Chittick Field

Chittick Field is a sports complex in Long Beach, California. Originally constructed (and still used) as a stormwater detention basin named Hamilton Bowl (after Hamilton Junior High School, which was located nearby^[1]), it is also known under multiple other names: Dee Andrews Sports Complex, "The Hole", "El Hoyo", and as a result of its deterioration in the 2000s, "The Dust Bowl".^[2] The complex includes a football field, an all-weather running track, and three lighted soccer fields.^[1]

Chittick Field

Former names	Hamilton Bowl
Address	1900 Walnut Avenue Long Beach, California
Coordinates	33.7921°N 118.1719°W / 33.7921; -118.1719
Acreage	19 acres
Construction
Broke ground	1936
Built	1950
Years active	from 1950
Website
https://www.longbeach.gov/Park/Park-and-Facilities/Directory/Chittick-Field/

Located along Walnut Avenue, to the north of Pacific Coast Highway,^[3] the basin was built in 1936^[2] to capture stormwater runoff from the Signal Hill area, as well as oil from an occasional oil gusher from one of the oil wells that dotted the neighborhood at the time.^[3] The basin still slows the peak flow of water downstream to the Los Angeles River during major storms; restoration of submerged playing fields after such occurrences takes about 90 days.^[2] The bowl overflowed during the 1939 California tropical storm.^[4]

The baseball diamonds were originally built in the detention basin in 1950, with major expansions that included a soccer field and parking in the 1960s and the 1970s. Hamilton Bowl was renamed in 1983 in honor of Brian Chittick, a creator of the Kid Baseball Association,^[2] and in 2021 was again renamed to Dee Andrews Sports Complex at Chittick Field after a former city council member.^[2]