Outdoor sights in Los Angeles
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A
Will Rogers State Park
Rugged but small, this park sprawls across ranch land once owned by Will Rogers (1875–1935), an Oklahoma-born cowboy turned humorist, radio-show host and movie star. In the late '20s he traded his Beverly Hills manse for a 31-room ranch house and lived here until his tragic 1935 death by plane crash. Following extensive renovations, guided tours allow you to again nose around the Western art and Native American rugs and baskets and marvel at the porch swing right in the living room.
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B
Palisades Park
Perhaps it’s appropriate that Route 66, America’s most romanticized byway, ends at this gorgeous cliffside park perched dramatically on the edge of the continent. Just pretend you don’t see all the beggars. Stretching 1.5 miles north from the pier, this palm-dotted greenway is tops with joggers and people-watchers.
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C
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
It's easy to spend hours amid the global vegetation, waterfalls, spring-fed lake and historic buildings of this fantastic, rambling park. Originally the private estate of real-estate tycoon Elias ‘Lucky' Baldwin, it's so huge, there's even a tram to take around those who are foot-weary. The grounds are often used in filming, for instance standing in for the African jungle in African Queen and as Central Park in End of Days. It's in Arcadia, about 5 miles east of central Pasadena, right by the Santa Anita Park racetrack.
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D
Grand Hope Park
A few steps north of the Staples Center is the small and peaceful Grand Hope Park . Designed by Lawrence Halprin, one of the country's foremost landscape architects, it was the first of South Park's beautification projects which began in the late '80s. It's often filled with students from the adjacent Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, a private college with an international student body.
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E
Griffith Park
America's largest urban park, Griffith Park is a playground for all age levels and interests. Five times the size of New York's Central Park, it embraces an outdoor theater, zoo, observatory, museum, antique trains, golf, tennis, playgrounds, bridle paths, 53 miles of hiking trails, Batman's caves and even the Hollywood Sign. The Ranger Station has maps.
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F
MacArthur Park
The Westlake area, just west of Downtown, is slowly but surely cleaning up its act and families have returned to MacArthur Park for picnics and paddling around a spring-fed lake. The restored band shell hosts a summer concert series. (And yes, this is the park that ‘melts in the dark' in the eponymous Jimmy Webb song made famous by Donna Summer.)
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Point Vicente Interpretive Center
Captain Ahab’s no match for the binocular-toting crowd at this primo whale-watching spot. From December to May the faithful huddle early on terraced patios to watch for migrating grays. Check the chalkboard for daily counts. If whales aren’t your thing, savor towering cliffside views or pop inside for engaging displays on local history and geography.
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Griffith Park Southern Railroad
If trains are your thing, head to the Griffith Park Southern Railroad , a small fleet of miniature trains that has ferried generations of children around a 1-mile loop past pony rides, an old Western town and a Native American village since 1948.
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I
Will Rogers Polo Club
A big polo fan, Will Rogers built his own field to yee-haw it with such famous buddies as Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper and Walt Disney. The Will Rogers Polo Club still plays in the park on what is LA's only remaining polo field.
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Griffith Park Ranger Station
Access to Griffith Park is easiest via the Griffith Park Dr or Zoo Dr exits off I-5 (Golden State Fwy). Parking is plentiful and free. For information and maps stop by the Griffith Park Ranger Station.
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