The land for the park was sold to the City of Long Beach by members of the
Bixby family and was financed using bond money floated in the 1950s and '60s, and the varied topography comes from soil removed to construct the San Gabriel Freeway. Recreation Commission member Milton B. Arthur is credited with ensuring that the site was acquired by the City for a park before it was developed into homes.
Former Naval Hospital 70 acres at the north end of the park was sold by the City of Long Beach to the Navy for $1 in 1965 to build a new naval hospital, replacing its World War II-era facilities located on Pacific Coast Highway on the facilities later used by the (closed) Brooks College and now as student housing at
Cal State Long Beach. It became known for its alcoholism treatment program which launched in 1967 and became known as the hub of the military's dependency program. Perhaps its most famous patient was
Betty Ford, who was admitted for drug and alcohol dependence in 1978. Another famous patient was Nazi war criminal
Andrija Artukovic. This hospital closed in 1994 along with the closing of the
Long Beach Naval Shipyard and Naval Station and disbanding of the Long Beach Naval Fleet. Rather than returning the land to park use, the city proposed a shopping mall. After years of legal battles by neighboring cities, who were concerned with the loss of sales tax revenue as well as competition with their own shopping malls, the center opened in 2000. ==Amenities==