A Wonderful Time was Had by All, A Taste of South Park 2024
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. On Saturday, Sept. 28 at 1 pm, as the Farmers Market was winding down, South Park neighbors began gathering for the highly anticipated Fifth Annual, A Taste of South Park.
The community was greeted by South Park Neighborhood Association volunteers, checking them in and providing entrants with punch cards, over 21-year-old wrist bands, and raffle tickets. Booths lined up on both sides of the Desmond parking lot on the corner or 11th and Grand, with participating restaurants and bars ready to handle the 800 residents who attended with their delectable food and drink samples. DJ Banga was already spinning her music to enhance the already lively vibe.
For four continuous hours, this corner of South Park was filled with a continuous flow of happy people getting an abundance of food such as beef sliders, sushi, tacos, mac-n-cheese with smoked brisket, dan-dan noodles, donuts, and tamales. Alcoholic beverages, including margaritas, scotch, sake, beer, wine, and rum drinks, were served enthusiastically by restaurant personnel from Lazy Dog, Sonoritas, Sakana Sushi, Pine & Crane, Capital Grille, the art room, Prank, Cana Rum Bar, Audio Graph Beer Co., Craft by Smoke and Fire, El Cholo, The Palm, Duchess, Good Clean Fun, Dreads Caribbean Cuisine, and First Draft Taproom & Kitchen.
Those attending had the pleasure of interacting with other sponsored neighborhood organizations showcasing their services with demos, treatments, swag, and information including West Coast Trial Lawyers, MedBeauty, Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center, Lagree213, SPBID (South Park Business Improvement District), and SPNA (South Park Neighborhood Association).
Raffles were held at 2:30 and 4:30 pm with prizes including a television, wine baskets, restaurant gift cards, and classes. The Kingston Tree Trio entertained
the group for 75 minutes with sweet-sounding Reggae music from the Belasco-sponsored entertainment stage.
The event went smoothly with professional support from Customized Guard and cleaning from Personal Touch Cleaning. The South Park community wants to give special appreciation to the founding four HOAs which initiated the first three Taste of South Park events and paved the way for SPNA to enhance it and include the entire South Park neighborhood. Not only did we gain strong
financial support from the Elleven, EVO, Luma, and Ten50 HOAs but also from their vendors like Villanueva Heating, Celco, NASA, Revmark, R&R Plumbing, Action Property, and Kirk Miller Insurance.In addition, we received invaluable time and involvement from their respective property managers: Ambar, Xochitl, Luc, Francis, and Marla.
Other event sponsors to thank are Throw Clay, Stasi Photography, Kennedy Wilson, Michael Robletto from Compass, AEG, Capital Grille, Pine & Crane, Cana Rum Bar, Craft Smoke and Fire, Coco, and Sakana Sushi.
At the SPNA booth, besides free ice cream, there was a “dot sticker” feedback board asking residents what they would like to see more of in South Park. The top two answers were more security/police patrols and more green space. This information has been shared with South Park BID and our City Councilman’s office. The SPNA Executive Board has already discussed ways to use this information so that with the support of the South Park community we can be the united voice in accomplishing action from this important feedback.
As people exited ATOSP, they were given the opportunity to vote for the “Best of the Bites,” which restaurant they felt was the best overall experience at ATOSP. We are happy to announce the winner was Capital Grille with runner-ups Prank and Craft by Smoke and Fire.
Thank you to the volunteers who made ATOSP 2024 a successful neighborhood event – Laura, Priscilla, Kim, Taylor, Lee, Amy, Joyce, Larry, Teresa, Justin, Tasha, Alex, Greg, Grace, Jack, Bryn, Enid, May, Steven, Jon, Susie, Marty, Michael, John, Michael, and Debra.
So many positives happened at A Taste of South Park 2024. The question is how to measure its success. Is it that we stayed within SPNA’s budget? Is it that we had over 800 people experience tastes and beverages from 16 different restaurants? Is it that the restaurants and sponsors felt it was worthwhile for them? I believe the previous mentioned items are important, but for me, seeing everyone smiling,engaging in conversation, enjoying their friends, meeting new friends, and having pride in their neighborhood was the motivation to do it again in September 2025.
Enjoy the pictures and the halo effect from A Taste of South Park 2024 as SPNA’s objective of building the best neighborhood to live and work moves forward.
By Marty Goldberg