Rainbow Lagoon

Was not impressed. The water was filthy with tons of debris. Didn’t enjoy ourselves at all

I went to the 3 day Jazz Festival. The first day we had a Cabana and I was also a guest. I knew we got 2 bottles of wine, but our server was new and didn’t know what the guest with Green Bands were allowed (We were told 2 drinks, no buffet) then told the drinks were 2 sodas and allowed to eat at the buffet. I bought a frozen margarita and had to wait forever for a straw. I did have a good time.
Day 2, I had front row (VIP). The lot wasn’t full but I was not allowed to park there. No Handicap parking and I had to pay $ 10 across the street. I paid, parked and was asked for my parking ticket. I told the guy I wasn’t given one. I gave the guy a $ 20, he gave me two 5’s and waved me in like the car ahead of me. Yep, the parking guy was pocketing cash. Made me feel like a crook. Too far for me to walk back with the guy who asked for my ticket. I already had to walk a ways to get in the venue with my injured ankle.
The show was awesome and I met happy people and took jaw dropping pictures and got to talk to my entertainer friends. The food was not great. My beef was horribly dry. I ran off to buy a dinner plate from the Venders.
Day 3, I had to park at the Pike. This was a long walk in the hot sun. Security dropped my water bottles on the filthy ground. I’m in pain and drenched with sweat. The stage manager saw me and grabbed my bags and told them I was ok and wouldn’t bring anything in because I’d be taken care of once I got in. And that I didn’t need to smuggle anything in. Well by then they had already had my belongings in disarray and contaminated my ice cold water bottles on the ground. The volunteers did not know exactly where my seat was I moved three times. But again I had a great time. A long walk to my car and had to pay $ 21 for parking.
I will be back next year. I’ll start saving up now.
I highly recommend the events here.

Immaculately kept grounds perfect fit a bike ride throughout and over all the bridges. Beautiful!

I was expecting a little more from this park. It looks more pleasant from the outside than it really is. The «lake» is surrounded by a concrete pathway which makes it feel more urban and less park/​nature like. The lake is also coated in cement so it doesn’t have any natural feel to it. In addition, there is a bunch of green algae and random plant life growing on the bottom and on top of the water. Gladly, there was no stench.
The rainbow shaped bridges were cool, but I wish they were kept better. All of them were painted a faded blue that was chipping and the wood to walk across was veryy creaky with loose wooden planks.
Came here on a perfect sunny Saturday and it was practically empty. I guess that speaks for itself. There’s only a limited amount of grass on the east end of the park for any picnics. There’s also no designated parking, so unless you can find free parking or you’ve already paid for parking, don’t make this the highlight of your visit.

It’s beautiful here and I did the Alzheimer’s Walk around the shoreline, a 5k and it was a nice view. Love it here, just wish the stores opened up earlier so I could’ve dipped in. lol.

This place is beautiful. Throughout the summer there are various festivals that are held here.
There are winding paths that navigate over small bridges. The paths are lovely to walk a dog or rollerblade (do people still do that?).
On quiet days, there are interesting birds to be found in the area. It can be really peaceful.

Great spot just to chill at it’s off the beaten path and there’s not that many people here, great location to soak up some rays!!! On a sunny day this spot rules!!!

I love walking around this area. It always kept clean and presentable and no signs of vagrants or criminal element. It’s an enjoyable place to visit and spend some time.

This park truly is very beautiful and is only amplified on a warm, clear day. Just walking around here is very calming.
This would be an excellent place to jog, walk your dog, have a picnic, or just relax and enjoy some quality time with someone special. I’ve honestly lived in Long Beach all my life and have never taken advantage of what it has to offer. Now that I’ve been here, I’ll definitely want to find a reason to go back, whether it’s for a group outing or to ride to awesome little paddle boats!
It may be man-​made, but I’d say man did a pretty good job on this one.

This is a great weekend spot for a leisure stroll, walk (are walk and stroll the same thing?) bike ride, jog, skate

This is one GORGEOUS park! I’d never visited before but after attending the Long Beach Street Food Fest this weekend, this undiscovered beauty is now full frontal for me…
The fact that it was a beautiful day only added to the charm. There were birds, pretty plants, flowers and trees and water all around. While I’d rather chew razor blades than sit in a paddle boat, it’s cool that you can rent one and take a waterside view of the park if that’s your gig. The people that chose to partake in this experience seemed to be having a great time.
The park was meticulously maintained, the pathways were winding and spacious, traveling all throughout the park. The colorful bridges and lots of shade coupled with the expansive, wide open spaces was SO appealing to me. If I lived closer (although it isn’t that far) I would come walk here on a regular basis.
Great place to bring kids if you have little ones. The ones I observed seemed to enjoy taking in the landscape and the water and the ability to run around openly without having to me obsessively corralled by their parents, which is so often the case now days. There is plenty of room to let them run around and explore, which is sorely missing today.
We walked to the Aquarium of the Pacific from here and there were all kinds of restaurants and shops in between. One could definitely make a day out of visiting this park and the surrounding attractions with minimal effort.

The interpretive signs around the lagoon tells you that it is a haven for wildlife. There is half a truth to what they say. But that means that there is also a big fat half-​lie too.
There is very little natural habitat here. The upland areas are mostly covered with lawns and non-​native palm trees. It’s a very urban park here, and there isn’t to support wildlife here.
In the last century, most of this area was open ocean. The semi-​circular Rainbow Pier was created in the 1920s, along with the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium. Soon after, the City began filling in the open water behind the pier. With the decline of Long Beach’s downtown in the 1970s and 1980s, the City undertook aggressive revitalization plans, which included massive filling of the area behind the pier, to create the modern-​day landscape.
Thus, Rainbow Lagoon is the vestige of the sheltered cove that was once protected by Rainbow Pier.
The park is much more welcoming for human inhabitants than wildlife. There is a beautiful winding path that take you over colorful bridges, and paddle boats to take you over the water. It is a lovely park, just not wondeful for wildlife, notwithstanding this semi-​informative interpretive signs.
Oceanic water fills Rainbow Lagoon via underground pipes and culverts. This keeps a marine, but wave-​free environmnent. In some ways, this is similar to natural lagoons (such as Malibu Lagoon) where waves are cut off by natural sand bars, which come and go with the seasons. In a natural state, this still water would be conducive the establishment of salt marsh plants, like cordgrasses. However, there are none to be found here.
In contrast to a natural lagoon, Rainbow Lagoon is paved with concrete and in general has a very hard «edge» which prevents the establishment of plants. As you can see in the picture above, there is no gradual shift from deep to shallow water; these gradients normally create a variety of depths, which are essential to a diverse fish community with species of different sizes. The far edge in the photograph is rocky, which adds a little diversity. But the hard substrate again does not allow plants to establish. No doubt the plant-​free environment is an intentional component of the park management, as such plants could create nuissances in such an urban environment.
The blunted tidal inputs creates other problems for the lagoon: lack of oxygen. Wave energy and fresh inputs of ocean water would normally keep the oxygen levels high. Making matters worse, the concrete lining makes the water heat up in the sun, further depleting oxygen. To prevent oxygen levels from getting too low (which would result in massive fish-​kills), water is agitated and circulated by fountains. These fountains also improve the aesthetics of the park.
And despite my griping, you can see some interesting birds hunt the little fish in the lagoon. I saw a Green Heron here the other day, and these shy birds aren’t so easy to spot sometimes!