Architecture and Hidden Gems in Los Angeles

This is a great little spot for a day trip in Los Angeles – for now!

LA has lots of famous buildings and websites to show them off.

I wanted to show you some of the not-so famous little treasures you might find on the way there.

A great place to take your kids in the San Fernando Valley is Los Encinos State Historic Park.  You can feed the ducks at the pond for a quarter.  Lay on the cool grass and listen to the fountain.  If you’re lucky, you may see the Turtle King sunning on the shore.

Los Encinos State Historic Park, in Los Angeles California sits near the intersection of Ventura and Balboa Blvds in the San Fernando Valley.  This buildings have undergone major earthquake restoration and will ‘reopen’ on Sunday, July 22.  I thought it would be fun to put up a few photos I took on my last visit there.  It is small, as State Parks go, but is a beautiful little oasis right off busy Ventura Blvd.

Brief History of Los Encinos

The Park sits on the ancestral lands of the Tongva Nation.  The surrounding area was the site of a huge settlement extending under Ventura Blvd. and the office buildings across and down the street.  The numerous oak trees provided acorns for bread and other food.  A spring on the land was a water source for the village.  Los Encinos is at the northernmost boundary of the Tongva, whose ancestral lands extend south past Laguna Beach. In the lands north of the Tongva lived the Chumash, whose region extends north past Gaviota.

Explorers originally named the village ‘Los Encinos’ after the numerous oak trees growing in the area.  Later, the area became known as the ‘Lost City of Los Encinos’.  The Tongva were split up and renamed the “Fernandenio” and “Gabrielino” Indians after the missions they were sent to by the Spanish.

Los Encinos State Historic Park has a FaceBook Page: http://www.facebook.com/LosEncinosSHP