Oasis in an Urban Desert

I travelled to Southern California back in November for a 4 hour meeting. Eight hours in the air going out. A four hour meeting. Then an overnight stay to fly back home the following day. Trying to kill some time after the meeting, I found Noguchi Gardens, a couple of block from John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

Noguchi Gardens is a 1.5 acre park squeezed between a couple of high rises. The alleyway to the park was hidden by a TGIFriday’s, tucked behind a Commercia Bank building. If I didn’t have my phone and GPS, I never would have found it.

The park was designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1980 when this former lima bean field was transformed into high rise offices. The park is meant to represent the terrain found throughout California. There is a desert scene dominated by cacti. A forest scene representing the Redwoods of northern California. Even the large boulders are meant to represent the lima beans that were once grown at this location.

Today, this is a popular spot to escape the metropolitan landscape. People breakaway from their office cubes to take a private phone call. Mother and child visit a scene lush with trees and grass, an oasis in the middle of a concrete forest.