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December 2025 by Dog People Pasadena
Great little small park, owned by CalTech, but open to the public during daylight hours. Dogs on leash allowed, but really this park is best for families with young children, with a small playground and grassy field, and lots of picnic benches.
As other reviewers have noted, this park is most interesting for its history, as the terminus of one of the first transcontinental flights, as well as for the Rose Parade, back in the day.
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September 2025 by Craig Baker
In 1910, publisher William Randolph Hearst offered a prize of $50,000 to the first aviator to fly coast to coast in less than 30 days. Cal Rodgers persuaded J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Company, to sponsor the flight, and in return he named his plane, a Wright Model EX, after Armour's grape soft drink Vin Fiz. The flight required 70 stops and endured countless crashes and aircraft malfunctions. Tournament Park was the official terminus of the flight, but Rodgers did not win the prize because the trip took more than one month. Vin Fiz is on display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Today the park is owned by the California Institute of Technology. Tournament Park gets its name from the Tournament of Roses because the early parade route ended at the park, and it served as a venue for events associated with the Tournament, such as ostrich races, and even a race between a camel and an elephant. In 1904 a balloon flight ended with a crash on Strawberry Peak, depicted in the book Perilous Voyage of the balloon American. Tournament Park was the site of the first eight Rose Bowl Games. The stadium site is now the university’s South Athletic Field, and continues to serve as Caltech's track and field venue.
Historical plaque inscription:
Official terminus of the first transcontinental airplane flight. Calbraith (Cal) Perry Rodgers took off from Sheepshead Bay New York September 17, 1911, landing here November 5, 1911.
Earlier Flights:
Roy Knabenshue piloted his dirigible from here March 20, 1909.
Charles Willard landed here in his airplane March 31, 1911.
Other Early Events:
Balloon flights, horse races including chariot races, east-west football games, display of Tournament of Roses floats.
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April 2025 by L X (Liz)
Tournament Park but I think it should be named as Toddler Park, as many freely and happily play here. There are picnic tables, bbq setup and playground. Definitely a place for kids with their family to spend some quality here.
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November 2023 by Carlos Giron
Closed for a private event…??????
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October 2023 by Benjamin Inouye
Hidden gem
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September 2023 by Priscila L
Hidden Park, safe for young children. Well maintained restrooms and grounds
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June 2023 by Ryan Acosta
Very nice secluded park. It does have a very small playground but good for small children. It is a sand playground, so definitely watch the kids as some of the area can be slippery with the sand. Lots of tables for families to have picnics or lunch and lots of shade.
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April 2023 by Serena Kim
Nice clean SAND park for little ones. It has bbq grills and picnic tables. It feels so private and well kept. I like the fact that it has big trees and making shades for the playground.
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April 2023 by Pix y.
Clean and quiet park. Lots of families here. I just attended a birthday party and it was perfect! There were other kids celebrating their birthdays too and there was plenty of room for all the activities. We had a centralized location with picnic tables and benches but we literally felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. Highly recommended for small kids. Reservations are a bit confusing. Additionally, your reservation is not marked but you can call staff at the park if there are any misunderstandings. People were generally good and I never had to call park staff.
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November 2022 by Georgine Okura
Cute little hidden park
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October 2022 by Juan Carreno
Nice and quiet
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September 2022 by Chris C.
This park is so darling and was so perfect for a last minute change of venue bday party for my lil one. Initially we were to hold her bday party at a different park in Pasadena but we found out last minute that the parking lot would not be accessible to the general public due to a huge event. First of all, let me tell you a lil trick to finding this spot. You need to turn onto Wilson from California to find this spot at all. There are a pair of black gates to drive through to get to the park portion of the area. I love how enclosed this park is and how secluded it is. It feels like such a darling little secret garden. The play structure is especially for the smaller kiddos but even the 6-7 year olds that I was entertaining had a fun time on the structure. The bathrooms are open and they are clean considering this is a very public park. But, let me tell you this . . . this isn't a city owned park. This is one that is owned by the school and is more private. Therefore, I think the conditions of the park are that much better. I wish I had taken more photos of the park itself but I was just so busy organizing the party materials that I didn't have the chance to do so. I love the amount of space that there is for the kiddos to run around. There is more than enough space to throw frisbees and to play catch. Some friends of ours, their sons were playing soccer and practicing tee-ball. There are more than enough space for all of us. There was another family here preparing to host a birthday party. Luckily there were no park reservations between us and there was more than enough space here for both parties to go on simultaneously. There are tons of trees and lots of shady areas as well as others that are so flooded with natural sunlight that it gives such nice "filters" for photos. I know I was able to get lots of photos taken and they were so w. onderful because of what the natural light lends to them. I am so glad that we'd found this spot. I'd love to come here and picnic but spend the afternoon playing. We brought out one bubbles, balls of different kinds as well as side walk chalk. We had a blast. There are BBQ pits and sinks here, as well as 2 restrooms. I love that the restrooms were so clean and well kept. There was no urine stink or any of that. I still brought my own roll of paper towels, small bottle of soap and some sanitizer but I'm even more happy that I didn't really NEED those things. So if I hadn't thought to bring 'em on my own, at least the park had what would have been necessary. Parking is a tad tight but there is plenty of it. If you drive allllll the way down the parkway there are some spaces right in front of the park as well. Honestly I have nothing negative to say about this park. There are ants but let's keep in mind, this is a park. It is outdoors. LOL. I was shocked people wanted to complain about their being ants out there. Haha. I felt completely safe at this park and I was so glad that I wasn't the only one who felt that way. We invited several other little families who were at the park to join us in eating pizza and to celebrate our lil one's bday with us. Everyone was so friendly and so social. It was a lot of fun and this was the perf venue for her bday. A reminder, use your internet browser to search tournament park. If you use YELP, you will not get quite the right directions to the park. So, be sure to use your internet browser to find the better directions.
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April 2022 by Art BanDit
This one day, it was open. We've waited for two years to peek inside. It was clean, and nobody was there. Park offers loads of tables, grill spots, and a law area. Playground is okay.
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January 2022 by Kevin Olivas
Site of the first Rose Bowl games before the actual Rose Bowl stadium was built!
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October 2021 by Xing Yan
Door is locked, seems closed during COVID
