The Brief

Wildflower season is juuuuust starting to hit its stride here in Southern California. Whether it’s a field blanketed with California poppies, or yellow blooms carpeting a hillside, or a desert lily snaking its way alongside a sandy hiking trail, we’re here for it.

Are you?

Blink, and wildflower season will be over in L.A., all those breathtaking flowers husking up, a life cycle in motion.

So LAist has put together this guide to the best places to view wildflowers this spring, and what you need to do when you get there. (Yes, there is an etiquette to wildflower hunting, mainly: Do not pick flowers, do not walk on flowers, do not lie down in a field of flowers for selfies. Just don’t.)

This wildflower season is potentially shaping to be up to be distinctive for plenty of beautiful blooms, combined with a relative lack of wildflower diversity, said ecologist Sarah Kimball, an associate professor in residence and director at the Center for Environmental Biology at University of California, Irvine. That's because we're coming off two wet winters in a row, which is unusual, she said, and those conditions can favor heartier flowers and plants elbowing out some of the more delicate species.

As for whether it’s going to be a super bloom year, get ready to hear lots of debate and discussion on that front. "'Super bloom' is not a scientific term," said Kimball said with a laugh. "But there will be a lot of flowers, so I guess you can say that's super."

Where to start?

First up, consider your schedule. Some of the best wildflower viewing in Southern California most likely involves a drive, so you need to start planning now to get out there. (There are only so many weekend days, after all.) We have some options for hunting wildflowers closer to L.A. as well.

Head to Antelope Valley

The simplest path to wildflowers is a trip to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve when the poppies hit full bloom. There will be crowds and traffic on the weekend, so go on a weekday if possible. But you are guaranteed a look at the California state flower. There is a live cam to help you time your tripfor the best blooms. The park is located about 90 minutes from DTLA. Open daily from sunrise to sunset. There is a $10 parking fee, no dogs allowed.

A ‘super bloom’ of wild poppies blanket the hills of Walker Canyon on March 22, 2019 near Lake Elsinore, California.

(

Mario Tama

/

Getty Images North America

)

Follow wildflower reports

If you have more time to invest, consider stalking wildflower reports. DesertUSA, the Anza Borrego Foundation and many others all offer online updates so you can best plan your trip, or just enjoy from your digital devices. On DesertUSA, there’s also a fever graph showing you the “wildflower status” and visitor reports, all designed to help you time your trip for the best wildflower viewing. Here are links to the Joshua Tree National Park Wildflower Watch, the Death Valley Wildflower Watch, the Theodore Payne Foundation’s weekly wildflower report, and the California State Parks Flower Bloom Updates.

Call a hotline!

The Theodore Payne Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness about native plants, has a wildflower hotline, updated each Friday about the best locations for viewing spring wildflowers in Southern and Central California: (818) 768-1802, Ext 7. (Bonus: You might recognize the voice. That’s Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Spano, of NCIS, Hill Street Blues fame.) Anza Borrego also has a Wildflower Hotline: (760) 767-4684.

Social media, newsletters

Find a park you’re most likely to visit, and then start stalking it. Chino Hills State Park is active on social media, offering the latest wildflower updates on the park. The Anza Borrego Foundation has a newsletter to keep you posted on blooms in the desert state park. There’s also a Desert Wildflowers & Wildlife Facebook group to join.

Parish's gold poppies near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County.

(

Jill Replogle

/

LAist

)

Take a hike

One of the best ways to get out and see wildflowers is to take a hike. One Orange County favorite is Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, parking is $3. LAist's Megan Botel put together this guide to great places in and around L.A. to hike and look for wildflowers, including Zuma Canyon Trail and the Escondido Falls Trail, both off the coastline.

So what should I do — or not do — once I’m there?

Ok, so you made it to the land of wildflowers. Let's tread lightly, as these are is fragile natural habitats. Here are some tips for making the most of your adventure.

