Farnsworth Park in Altadena, closed since the 2025 Eaton Fire, now moves into active recovery as restoration work gets underway. The nearly 15-acre park, a fixture for local residents, took heavy losses in January 2025 when wildfire destroyed the historic William D. Davies Building, a utility building, and offices. The fire also damaged the amphitheater, playground, restroom, and essential power and water systems. This closure put a stop to concerts and theater, youth baseball and softball, and family recreation that had long shaped the park's place in Altadena.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna and Supervisor Kathryn Barger joined other officials, community supporters, and donors at the park to mark the start of the restoration. The November 5, 2026 event featured a special announcement and guided tours outlining the planned upgrades. Attendees also saw the groundbreaking for the Dodgers Dreamfields, a project focused on reviving youth sports facilities at the park. The Dodgers Dreamfields at Farnsworth Park will be the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation's 69th and 70th fields, with a $1.4 million investment to restore both the upper and lower ballfields. Planned upgrades include new sod or playing surfaces, improved irrigation, fencing, better batting cages, shade-covered bleachers, and solar-powered hexagonal scoreboards modeled after those at Dodger Stadium. The fields are set up for organized baseball and softball for children ages 5-12 and will offer open recreation for youth and teens up to age 18. A permanent, self-guided STEM trail will link the two fields and use the foundation's Science of Baseball curriculum, combining sports facilities with educational programming. The Dodgers Foundation described the project as one that will "fully restore both fields and reintroduce safe, inclusive spaces for local youth and families."
Community and Recovery Efforts
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department voiced support for Altadena as recovery and rebuilding move forward. Restoring Farnsworth Park is seen as a step toward bringing back public spaces and encouraging renewed community involvement after the wildfire's disruption. This comes amid ongoing concerns about wildfire risks and community resilience in California, as reported earlier in other regions facing similar issues.
The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation leads the restoration, with help from the Los Angeles County Parks Foundation and other public and philanthropic partners. The county assembled about $17.2 million for rebuilding, according to Pasadena Star-News, with the broader plan covering the amphitheater, new restrooms, a reflection garden, a science-based trail, and the park's two main ballfields. Additional funding includes $5 million from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for a healing and reflection garden on the park's west side, and $3 million from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for restroom rebuilding, landscaping, and related work. In November 2025, Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced that Los Angeles County had secured over $60 million for recovery projects, with $8.75 million set aside for Farnsworth Park's Phase I and Phase II restoration. These allocations show a wider public-sector response to the Eaton Fire's impact on Altadena's public infrastructure and community facilities. Pasadena Star-News and Hey SoCal have covered the multi-agency funding and phased approach.
Major reconstruction remains unresolved for the historic Davies Building and other park structures. In July, Los Angeles County Parks told the Altadena Town Council that $63 million was still needed for the Davies Building and other structures, with $48 million specifically for the Davies Building. The department had applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding but had not received FEMA money for any Altadena parks at that point. The county's July schedule projected a spring 2027 grand opening for the Dodgers-fields phase, depending on completion of a legally required accessible path of travel and restrooms, as reported by Pasadena Now.
The restoration launch and Dodgers Dreamfields groundbreaking were organized around two parallel milestones: a county-led program marking the start of the park's broader restoration and a groundbreaking for the Dodgers Foundation's two-field project. The fields are expected to restore a major recreational asset for Central Altadena Little League and other local youth programs that lost access after the fire. The project is structured as a partnership between the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and Los Angeles County Parks, and represents an operational partial recovery while the county continues pursuing funds for the park's larger structures. The broader reopening process is being staged in phases rather than as a single completed reconstruction project, reflecting the complexity of restoring a facility that once served as a hub for concerts, theater, youth sports, and family recreation.
For Altadena residents, the restoration means more than physical repairs. It signals a renewed effort to bring families together and rebuild spaces that support local life and recreation. The Dodgers Dreamfields and the planned STEM trail are designed to provide athletic opportunities and educational and healing spaces for the community as it recovers from the Eaton Fire. Further details on the Dodgers Dreamfields project and the park's phased restoration are available at Major League Baseball.
