000 cubic feet of toxic or hazardous gasses. In comparison, La Jolla was home to 3.8 million pounds of hazardous gases.
This again shows the importance of parks. Bringing in green space and clean air is vital for a community plagued by industrial toxic pollution and air pollution.
“For National City (parks are) really important because we don't have a ton of land popping up, it's already established,” McGhee said. “So we have to protect our parks and make sure they’re safe spaces to come to.”
Credits:
Morgan Prickett