Photos by Brian Addison. Full gallery below.

It had been far too long, but park-goers and yoga-lovers can rejoice in the fact that the new Bixby Park Bluff now is officially open.

Long a sad site lined with barricades and barren strips of dead grass, piles of construction equipment and endless dirt, the space that was formerly filled with free yoga classes and pickup soccer games has once again come alive.

New grass lines the south side of Ocean Boulevard between Junipero and Cherry Avenues while staircases—long needed and desired—act as bookends for the park’s eastern and western edges. Perhaps most impressive (and eventually iconic) is the ADA-accessible path that zigzags and winds down the bluff’s face, lined with bright white LED lamps reminiscent of old-school pier lighting.

The staircases and path will also connect with the new Beach Pedestrian Path project which, when completed, will provide completely car-free access to the beach from Shoreline Marina to 54th Place.

While some have complained about the project—Long Beach resident Kayte Deloma called it an “ill-conceived development” that could have been “something beautiful”—it is a mostly-welcome addition given the game-changing Bluff Hotel project was shot down and the bluff rehabilitation controversy continues to rage.

Earlier this year, the $6.8M rehabilitation was halted earlier this year after residents (rightfully) called the rehab flat-out hideous.

The rehabilitation began in 2007 with the specs adopted for the area around 12th Place and moving forward from there. Concern arose when bluff erosion began causing sidewalk damage and limiting public access, while also increasing potential public safety concerns. However, many residents became concerned as construction began to show just what the bluff would look like: a sprayed concrete mess—what Seamus Innes of the Surfrider Foundation called “prison-esque” at the meeting.

How this will connect with the revisioning of Bixby Park north of Ocean remains unclear.

This article originally appeared on Longbeachize.

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