If you were hoping to spend more time exploring our National Forests, but got turned off by having to pay admission fees to just walk around, park, or take some photos, the Forest Service is about to make your next visit potentially more affordable. more ›

A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows estimates on how much park visitors spent in 2010 along with how many local jobs were sustained in the process. The numbers are quite astounding and prove that our parks serve not just a crucial recreational purpose, but a vital economic function, too. more ›

As a cost-cutting measure, "the California Department of Parks and Recreation has come up with a list of 70 parks statewide that it will close by July 2012," reports KCET. Of the 70, just 13 are located south of San Luis Obispo, however of those 13, six represent half of our Desert State Parks. more ›

As basketball season winds to an end, it's time to find a new sport to enjoy. And to satisfy not just their athletic craving but their mustache/retro/costume/repressed anger cravings as well, some folks are turning to dodgeball. According to a statement released yesterday by the World Dodgeball Society, three Eastside leagues... more ›

Now with the L.A. River defined as a navigable, there's a movement afloat to make it usable for residents. Today L.A. City Councilmember Ed Reyes, who leads the city's river committee on the river and spearheaded the river revitalization master plan, introduced a motion to establish a boating program. more ›

It's been done before, but not since the federal government officially declared the L.A. River as navigable, thus under the Clean Water Act. So last week river activists George Wolfe, Joe Linton and others took to a eight-mile portion of the river down the Glendale Narrows between Griffith Park and towards downtown for an inaugural trip. more ›

When the new LAPD Police Administration Building opened last Fall, a park was gifted to the community. But it wasn't too long before it was blocked off to the public for two weeks to make way for a Los Angeles Police Foundation gala. When all was said and done, the equipment used ruined the grass, leaving it brown and muddy during wet weather. Eric Richardson at blogdowntown has been following the lack of progress, finding that repairs should start with a few weeks at the expense of the foundation. Also, the palm trees are not doing so well, but police, who are in charge of the park rather than Parks & Rec, say that's a separate issue. more ›

The largest mass of sand dunes in California just became more accessible with the opening of a new road today. The Bureau of Land Management opened the newly constructed Wash Road in the Imperial Sand Dunes near the southeastern corner of the state. The 15 MPH corridor, which leads to camp sites, parallels a road on a Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way no longer accessible to the public. more ›

In early August, Manhattan Beach officials closed the popular Sand Dune Park for maintenance after a busy Summer with a high rate of visitors. About a month later, it was ready to be reopened, but didn't. more ›

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget-saving threat to close 80% of state parks for two years has the federal government raising a red flag. Numerous parks, including a handful local to Los Angeles, are under stipulations to stay open to the public because the land was fully or partially federally funded or transferred to the state from federal ownership. more ›

The Los Angeles region has many secrets and Channel Islands National Park is one of them. The group of islands off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara are easily seen from the crowded beaches of Malibu, but most of those beach goers have never been on the other side. And while it is one of the closest National Parks to the millions who live here, it is also one of the less accessible ones. Boats don't run as consistent as the ferry's to Catalina Island and the sometimes the costs (around $50 roundtrip and up, depending on which island you visit) stop many. more ›

Get ready to splash! Come Saturday, 34 pools will open to the public for the summer season, including the new family Aquatic Center at Jackie Tatum (Harvard) Recreation Center in South LA. Additionally, 16 year-round pools will begin their summer schedule. more ›

It's been closed for a handful a years, but the Downey Pool between Chinatown and Lincoln Heights has begun construction and is expected to open next year June. The $2.2 million project includes a 3,000-square-foot lap pool, an 1,800-square-foot splash pad, and a 500-square-foot structure that will house new pumps and filter equipment, and chemical rooms. A pool in this park was original built in 1919, according to city documents. more ›

The state parks that are proposed to be cut are quite beautiful and very popular--still, if they close, it's not like there's nothing left. State parks make up 23% of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, leaving a good amount of acreage to the National Park Service and another state park agency local to Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (note that there is a considerable amount of private land within the Nat. Rec. Area, too). more ›

Once upon a time it was the beachfront estate of silent movie starlet Marion Davies, built for her by her lover, the infamous newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. It was definitely a "party house" where a who's who of Hollywood's golden era would frolic in the pool and on the shore. On the 5-acre site was a mansion designed by renowned architect Julia Morgan, boasting 110 rooms. more ›

Age does not preclude an eco-savvy lifestyle. That's at least for the seniors who will use the city's newest Senior Center for the East Valley, slated for Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park. The East Valley Senior Center just broke ground this morning and when it opens, it's sustainable design will include energy saving systems, waste recycling, and an environmentally friendly air conditioning system that should help the building fall under one of the LEED categories, according to Councilwoman Wendy Greuel's office. The building will also be efficient in another way: it merges programming and services from Recreation & Parks and Aging under one roof. more ›

The pool at Ritchie Valens Park in Pacoima closed last springs for repairs, which was not exactly good timing for the summer season in a not-so-good neighborhood in a city traditionally known for little recreation space per capita. Councilman Richard Alarcon's office said that "due to the age of the City’s pools, the Department of Recreation and Parks is unable to fully discern the condition of the pool until the Spring when the pools are filled and cracks and leaks can be discovered." The good news today is that the pool re-opens this morning to the public. more ›

They did it. Geroge Wolfe and the gang kayaked, from end to end, the LA River, proving that claims by the Army Corps of Engineers that the river was not navigable, thus not a river, were wrong. Looking at all of these photos says something to us. It says "we need this river for the people!" more ›