Surrounded by shingled craftsmen homes that rise with the steep streets and looming hills to the north, and blessed with keyhole Downtown views to the south, this fountain lake park is patronized by cool rockers, laid-back vatos (dudes), flocks of ducks and crows, and is home to wild, wind-rustled palms.

When Jack Nicholson’s Gittis was on the tail of Mr Mulray and his young lover in Chinatown, he snapped incriminating photos from a canoe on this very lake. The paddleboat and canoe concession is back up and running, so you can make like Jack if you like. On sunny summer days, when the geyser of a fountain gushes to the sky, and the lotus flowers are in bloom, the lake glimmers with beauty undeniable.


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