Look, but don’t touch

Can’t believe this one needs to be said, but it does: Do not pick the wildflowers. It’s tempting, we admit. But, for one thing, poppies are so delicate they wilt almost immediately after plucking. For another, those flowers hold the seeds that we need for the next year’s wildflowers. Plus, bees rely on these plants for pollinating. Just don’t pick the wildflowers! If a trip to see the wildflowers makes you want more, the Theodore Payne Foundation has everything you could possibly want to create your own superbloom.

Stick to the trails

As in, the actual trails. Not the trails some knuckleheads made trampling through the wildflowers. (People doing just that congributed to Lake Elsinore shutting down access to its wildflower areas back in 2019.) Let’s all agree to preserve the natural beauty around us and just stick to the trails, even if you don’t see a sign telling you so. And, please, no lying in the fields for selfies.

Watch out for rattlesnakes

This is not just a scare tactic to keep you on the trails. “Rattlers are common in wildflower fields throughout the valley, and people running into fields for a picture among the poppies encounter rattlesnakes every year,” according to the Antelope Valley reserve website, which adds: “Numerous burrows around the trails may shelter mice, gophers, kangaroo rats, beetles, scorpions, or others.”

People walk on a trail in an area with new vegetation and wildflowers on March 14, 2019 in Malibu, California.

(

Mario Tama

/

Getty Images

)

No going rogue

Enter parks and protected areas only through designated gates and roads. Each year there are reports of people going offroad in bid to get the best vantage point on the wildflowers, to avoid paying for parking, to jump the line of traffic, and so on. Don’t be that person. Sure, the lines might feel like Disneyland when it gets busy, but just look out the window and enjoy it all. Enter the parks and protected areas only through the entrance gate and designated areas.

Share your photos

Nearly every park we mentioned here urges you to share your photos and flower finds to help out the next wildflower hunter. The Anza Borrego Foundation also urges you to upload your wildflower photos to their map to help out the next wildflower hunter. DesertUSA asks that you submit photos to their site as well, including the date, location, and photo credit info. The iNaturalist.org app is a must have for many who like to share their finds.

Tips for making the most of your trip

Traveling to see wildflowers can be a bit of a haul. Planning ahead can make it more of an adventure, and something to remember. Plus, you want to avoid any pitfalls. Here's how:

Check the weather

SoCal weather can be unpredictable. Temps can soar unexpectedly. Winds can pick up. So check the local weather for your destination, and plan accordingly. For example: Expect highs between 80-86 and lows in the 50s in Anza-Borrego at this time of year.

Wildflowers photographed in 2023 in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego

(

Jill Replogle

/

LAist

)

Gas, gas, gas

Wildflower hunting takes us out into the wilderness. Possibly, far from fuel. So fill up before you go and top off the tank along the way. (See next item for why that is an especially good idea.)

Answering nature’s call

While you’re at the gas station, make a pit stop for everyone in the car. You have no idea where your next rest stop will be — or whether it will be a nasty portable toilet.

Watch for driving hazards

The Antelope Valley Reserve website warns that driving on the main route, Lancaster Road, can get hairy: “Please be patient and watch for the unexpected!” But the same goes for every other park, too. Watch for drivers slamming on the brakes to take a photo, car doors swinging open, people dashing across the road to see the wildflowers, and so on.

Consider bringing a picnic

Many parks have picnic areas, so check before you go. Lunching while gazing out at the wildflowers would be a meal to remember. But remember, to clean up after yourself and "leave no trace." Want to level up? If you see some litter, pick it up. The land will thank you.

Purple sand verbena blooms in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in December 2022.

(

Courtesy of Sicco Rood

)

Wear comfortable shoes

Many parks have trails so you can get away from it all (including other people), so wear comfortable shoes so you can explore a bit. The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve has eight miles of rolling trails, and a paved section for wheelchair access.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate

Bring water, and drink it. Make sure others in your party are doing the same. “The reserve is a cleverly-disguised desert and you don't feel how rapidly you lose water into the dry air. As the weather gets warmer, dehydration can suck the energy out of you quickly,” according to the parks websites.

