Pat Nixon Park
park in the United States of America
Pat Nixon Park is a neighborhood park in Cerritos, California, named for the late First Lady Pat Nixon (1912-1993). The 4-acre (1.6 ha) park occupies the site of the former First Lady's childhood home and truck farm, where she lived from 1914 until 1931, a Senior Center that now sits on the site of the home after it was destroyed by a fire in 1978, and the Patricia Nixon Elementary School.
Senior Center
The Cerritos Senior Center at Pat Nixon Park is a 27,500-square-foot (2,550 m2) public recreational clubhouse in Cerritos, California targeted towards the 50-and-over demographic. It was originally dedicated on January 29, 1994. The $3.5 million senior center is located within the park.
Development and architecture
The aging of the baby boomers in Cerritos and elsewhere prompted efforts to plan and develop a clubhouse type center that would focus on services to the rapidly growing senior population. Some qualities sought for the project included a place for senior citizens to socialize, participate in educational programs, receive human services, and enjoy recreational activities. The center needed to provide a focal point for community involvement.
Cerritos leaders agreed to place the senior center in a relatively central location. Not only did Pat Nixon Park make the center more accessible for drivers, but the location also ensured that routes from the Cerritos On Wheels transit system to additional points of interest such as the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Los Cerritos Center, the Cerritos Towne Center and the Cerritos Millennium Library would not require a significant commute for seniors who could not drive.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Pat Nixon Park” as park in the United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as park in the United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3363880. Authority coordinates are 33.858, -118.068. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 1993, 1914 and 1931.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Pat Nixon Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Pat Nixon Park primary sources, Pat Nixon Park archive and Nixon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pat Nixon Park”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Pat Nixon Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.