Ala Moana Beach Park is a free public park on the island of Oahu, U.S. state of Hawaii, located between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. This park has a wide gold-sand beach that is over a half-mile (800 m) long. Protected by a shallow reef offshore, it is one of the most popular open ocean swimming sites in Hawai’i, with an estimated 4 million visitors annually. However, there are sharp corals, so most people prefer the east end of the beach (the one that's closer to Diamond Head) where the ocean bottom is sandy and has no reef or rocks. The middle section and west end of the beach has rocks on the nearshore ocean bottom, which makes entering the ocean trickier. Lifeguards are stationed on the beach daily. Ala Moana's ocean bottom drops quickly, so novice swimmers should use caution. Big grassy areas, banyans and palm trees make the park a good place to picnic, barbecue, play various ball games or go running. There are lifeguards, showers, restrooms, phones, tennis courts, picnic tables, food concessions and a music pavilion. Ala Moana Beach Park is a favorite among Honolulu residents. It is right next to "Magic Island" where many cultural events are held. The park is closed from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. Police enforce the closure with citations and arrests. Like almost all of Honolulu's city parks, Ala Moana Beach Park had many homeless people during the day and night, until the city started closing the park for the night in 2006. Fodors travel guide rated it a "high crime area" at night after dark partly on this basis. History Ala Moana Regional Park as we know it today rests on reclaimed land that was once swampy marshland. In the 1920s Ala Moana Beach Park was a wetland with bulrushes, kiawe trees, and coconut palms that the city used as a garbage dump. The land appears to have been included in land transferred to the US government following annexation. The federal government then deeded the land back to the Territory of Hawaii and then the city of Honolulu in 1927, with the condition that the property be used wholly as a public park. In 1931, the Parks Board designated the land as Moana Park and initiated development. The Hawaiian Dredging Company deposited their dredgings much of which was coral reef to fill in the marsh. The park added a sport