Carry cash, credit cards

Many parks are free. But parking might not be. Parking at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is $10 a vehicle, and the website notes that exact change is appreciated. Other parks may offer kiosks for credit card payments, but they can break down. (Ask us how we know.)

Leave the dogs at home

Many parks will not allow dogs. And many parks do not offer much shade. So even if you manage to sneak your pet past a park ranger, you shouldn’t leave it in a hot car. Leave dogs at home.

Did we miss a tip? A park? Or a great wildflower resource? Let us know and we may include it.

Beyond the Rose Bowl and historic bungalows, Pasadena has stranger tales to tell. David Kalbeitzer has been seeking out those stories where rocket science meets the occult and ghosts haunt the city’s grandest buildings.

For Kalbeitzer, a Disney executive who investigates the paranormal in his free time, his fascination with the city’s mysterious side started when he bought a Victorian north of Old Town.

He sensed a spirit at the open house a dozen years ago and took it as a reason to move his family to Pasadena. Then he started learning the city’s history.

David Kalbeitzer, a paranormal investigator from Pasadena, is giving a talk about the city's strange history Saturday night in Old Town.

(

Courtesy of David Kalbeitzer

)

“I realized, ‘Oh, this place called us just as much as we were looking for it,’” he said.

On Saturday night, he’s sharing the lore he’s collected at Mesmer Mesmer an Old Town shop and event space. While the event is full, there’s a waitlist, and more talks featuring Kalbeitzer are in the works.

A city of ghost stories 

Ask Kalbeitzer about haunted Pasadena, and the list stretches from alleyways to the Colorado Street Bridge to Castle Green, the turreted former hotel overlooking Central Park.

“The Pasadena Playhouse theater is, you know, very haunted,” he added.

He says playgoers have reported hearing disembodied voices.

“And you look, and there’s no one there, or apparitions that have been seen sort of standing in the corner, and then you walk up, and they kind of disappear,” he said.

As for the spirit that helped draw him to his current Pasadena home?

Kalbeitzer says she’s still around — and a psychic friend says she has a name: Dolores.

“It’s actually haunted by a very kind ghost that looks out for the house, protects my family and has been able to activate our alarm,” he said.

Having a Dolores in the house might send some people running, but Kalbeitzer said he grew up in a haunted house in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

And when his family moved to Charleston, South Carolina, a teenage Kalbeitzer started seeking out places known for paranormal activity.

Rocket science, ritual magic and mind-reading

Having lived in different neighborhoods in L.A., Kalbeitzer says there’s something uniquely otherworldly about Pasadena — and it goes beyond ghost stories.

He said the city has an energy that draws people exploring the unknown, perhaps most famously Jack Parsons.

The rocket pioneer who helped launch the Jet Propulsion Laboratory also practiced ritual magic at his Pasadena home with the likes of L. Ron Hubbard before he founded Scientology.

“Many people call it the occult. I don’t know that I fully subscribe to that, but there is spiritualism and occult mixed in there,” Kalbeitzer said.

Then there was Upton Sinclair, the muckraking author of The Jungle, whose interests while living in Pasadena extended to telepathy and séances.

Upton Sinclair, pictured with his wife Mary Craig Sinclair in 1935, several years after he published a book examining her reported telepathy.

(

Los Angeles Times via Wikimedia Commons

)

In 1930, Sinclair published Mental Radio, a book about experiments in mind-reading. Albert Einstein provided a preface. Yes, that Einstein, who would spend the following winter at Caltech expanding on the theories of relativity and cosmology.

“Like it’s the craziest mixture of things that were happening at that time and all of it at the same time,” Kalbeitzer said.

A presence in the shop 

The event couldn’t have found a more appropriate venue.

Since opening five months ago in Old Town, Mesmer Mesmer has embraced the dark and mysterious, offering tarot and crystal readings and hosting events on subjects such as hip-hop’s relationship with ghosts.

At that event, a medium told owner Tyke O’Brien she could sense a presence in the shop, which formerly housed a bridal store.

