Traveling a short way down Harbor Boulevard over the 91 Freeway from Fullerton to Anaheim, it’s hard not to notice Pearson Park. With a brightly colored mural honoring Kobe and Gianna Bryant, a set of basketball courts, a public swimming pool, a beautiful cactus garden, and a spacious outdoor amphitheater, among other amenities, this nineteen-acre park has historic ties to Anaheim’s past. The grounds stretch from Harbor to Lemon and also house one of Orange County’s oldest examples of public art. On a weekend in late November, I visited Anaheim’s first city park with my family.

Pearson Park has been around long enough that the City of Anaheim and north Orange County were still a part of Los Angeles County when the park was first created with a 1920 bond issue, according to Voice of OC. This park was dedicated on July 15, 1927. Initially called “Anaheim City Park,” the green space was renamed in 1960 to honor former Anaheim mayor Charles A. Pearson, who served from 1945 to 1959, according to the city’s website.

The park’s drought-resistant landscaping is also rooted in history. According to a sign posted within the cacti on one end of the park, the present-day cactus garden was originally designed by famed botanist and creator of the “boysenberry,” Rudolph ‘Rudy’ Boysen, Superintendent of Anaheim City Parks from 1928 to 1949. I happened to learn about this earlier while watching a rerun of Huell Howser’s “California’s Gold” with my parents on PBS. While there isn’t an exact date for when Rudy Boysen first started construction of the cactus garden, it is mentioned as early as February 1932 in the Anaheim Gazette.

Boysen helped find a variety of cacti for this garden, including several rare species. The city’s sign reads, “With the help of fellow plant enthusiasts, specimens were collected during expeditions to Arizona, Mexico, and southern California deserts.” A complete historic timeline of the cactus collection process can be read on the same sign.

Some of “Rudy’s favorite specimens,” including Queen Victoria Agave, Woolly Joint Prickly Pear, Bakersfield Cactus, Saguaro Cactus, and Blue Euphorbia, can be spotted throughout today’s historic cactus garden. Black fences surround each area of the garden, which is walkable and wheelchair friendly.

A rock-lined pond populated by ducks sits a few feet away from the cactus garden, and stretches toward the park’s northeast corner near the intersection of West Sycamore Street and Lemon. This pond dates back to the park’s original plan, according to a 2020 story by Sandi Hemmerlein of PBS SoCal. City signs sticking out of the pond warn visitors to “please do not feed the wildlife” because “bread and other foods may harm or kill the wildlife and damage their habitat.”

Some of the larger ducks on the grass around the pond seemed more aggressive than the smaller ones that were swimming in the water when my family walked by, so it may be best to observe them from afar. In fact, there are so many ducks at this park that the city has posted duck crossing signs.

Small stone bridges can be found along the pathways that wind next to the waterways connecting the park’s ponds. Interestingly, sections of aquatic plant life growing in the middle sections of the ponds were netted off to keep the ducks out and preserve the wildlife. If you visit the park, watch where you’re stepping since there’s a lot of duck feces hidden in the grass and visible on the sidewalks in this area.

The long sidewalk adjacent to the ponds leads straight to one of the oldest examples of public art in Orange County. This double-sided statue came out of FDR’s Works Progress Administration and the California State Emergency Relief Administration in 1935, according to a well-worn plaque at the base of the statue. One side features the likeness of Helena Modjeska, who had established an artists’ colony in Anaheim in 1876. Helena Modjeska was not only a notable Orange County historical figure, but she was also a famous Shakespearean stage actor and Polish expatriate, according to a 2020 PBS SoCal Wanderer article.

In the park today, Modjeska is depicted in statue form as playing Mary, Queen of Scots. Modjeska’s likeness was sculpted by an artist named Eugene Maier-Krieg and her statue was dedicated September 15, 1935. On the reverse side are four vineyard workers representing “the agricultural nature of the original Anaheim colony,” according to the plaque.

Pearson Park’s historic amphitheater and ballfield stadium grandstands were both built in 1927, according to SoCal Landmarks. Since 1933, the Pearson Park Amphitheater has offered entertainment events in the park during the summer months for people all across Southern California. The structure was designed to replicate the city’s Spanish-style architecture with terra-cotta roof tiles. The amphitheater area also features wisteria and bougainvillea growing on column-supported arbors, tall fan palms, pygmy date palms and colorful impatiens. Donor bricks with engraved names can be seen lining the entrance walkway. Currently, the outdoor stadium can seat just over 2,000 people, according to the Anaheim Community Services Department.

At the south end of the park, there’s a play area for children, along with various sports fields, including a lighted football/soccer area, lighted softball fields, lighted tennis courts, a volleyball court, and a public swimming pool. The historic ballpark stadium grandstands were still lit even in the middle of the day when I visited. A concession stand and restrooms sat nearby the stadium grandstands. I remember taking swimming lessons at Pearson Park’s public pool when I was a kid, and was glad to see people still using the pool.

Close by the pool is a basketball court. Here, there’s a double-sided piece of public art by Brian Peterson. One side features a butterfly-painted mural with text on it; the opposite side features a mural depicting the likenesses of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. Bold text that reads, “Be Better Everyday / Play Gigi’s Way” is visible from Harbor.

Text on the butterfly painted side reads, “Anaheim holds a special place for the Bryant family. Vanessa Bryant attended St. Boniface Parochial School in Anaheim. She was a cheerleader at the school, which used Pearson Park as a venue for its football games. Vanessa chose to dedicate this Dream Court with Nancy Lieberman charities so the Anaheim community may share in continuing the legacy of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, who would be happy to know that boys and girls will now have the opportunity to compete, learn, and play through the game they loved so much.”

Home to many pieces of Anaheim history, Pearson Park remains well used and well-loved today, and it was very crowded the weekend I visited. Pearson Park is located at 400 N. Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim. Park hours are 5:00 am to 10:30 pm, Monday through Sunday.