A small, peaceful park for young children, located in La Mirada, CA.
13300 Avd San Martin, La Mirada, CA 90638
Hours: Monday-Sunday (6 AM-7 PM)
Restrooms? No
Playground Surface: Mostly sand, with some rubber areas.
Parking Lot? No. Street parking only. Usually plenty of room.
Gated/Fenced? No
Overview
Located in La Mirada, California, Anna J. Martin park is a rather small park with your standard playground equipment.
The biggest upside to this park is the peace and quiet that come with the lack of crowds. The park is tucked away in the back of a residential area, surrounded by nice neighborhoods. Despite being small, the park does have a reasonably sized grass area to kick or toss the ball around and for the kids to run. Lots of trees offer some shade and a place to relax and read a book or take a short nap. The park is almost never crowded and I have never visited when there were more than one or two other groups besides my family. Just down the road is the popular Behringer Park, with its huge and busy ball fields, drawing in the crowds that Anna J. Martin lacks.
Features
Play Structure for Kids Ages 5-12 Years Old
- One baby (bucket) swing and two bench swings
- 3 slides, including a roller slide and two spiral slides
- Small climbing wall, monkey bars, and boulder wall
- Snake spiral climbing ladder, snake arch climbing ladder, and floating saucer climbing tunnel
Play Area for Kids Ages 2-5 Years Old
- Race slide, tunnel crawler, arch, track climber, and deep rung vertical climbing ladder
- Mechanical toddler play panels
Other Amenities
- Small gazebo area with one bench and one barbecue grill
- Reasonable amount of lawn area with trees providing shade
- Paved walking path
- Four benches spread out around the playground area
Scout’s Story
I first brought our daughter, Scout, to Anna J. Martin Park a week after her first birthday. As she was just learning to walk well and not super steady on her feet, this lesser visited park was a great place for her to run and play without having to worry about her getting in the way of the bigger kids.
Three months after our first visit, Scout was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. As we navigated her treatment and began chemotherapy, keeping her safe and away from crowds due to her immune system being compromised was one of our main goals. We also wanted to let her do normal kid things and not just completely sequester her away. I have brought Scout to this park numerous times, being that it is so close to our house and provided her a reasonably safe environment (due to the small crowds) from getting sick.
One of the many tough parts of this journey through Scout’s cancer treatment has been having to keep Scout away from other kids to prevent her from getting sick, since she doesn’t have the ability to fight off disease like a normal person would. It’s a fine line between letting her be a normal kid and keeping her safe. Parks like Anna J. Martin have been amazing for us in the fact that they have given us a place to take Scout and let her feel free for a short period. While this park is pretty standard, it is very pretty and quiet, and will always hold special memories for me of bringing our daughter here while she was advancing forward in her fight.