“She goes, ‘Do you ever feel it?’” O’Brien recounted, “And I’m like, ‘I am such a bummer. I really wish I could. How wonderful would that be to be able to?’”

The same can be said for this writer who’s lived and worked in and around Pasadena for years without so much as a brush with the otherworldly.

Kalbeitzer, on the other hand, reports supernatural encounters all around town.

“I think that how you see yourself in the world has a lot more to do with it, and whether you want to have those experiences,” he said.

Los Angeles officials expect construction of a fence around MacArthur Park will start in November and continue through fall 2027. 

At a community meeting Thursday night at MacArthur Park Elementary School, officials said fence installation is now expected to continue through fall 2027, overshooting the previously announced spring 2027 completion date.

Thursday’s meeting highlighted the divide over the city’s plan to fence off MacArthur Park, with tensions rising during public comment. The Los Angeles Police Department says the fence will make drug enforcement easier, while some in the community who volunteer around the park questioned whether it will improve safety enough to justify the cost.

The city has allocated $2.3 million for the project, but officials have not said whether that will cover the full cost.

Installation of the green metal fence around the park’s perimeter is expected to begin in November and take about a year. A second phase, adding decorative elements to the fence, is planned for fall and winter 2027. Officials said the schedule could change because of weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

The park is expected to remain open during construction.

Capt. Ben Fernandes with the LAPD’s Rampart Division said the fence would create a barrier along Alvarado Street and other areas where officers have seen people using narcotics. That would allow police to focus more of their enforcement efforts inside the park, he said.

“So if people are going deeper into the park to use, that’ll make it easier for us to go in and do enforcement on them and arrest them for that use,” Fernandes said. 

MacArthur Park will close every night once an 8-foot-tall fence goes up around the green space, with Los Angeles police officers sweeping the park for encampments and people sleeping there before the gates shut. The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved the plan Thursday.

(

LA Recreation and Parks

)

“I’ve been an officer for 29 years, and I’ve always known I can go buy drugs there, and I did as a narcotics officer. So what I’m saying is, we are trying to make it not convenient,” he added. 

Fernandes also said the city plans to enhance the park’s existing camera network. LAPD officers and Los Angeles Park Rangers will be able to monitor the cameras from their respective stations, he said. City officials are still evaluating whether additional cameras will be needed to address blind spots in the park after construction is complete.

Ariana Walker, who visits MacArthur Park every Saturday with a group of friends who pool their own resources to distribute food and hygiene kits, questioned whether the city had shown that the fence would improve safety and how much it would cost to maintain.

“The fence is a $2.3 million fence at the base level,” she said. “And they haven’t given us any indication of how much more it’s going to cost for upkeep, to keep anybody safe. There’s no conclusive evidence that a fence is going to stop crime the way that they’re suggesting.”

The meeting grew tense when John Alle, a local property owner whose family owns the building that houses Langer’s Delicatessen across the street from the park, objected to having his comments read from a written comment card rather than speaking directly to officials. Alle has been a vocal critic of the city’s response to drug activity and public safety concerns around MacArthur Park.

He was allowed to comment during the meeting and said the city needs to take a tougher approach to drug use and sales around the park. 

“We see knife attacks at all hours of the day. It’s out of control. And it’s not gotten any better,” he said. “We want to bring it back to where it was 15 or 20 years ago.”

Los Angeles officials expect construction of a fence around MacArthur Park will start in November and continue through fall 2027.

(

Gary Coronado

/

The LA Local

)

Alle pointed to public events at the park, including an upcoming Día de los Muertos celebration and a Labor Day weekend picnic hosted by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman as positive developments for the space. But he added those events do not reflect conditions throughout the park.

Officials also outlined other planned improvements, including restoring access through the tunnels connecting the park’s north and south sides, making accessibility upgrades and providing free Wi-Fi for parkgoers. 

Residents who want to provide input on the fence’s decorative elements can email admin@themorcosgroup.com or call (310) 479-4727 for more information.

The post MacArthur Park will remain open as the city takes a year to fence off the space appeared first on LA Local.