Calling all whale watchers, surfers, and sunbathers who also like to smoke: Starting today, if you're going to light up a ciggie in Newport Beach, it's going to have to be beyond 100 feet of the city's parks and beaches. more ›

At a City Council meeting last night, officials in Laguna Hills voted to ban registered sex offenders from the area's parks, reports NBC Los Angeles. The ban will apply to the city's 15 parks, and possibly to private parks as well. more ›

Los Angeles is broke, and officials are trying to get creative to find ways to bring in some revenue. The latest scheme, touted by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his team, is to allow advertising in city parks and the L.A. Zoo. more ›

Our appreciation for the sporting life the Eagle Rock Yacht Club's Dodgeball League accords participants is nothing new. This short video profile of how the league became what organizers call a social experiment turned non-profit takes a look at what they do for the community when it comes to our parks and our youth. more ›

Angelenos are infamous for their failure to come to a complete stop at stop signs, often practicing the lazy California roll. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority is well-aware of L.A.'s poor driving habits and has taken measures in three Santa Monica Mountains parks to put a stop to vehicles. more ›

"Streets are for people!" is the rally and battle cry of Park[ing] Day L.A., which is set to take place for the fifth year on Friday, September 16th. That's the day when "Park-itects" around Los Angeles will turn metered curbside parking spaces into mini-urban parks. more ›

The sale of a deserted 14-acre property on the industrial 800 block of North Coronado could produce funds for other local parks, according to NBC LA. Councilwoman Jan Perry supports the property's sale over building a park. more ›

Nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, and members of the recreation industry have partnered for National Get Outdoors Day, a new annual event aimed to encourage "healthy, active outdoor fun," with a variety of traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities. more ›

Following on the heels of Orange County's April 5th decision to ban sex offenders from their parks, the city of Irvine is moving towards implementing a similar ban, according to L.A. Now. After the passage of the ban, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Supervisor Shawn Nelson sent letters to individual cities in the county urging them to take action, since the County ban does not apply to City parks. more ›

On Saturday, hundreds of volunteers took part in an annual community effort to make the Los Angeles River and its adjacent green spaces cleaner and safer for residents and visitors. Now KCET has released their amazing and comprehensive Field Guide to the LA River, which includes over 90 maps (and growing) of things to do and see along the 52-mile waterway. more ›

In tonight's Extra, Extra, high school students may be getting lazier, a suicide attempt thwarted, street medians will soon take on a much more community feel, and WHAT'S TO BECOME OF LINDSAY LOHAN?! Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports. more ›

Confluence Plaza officially opened Thursday with a full dedication complete with a brass band. The plaza, located at the corner of N. San Fernando Road and N. Figueroa Street, near Home Depot in Cypress Park, is part of a larger plan to beautify the stretch of the Los Angeles River that parallels the 5 Freeway and an industrial corridor. more ›

It’s the first night of Aaron Donovan’s beginning still-life painting class at Barnsdall Art Center, an eclectic community art center on the southeast edge of Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. Adult students arrive with canvases and brushes at the ready. One woman brings persimmons from her garden for the class to paint. Donovan is carefully placing the fruit on bright-colored plates as a middle-aged gentleman with a cell phone on his hip arrives. Donovan asks him if he’s a painter. more ›

A unanimous vote by the Long Beach City Council means smokers are going to have to keep their butts out of local parks, reports the Press-Telegram. more ›

OK, here we go! A group of adventurous dancers are slipping into the Baldwin Hills Overlook in Culver City to run, dance, jump and move in planned and unplanned scenarios this Sunday, October 17 at 5pm. In a free performance entitled, simply, Dancing in Public Parks, choreographer/performer Christine Suarez and Public Practice Performance Artist Paige Tighe, in collaboration with Rebecca Alson-Milkman, Gillian McGinty, Ally Voye and Elizabeth Yochim will bring nature and the creative spirit together in this beautiful expanse that is our own backyard. more ›

A Redondo Beach power plant that's been an issue of contention over the years could be sticking around longer than locals hope. That's why tonight a group of people tonight will be protesting at a corner on the Pacific Coast Highway. more ›

The national annual event known as [Park]ing Day, where city street parking spaces are turned into mini-parks for a day, is no stranger to Los Angeles. For some, however, parks and open space might be a stranger to their neighborhoods. more ›

Before it was developed into the city it is today, much of Manhattan Beach was made up of sand dunes. Now, one dune spared from apparently being shipped off to Hawaii's Waikiki Beach is left as a park in a residential neighborhood. Last year a group of neighbors complained that the park was hurting the neighborhood and the city council promptly closed it to study the issue and come up with solutions. Nearly a year later, the park opens this Sunday. more ›

Thursday saw the groundbreaking of downtown's newest park venture. A $56 million project will transform Civic Center Park into a 12-acre open space that should be a celebrated space when it is completed. Ranging four sloped city blocks down Bunker Hill between the Music Center and City Hall, the park will include movable chairs, food trucks along Spring Street, pedestrian paths and performance spaces. more ›

Sick of eating from delicious food trucks? Hate great films shown on large outdoor screens in public parks under the night sky? Can’t stand good deals? If so, it’s safe to say you’d better pack this summer in already, because the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest has just arrived. more ›

Voters in Long Beach may have two marijuana decisions to make when they fill out their ballot this Fall. Along with Prop 19, which proposes to legalize marijuana, the city council is considering placing a marijuana tax -- currently proposed as 15% for recreational use, 5 percent for medicinal -- on the November 2nd ballot. more ›

Of the 153 parks in Long Beach, 87 of them are considered small. That's small as in less than five acres and even down to the size of a "glorified median." Nonetheless, one smoker in a small park could mean everyone else is dealing with it. "I tend to go to a lot of smaller parks," Long Beach City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal, who wants city staff to draft an ordinance, told the Press Telegram. more ›

The vivacious beats of Latin Jazz, the lively notes of Zydeco, the pounding drums of Taiko, and much more can all be heard as part of a series of 78 free concerts sponsored by Los Angeles County this summer and into fall. more ›

After years of proposed budget cuts for the Department of Cultural Affairs, recommendations from the mayor to cut art grant money, and now the threat of charging non-profit art organizations rent, the art community has had one simple message: no. more ›

With Memorial Day coming this weekend, The Nature Conservancy is offering up what they think are the 10 most memorable state parks in California. Not all of them are local to Southern California, but they do make for a great bucket list of places to check out if you haven't already. more ›

There are already visions of doing it in Hollywood, Santa Monica and Ventura. And Seattle has already done it. But since 2008, thanks to a group of interns and the support of Caltrans and other agencies, there's also a vision to cap a freeway, placing a park above, in downtown Los Angeles. more ›

So much for people enjoying the outdoors, getting some exercise and using a successful community space. Manhattan Beach's Sand Dune Park will open in June--albeit with restrictions--after an eight-month closure prompted by neighborhood concerns. more ›