Grand Park

Twelve acres between the Music Center and City Hall replaced the old Civic Center Mall in 2012, laid out in lawns, two dozen botanic gardens and meridian paths that follow the lines of a world map projection. The Arthur J. Will fountain doubles as a splash pad, its jets running free year-round for kids to run through. Free weekend programming -- concerts, dance nights, a Dia de los Muertos celebration -- draws crowds, and filtration planters handle more than five million gallons of runoff a year before it reaches the storm drains.