This former quarry and landfill in Bridgeport is now Palmisano Park, named for the proprietor of a local bait shop.

Designing the park was a new challenge for renowned landscape architect, Ernie Wong.

- [Geoffrey] What was this place before it was a park?

What's the history?

- [Ernie] The history of this place, it used to be a limestone quarry.

So this was really a hole 300 feet deep.

That was how deep it is.

- 300 feet?

- 300 feet deep.

It was a sheer wall, just straight down.

And it was absolutely incredible.

And then when the city ended up taking it over, they ended up using it as a landfill for construction debris, clean construction debris.

- So not like banana peels?

- Not banana peels, and that kind of thing.

- [Geoffrey] Like construction?

- [Ernie] Yeah, construction material.

And they kept on filling it and filling it and filling it for almost 20 years until we got hold of it, and we created a park.

- And so, was everything kind of arranged this way, or did you shovel some stuff up?

- Oh, there was a lot of grading, yeah.

- So what'd you do?

- [Ernie] We kind of quartered it off into different sections of the park.

There's an athletic field up top.

And knowing full well that there's such grade changes throughout here, we formulated this mound.

- [Geoffrey] So you made that mountain?

- [Ernie] Yeah, we made Mount Bridgeport.

- [Geoffrey] And that's construction debris under there?

- [Ernie] That is construction debris under that.

And then kind of tapered it out, so there is a wetland that goes from Halsted Street down to this pond, so it takes the water, and we terrace it all the way down here.

- [Geoffrey] I can see the water flowing down.

- [Ernie] Exactly.

And then the mound itself is mostly prairie, so it's this environmental park, on top of a landfill.

(both laughing) - [Geoffrey] What does that mean to be able to take an old industrial site, and repurpose it?

- [Ernie] It's actually very invigorating.

I think it's really important.

And it builds community.

- [Geoffrey] Do you ever come out, or have you come out, and seen how people use the park?

- Absolutely.

- What do you learn from that?

What do you think?

- It's always an adventure.

We never know how people are going to use the park.

Any of the parks.

And so when we talk about desire lines, and how people move through the park.

- [Geoffrey] Wait, what'd you call that?

- [Ernie] Desire lines.

- [Geoffrey] Desire lines.

- [Ernie] Or cow paths.

(both laughing) - [Geoffrey] Oh, you mean people forge their own paths?

- [Ernie] Forge their own paths throughout the park.

And it becomes a trail, and it just becomes part of how they own the park.

And I think it's wonderful to see that.

VO: In Chinatown, Ernie transformed another abandoned industrial site, a former rail yard along the Chicago River, into Ping Tom Park.

It brings open space and a beautiful natural area to a community that had no parks for generations.

The community wanted the park to remind them of their Chinese heritage, which gave Ernie a chance to connect with his own roots.

So what is this structure that we're standing in?

- So this is a Chinese pavilion.

Actually, after going to China for the first time in my life in the 1990s, this was really inspirational for me to see that classical Chinese architecture, and to embody that within this park, as part of embracing this community.

And so this was really something that really made me think about who I am as a Chinese-American, what my heritage is, what I came from.

I think there's a lot of pride with this community of, they're away from home.

There's a huge immigrants' community.

And when they come to this park, they feel this is part of home, and where I feel comfortable.

- [Geoffrey] But when Ernie showed the park to his father, the noted Chinese-born modernist architect, Y.C.

Wong, well, I'll let Ernie tell you how that went.

[Geoffrey] And what did your father think of it?

- (laughing) My father was not very happy about this.

He had spent his entire life in China, understanding this classical Chinese architecture, but coming to America to learn something new from Mies Van Der Rohe.

- [Geoffrey] Modernism.

- [Ernie] Modernism, exactly.

- [Geoffrey] This is not modernism.

- And this is not modernism.

He was not particularly happy.

But it is what the community wanted.

- Yeah.

Yeah, and have you seen them embrace it?

- [Ernie] This is now the site of many weddings, because people come here to get their pictures taken.

They feel that this is the quality of who they are as Chinese-Americans in Chicago's Chinatown.