Day Trip: Los Encinos Adobe, California

Here’s a photo piece I wrote about a beautiful, hidden gem in Los Angeles, Los Encinos State Historic Park for my website, AngelCityArt.  The Governor now has it on the chopping block.

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. 

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. 

More about Los Encinos State Historic Park…