Alvarado Park

 park, hiking, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places

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Great for picnics. Leads to hiking, mountain biking trails throughout Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. See www.ebparks.org/parks/wildcat.htm.

Alvarado Park consists of 42 acres of sloping land, together with the canyon of Wildcat Creek, on the west side of the Richmond Hills. The park's original developer, Bernard Shapiro, envisioned his "Grand Canyon Park"—the name was changed to Alvarado Park in 1923—as a showpiece of nature within the patchwork of residential lots that his company had subdivided on two sides of the park.

Alvarado Park has its origins in the outdoor recreation movement of the early 20th century. The site's developer, Bernard Shapiro, touted Wildcat Canyon as a scenic area on the edge of his poorly-selling real estate subdivision. Although the park's basic form was determined during this era of private ownership, most of its elements were not constructed until the middle 1930s. Beginning in 1934, work relief money was channeled into improvement projects at Alvarado Park. The first recorded project was funded by the Civil Works Administration [CWA], the earliest of the federal programs designed to provide work for the unemployed during the depths of the Depression. This was followed by grants from the State Emergency Relief Administration, Alvarado Park is largely a product of the Depression- fighting policies of the federal and state governments. It also reflects local government's efforts to improve public facilities through the talents of local
unemployed craftsmen.

National Register of HIstoric Places # 92000313