Weekend Hike: Kenneth Hahn State Recreational Area

Baldwin Hills looms over Culver City kind of like a hulking older step sibling of limited intelligence and dubious social skills.  What you see is mostly blighted oil derrick wasteland, dusty open space, and a some weird '60s housing stock.  Still, there's something charming about the whole setup, simply because it's a huge chunk of land -- smack in the middle of the city -- that lies mostly fallow.  Nestled up there on one of the bigger hills is the 319 acres of park land known as Kenneth Hahn State Recreational Area. 

Wikipedia notes that, "as one of the largest urban parks in Los Angeles, some have called it L.A.'s Central Park."  I may well have to go in and edit that entry... 

I know Central Park like Loyd Bentsen knew Jack Kennedy; Mayor Supervisor Hahn, your park is no Central Park.  By way of analogy: Central Park is to Hahn Park as The Empire State Building is to whatever the second tallest building in Los Angeles is.  (Plugging in the U.S. Bank Tower to that equation would be giving Hahn Park too much credit in relation to Olmstead's jewel.)

Which is not to say Hahn Park sucks and isn't worth visiting.  Far from it.  This weekend, we enjoyed an afternoon of trail exploration and panoramic L.A. views courtesy of those 319 acres.  The park has two main loops you can hike, and it looks fairly bike friendly as well.  Unfortunately, there's a $4 parking fee on weekends, but weekdays are free. 

Here's a picture of Jessica looking West from the "Autumn Ridge" rest area.  Notice the Pacific glimmering in the top-left of the frame. If you're interested, there are a few more pictures after the jump.

Too bad it was hazy...

I have no idea either...

We saw this guy driving up to the tiny Blair Hills Park -- located across La Cienaga from Hahn park on a smaller hill.

On the Ridge Trail...

Comments

[Mocassin]

KENNETH HAHN Park...named after the County Supervisor, Mayor James Hahn's, and Councilwoman Janice Hahn's Dad.

It's okay...a newbie wouldn't know the distinction.

[Scott Mercer]

...and the site of 1963 Baldwin Hills dam disaster. The damn collapsed and killed dozens...would have forgot about it, but I just saw a segment on it on "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel.

[bd]

Thanks for the correction, Moccasin. I totally missed that it was the Mayor's father.

And thanks for the info, Scott. Unlike Kenneth Hahn, I'd actually heard something the Baldwin Hills disaster...

Speaking of which, I just learned that the community garden and little league ball fields on top of Mar Vista Hill -- by the Santa Monica airport -- was once scheduled to be turned into a reservoir for the city!