Landscape Information
Located in the Central Los Angeles Heights neighborhood approximately five miles northwest of downtown, this triangular, topographically flat park is part of a parcel purchased by the City of San Antonio in 1945 from American novelist H. L. Davis. In 1958 the State of Texas constructed a portion of Interstate Highway 10 on that property, bisecting it diagonally and creating the 0.7-acre Buckeye Park to the north and Los Angeles Heights Park to the south.
A chain-link fence separates the park from West Wildwood Drive and Frontage Road and from private residences to the east. This small recreational space includes a playground, a paved basketball court, and a picnic and grilling area, all connected via concrete pathways that run through manicured lawn. Several small shade trees are scattered throughout the park, especially along its perimeter edges.
The park’s most prominent feature is the arched north entrance gate, believed to be designed by renowned faux bois (the French for “false wood”) sculptor Dionicio Rodriguez. Two knotted trunks curve upwards to intersect at the apex, where one trunk passes through the notch of the other to form a curved ‘M’ shape. Smaller faux bois logs serve as buttresses on either side of the archway, which reaches a width of 17.5 feet at the base. Although the gate bears no artist’s signature, local sculptor Carlos Cortés has identified Rodriguez’s organic style in the heavily textured imitation bark with knots and insect holes. The Buckeye Park Gate was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
