Pettygrove Park

Lovejoy Park

These two parks were part of the Urban Renewal built over a demolished  neighborhood made up primarily of Italian and Jewish immigrants.  The parks were named after Francis Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy  who as the story goes flipped a coin to choose who would name the city.  Francis, who was from Maine, wanted to name the city "Portland" and Asa, who was from Massachusetts, wanted to call it "Boston".  The two parks names as I understand it were also named by the flip of a coin.  The parks were built in the late 60's and opened up in 1970 along with the forecourt fountain in front of the Civic Auditorium.  The tiny, tiny parks in a dark canyon of buildings I think are kind of dark, ugly and overgrown but can make for a pleasant walk to escape the heat of the city in Summer.