Comments (1) Best Park for Kids - 2008
Portola Park and the Children's Museum at La Habra
The odd-shaped park next to decommissioned train cars, the La Habra Depot Theater and working-class neighborhoods boasts three baseball diamonds, basketball courts, an impressive tennis center with several lighted courts, and open space with strategically placed shade trees, picnic benches and barbecues. That should be enough to take care of the older kids. Now let's talk rugrats. Within the park is the Children's Museum, which is smaller than certain others in the county with millionaire benefactors, high-end public-relations firms and constant mainstream-media coverage. But many attractions are packed into the compact space. Just off the lobby is the Science Station, which is currently filled with displays about water, storm drains and sediments. Sure, sounds boring, but give kids a trough filled with mud they can sink their hands into, and they'll leave you alone for hours. The Carousel Room has a small carousel, a replica of a produce stand with plastic fruits and vegetables that can be weighed on a scale, and Buster the Bus, a chunk of an actual municipal bus donated by the Orange Country Transportation Authority. Sit inside and take it for a pretend spin. The Changing Gallery is not, thankfully, for diapering. It is the changing exhibit space that currently houses the Backyard Safari, which explores critters such as butterflies and spiders. The Kids On Stage room lets your little ones slip into costumes used in children's theater productions. There's also a teeny stage where they can get all Brando on you. Outdoors, there are the Train Village with the old cars, the Dinosaur Garden (basically two dinosaur statues in bushes), a Nature Walk, and playground gear that'll have 'em sliding, swinging and digging all afternoon. All in all, there's enough packed in to guarantee someone will be napping by the time he or she is strapped into the carseat. As they say in the credit-card commercials: priceless.
