Frontier Park

Cool little area off a walking/​running/​biking path. Old equipment with lots of splinter possibilities. No bathroom and really besides the cool old cannon not much to see. So many great parks in Simi this is a let down for sure.

Welcome to Simi Valley’s «secret» place.
(Actually, it’s not exactly a secret. If you frequent the river jogging path on the west side of town, you’ll see it all the time. But stick with me.)
First off, the entrance. Guarded by two trees more grand than those surrounding them, the dirt pathway into the park is easily missed because of how the entry is squeezed in between homes on either side. It almost feels like you’ve found a secret place when you finally do spot it.
Admittedly, the playthings in the park aren’t the best. There’s a simple structure with a small swirly slide; a couple of concrete cylinders to climb on and crawl through; and a frontier wagon that looks as it has caught fire, leaving only a (climbable) gutted frame behind. Even the two swings in the park are starting to show wear and tear, with their metal crossbeam unsettling more and more on the wooden support posts that hold it up. Even the spinny-​go-​round has – Horror of Horrors! – broken down, snapped at the base, leaving a hunk of a metal platform wrapped in yellow caution tape to warn the kids to stay away.
The broken-​downness of it is what makes it a special place to me, though, especially when you contrast it with the rest of the park. There’s dirty dirt under the playthings, but the patches of grass behind them is kept well-​groomed and is lush with green. There’s also the jagged plunge into the rock-​lined river bed at the open edge of the park, shielded from view by trees which don’t do it with quantity, but quality.
But Frontier Park is my favorite because of its location. The park is set just before a bend in the river that sends the water towards the horizon, where the Summer Sun sets. This causes the sunlight to reflect off of the water in the riverbed, making for a very pretty early summer evening.
There are probably better places to take in a sunset around town. There are certainly better parks to take your kids to. But for some reason, being here, in my «secret» place (that’s not so secret), with everything coming together, makes it perfect.