The best playgrounds in Los Angeles

Gloria Molina Grand Park

Downtown

Twelve acres from the Music Center to City Hall, between First and Temple, with a splash pad and the restored Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain, which has a pool you can wade in. The park's four areas are the fountain, a small performance lawn, a community terrace and the big event lawn, with the playground and splash pad among them. The Broad is about five minutes' walk, and there's a Starbucks and a dog run in the park itself.

The Metro B or D Line stops at Civic Center/Grand Park.

Restroom

Yes

Water play

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Vista Hermosa Natural Park

Echo Park

A nature-themed playground in ten and a half acres of meadows and oak savannah, with walking trails, streams, picnic grounds and the downtown skyline in view. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority runs it, and there's an outdoor amphitheater set in a grotto and a soccer field shared with the school next door.

Patton Street Park, a five-minute walk, has a play area and outdoor fitness equipment.

Restroom

Yes

Shade

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Echo Park Recreation Center

Echo Park

The play area is a few blocks from Echo Park Lake, with picnic tables, barbecue pits, lighted tennis and basketball courts and a soccer field around it. The lake, about five minutes' walk, has walking paths and the Echo Park Lake swan boats.

Picnic tables

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Orthopaedic Hospital Playground

South of downtown

A dragon mister, a sound pad, a sensory slide and a spinner, with no sand anywhere, on a playground built with Shane's Inspiration in 2008 at the orthopaedic hospital on Flower Street. The restrooms have changing tables.

Shane's Inspiration

Griffith Park

Two acres of Griffith Park that the city's parks department gave for it, redesigned in 2019 with shade sails over rubber surfacing, a roll-on merry-go-round under a dome, a music panel and basketball hoops at several heights. Inclusion Matters by Shane's Inspiration, the nonprofit that began with this playground, has built dozens more around the city since.

The Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, running since 1948 on a track that stretches over a mile past the pony rides and an old Western town, is about a mile away on Crystal Springs Drive, and the Los Angeles Zoo is about the same. The park's merry-go-round, built in 1926, has 68 horses, every one a jumper.

Swings

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Ages

Ages 3 and up

Reese's Retreat at Brookside Park

Pasadena

A giant pirate ship, a glider boat, a track ride and a zip line, universally accessible and opened in 2011 behind the aquatic center in Brookside Park, Pasadena's largest maintained park at 61 acres, just south of the Rose Bowl. Kidspace Children's Museum is about six minutes' walk, and the park has picnic tables and barbecue pits for after.

Restroom

Yes

Shade

Yes

Water play

Yes

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

All ages

Pan Pacific Park central inclusive playground

Fairfax

The main playground at Pan Pacific Park, with picnic tables, an amphitheater and a jogging path around it, and Renée's Place, a second, universally accessible playground from 2008, about three minutes away in the same park. The Grove is a five-minute walk.

Restroom

Yes

Shade

Yes

Water play

No

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 3 and up

Bill Rosendahl Del Rey Park (Glen Alla Park)

Del Rey

A sensory slide, a climbing wall and a whale sand area, built with Shane's Inspiration in 2010, with picnic tables, paddle tennis courts, lighted basketball and an off-leash dog park in the rest of the park.

Restroom

Yes

Fenced

Yes

Shade

Yes

Swings

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Accessible play

Yes

Ages

Ages 3 and up

Venice Ocean View Playground

Venice

Two play areas on the boardwalk at the Venice Beach Recreation Center, with the Venice Skate Park about three minutes' walk. Muscle Beach, the basketball and handball courts, a gymnastics area, pickleball, sand volleyball and a fishing pier are all on the same stretch of Ocean Front Walk.

Fenced

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 3 and up

Tongva Park

Santa Monica

Six acres within walking distance of the Santa Monica Pier, laid out in four sections with play structures, sculptures, and a splash pad that runs through the summer. Picnics go under the shaded trees or up on Gather Hill, and the park puts on free cultural performances.

Restroom

Yes

Shade

Yes

Water play

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Wheelchair access

Yes

Ages

Ages 3 and up

North Weddington Park

Studio City

Rocket's Universe, a space-themed inclusive playground from 2017, has the planets on poles around a rocket tower, a moon to climb, a spaceship, a roller slide, an omni spinner, a We-Saw teeter-totter, a cozy dome, a sensory moon wall and music chimes. The recreation center beside it has picnic tables and an indoor basketball court.

Mason Park

Chatsworth

A splash pad beside the inclusive playground, built in 2014 with an omni swing, a double teeter-totter and a starburst climber. The recreation center has picnic tables, a stage and lighted ball fields, and runs a preschool and camps.