An imaginative playground of dragons, whales and octopi created by master concrete artisan Benjamin Dominguez

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 2017

I know the city of San Gabriel for its tongue-buckling Szechuan restaurants, and as the home of the oldest Spanish mission in LA County (see post #43). It’s one of the last places I’d expect to find a fantastical wonderland of concrete sea creatures, breaching the surface of an ocean of sand. But there it is, hidden behind the trees at the southeast corner of Vincent Lugo Park, accessible via a wooden footbridge: La Laguna de San Gabriel, aka “Dinosaur Park.”

While it was designed for play, La Laguna is more than a playground. It is a whole miniature world of 14 colorful larger-than-life sculptures, built to be climbed upon and slid down and crawled through. There’s Minnie the Whale and Stella the Starfish, Ozzie the Octopus, three dolphins named Flipper, Speedy and Peanut…my daughter’s favorite was a lighthouse you could climb through and then slide down a green dragon wrapped around it. The creatures all seem to talk to each other from across the sand, suggesting narratives for play.

La Laguna was the creation of Mexican concrete artist Benjamin Dominguez. In the 1920s, Dominguez attended La Academia de Artes Plasticas of the University of Mexico, where he learned to bend concrete to his whims, in particular the European art of “faux bois,” whereby an artist imitates look and texture of wood with other materials. Over the next three decades he made a name for himself in Mexico – among many other projects, he constructed the textured lion and tiger enclosures at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. All the while he raised 13 children with his wife Anna, which you have to imagine inspired the fanciful playgrounds of his later years. 

After immigrating to El Paso, TX in 1956, Dominguez was soon commissioned to build a concrete tree for the bear exhibit at the city’s Washington Park zoo (see pictures here). His first LA-area job was a bridge in Coldwater Park in Beverly Hills in 1957, soon followed by another for the Desert Inn Golf Course in Las Vegas. He and the family moved to Vegas, where Dominguez would make his first “hacer creer” (make believe) park in 1960, funded by The Women’s Service League. 

That same year the Dominguez family moved again to the LA suburb of La Puente (Spanish for “The Bridge” – a lovely linguistic connection to his first LA project three years earlier). Dominguez earned a contract to construct the playground at Legg Lake in Whittier Narrows (KCET has a great story about it here) and then an entire play environment at Atlantis Play Center in Garden Grove, both of which still stand. His sons often worked alongside him, molding the rebar and pouring the concrete to flesh out his designs.

Then came La Laguna, Dominguez’s final work, opened May 16, 1965. San Gabriel’s Parks and Recreation Department were impressed with his work at Atlantis, and commissioned Dominguez to “do something unique” with their park design. Mission accomplished. La Laguna integrated many of the themes and designs of his previous work, but turned them up to 11, made them even more immersive. 

La Laguna was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, as part of a larger group of sites connected to the “Latinos in 20th Century California” theme. Certainly Dominguez’s heritage played into his work – his creations were rooted in the craft traditions that he learned in Mexico; many of the tools he used were brought from Mexico, or made by him. But while Dominguez’s vision and artistry are the main stories here, La Laguna also represents a unique period in civic development. As the National Park Service explains, this was a time when cities were seeking ways to integrate art and creativity into public recreation, as opposed to just giving kids a place to get their ya-yas out. 

The difference is clear when you check out the other, more “traditional” play structure in the main section of Vincent Lugo Park – pretty nice on its own, and certainly it meets safety standards that La Laguna never would, were it built today. But it’s a place for exercising, not a place to let the imagination run wild, like La Laguna has been for nearly 60 years.

The story of La Laguna is yet another example of a local community banding together to fight for the preservation of a local landmark. In 2006, the city of San Gabriel announced it would demolish La Laguna as part of a broader renovation project. A group of locals formed Friends of La Laguna to save it, and after rallies, petitions, publicity and political wrangling, their efforts paid off. In 2009 the San Gabriel City Council voted to list La Laguna on the California Register of Historic Places, and designate it a local landmark for the City of San Gabriel (one of only two such designations). The Friends of La Laguna continue their work to preserve and restore La Laguna, piece by piece; Sandy the Sea Serpent recently got a fresh coat of paint, and my daughter’s beloved dragon-festooned lighthouse is next in line.

Sources & Recommended Reading

+La Laguna de San Gabriel’s NRHP nomination form

+Friends of La Laguna website

+Forgione, Mary: “The hidden story behind SoCal’s whimsical playground filled with monsters” (Los Angeles Times, 2022)

+Zarate, Eloy: “The Creatures of Legg Lake: Concrete Sculptures of Benjamin Dominguez” (KCET, 2015)

+A Special Park: Celebrating Dinosaur Park – La Laguna Playground (Senya Lubisich, President of Friends of La Laguna)

+Hong, Robert: “San Gabriel City Council protects La Laguna playground for future generations” (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 2009)