Los Encinos State Historic Park

So glad this little gem is close to me. One can feed the ducks, walk the lake, have a picnic, enjoy the solitude…
Don’t forget about this great spot just feet from Ventura Blvd near Balboa Blvd. Street parking is available.

Unless you’re from the area, you would never know this park existed. It’s literally steps from Ventura Blvd but it feels like it’s a lifetime away from the hustle and bustle. My family and I went to this park for their Easter festivities. They had an Easter egg hunts for all ages so we decided to come. The event was actually well organized. They had California pizza kitchen there selling food, activities for the older kids, the Easter stuff and the park was really nice. They even have a pond with geese and a little bistro that sits along the water. This event will definitely become a family tradition for us and we want to return to try the restaurant.

One of my favorite things to do as a child was feed the ducks at our local city park. This little park feeds my occasional hunger of nostalgia. There are plenty of hungry ducks, beautiful trees, grass, and clean picnic tables.
Nestled right off Ventura. There’s only street parking available, but I’ve never had difficulty finding parking right near the entrance on a weekend afternoon.
Bring your quarters! For 25 cents you can buy some healthy duck food for the little dudes. Be prepared to share with the local flock of pigeons and the occasional demanding goose.
The downside, smaller body of water and a higher fowl to water surface ratio than the large northern California lake of my childhood, but a cute a little gem between bustling shops and suburban homes.
Fun note: decent bathrooms available!

Nice way to spend a pleasant Saturday, free of charge. We live in Santa Clarita, and the 35-​minute drive to the park was not difficult at all. We parked in the neighborhood street near the park entrance. The Visitor Center wasn’t much to look at, but the adobe tours were self-​led and very interesting. You’ll gain much insight into Los Angeles’ Californio period. Be sure to enter from both sides of the building, as the tour route is not continuous! I especially enjoyed the wedding dress on display from the 1880s: it was just my size and I confess to imagining being adorned in such a dream! But anyway I’m already married, haha. Another life… Anyhoo, once you finish the tour of the adobe you can explore the cactus trees behind (kiddies shot scenes for their «movie» here) and of course the duck pond. Those ducks are loud and hilarious! The whole thing takes a few hours, and you can finish your visit at the adjacent Lakeside Café. Great family activity!

Nice, clean, small park. Best part is that the whole pond is gated so didn’t have to worry about my toddler falling in. They have $ 0.25 duck food feeders there so you don’t BYOOB, OB= old bread.
Interesting history there from the 1800s, which was the added bonus.
Tip: grab an iced coffee and spend some time

This place is like the best kept secret in the valley! It is an beautiful park close to Ventura that has a wonderful duck pond. I love to come here and feed the ducks, or even eat my lunch in the park!
Kids love the ducks but coming to the park is fun for everyone! I always bring something for the ducks to eat and they remember me! Sometimes I come here a few times a week just to chill out and be with my duck friends:)

As a tourist attraction, it’s not much. One of many similar places run by the State of California along the El Camino Real — even though it seems unlikely that the trail that connected the missions in San Gabriel, San Fernando, and Ventura would go though Encino.
It’s a small neighborhood park with some old historic buildings like an adobe home with furnishings. The home looks more like an old depot than a residence, but then again, it was part of a sheep ranch. The museum explains how the heat and dryness of Encino made it easier to raise sheep than cattle.
The park has other nice features like a nice smelling citrus grove and a lake with fountains, ducks, and turtles. It took 25 minutes to wander the entire park including going through the buildings. Lakeside Café restaurant (see
) has a nice view of the park from their many outdoor tables.

A beautiful historic park in the midst of an urban area. We saw a lot of families celebrating birthdays, having picnics, and feeding ducks. My only complaint is that there aren’t many signs about the local history, there were a few, but this place seems like an ideal candidate for a self guided sign based tour.

This place is definitely a hidden gem in the valley! It contains two main adobes. The de la Osa adobe and an adobe owned by a Basque family. There is also a blacksmith shop and orange tree grove. One of the highlights of my visit was feeding the birds. Ducks, geese, and pigeons are some of the birds in the park. This park is relaxing and fun. I hope you get a chance to visit!

This is a beautiful little park and definitely worth the visit. It is well maintained and feeding the ducks only cost a quarter. You can picnic or take a adobe tour by appointment. Hours are ten to five, Weds-​Sun. Such a pretty peaceful place to spend an afternoon. Check it out

Nice little historic park in the heart of Encino. Clean restrooms, lots of duck, enough benches, and tight hours. Great place for an afternoon stroll.

This place is great… I’ve been coming here my whole life, and now I bring my kids here. They love it more than I did!
You can still feed the ducks here for a quarter. What a bargain! There are also picnic tables and plenty of lawns with shady trees… a perfect place for a picnic. There are tours of the adobe offered, and the visitor center has interactive displays for the kids. This is a great place to spend an afternoon.
Lately it’s been threatened with being shut down due to funding problems… however I can’t say that this is all bad; the fund raising events this year have been tremendous fun, and we’ve enjoyed them thoroughly. Our favorite has been the demonstrations in the blacksmith shop… Gary is a talented blacksmith and very knowledgeable about both the craft and local history. It’s wonderful to watch him work, and having him out for demonstrations more often because of the dire need for funds to keep the park open has been a real treat.
So if you’re in the Valley and looking for something to do on a Sunday, come relax by the guitar-​shaped duck pond at Rancho Los Encinos!

STOP! Look no further! This is one of the BEST parks I’ve seen! They have the CLEANEST restrooms… and more! :O)
We were hunting for a park to have our daughter’s first birthday party. So, you can imagine how big of a deal it is to find a location that is safe for children and families as well as the criteria for cleanliness and accommodations such as tables, etc.
PROPERTY INFORMATION
It’s hidden. It’s quiet. Located on a small residential street, which I think is a great thing. This is a historic location. Property contains several buildings that are worth checking out. There are three or four different locations of picnic tables. One area has the most picnic tables (about 9) and 2 – 3 grills. There is a duck pond, which is fenced off (helpful especially if you have children for safety). There is a huge open field area as you enter the park AND it’s fenced off, so again– helps with safety. The lawn, trees, etc. are so well-​kept. So clean and nice. Feels like you’re in someone’s beautiful backyard!
Park hours: Wednesday through Sunday 10am-​5pm.
WHAT TO DO HERE?
Have a picnic! Bring a blanket or use one of the wooden tables. Walk through the museums (I think that there are two buildings that you can walk through while there are two or three other buildings that are historic).
Feed the ducks! For 25 cents a bag, you can feed the ducks and geese. Fun for children! The ducks are close enough but fenced off, which is helpful for safety reasons.
Have a party! We had a party for our daughter’s first birthday. We were so thankful for the weather and the accommodations of the tables, shade, the cleanliness, the helpfulness of the staff, and the location itself!
PARKING
The street parking during weekdays is for 2 hours. However, I think if you drive a little bit through the neighborhood you might find all day parking. During the weekends, it’s all day parking. There’s plenty of parking.
PARTY INFORMATION
We had about 80 people (mix of adults and children) for the birthday party. We came early (park opens at 10am and closes at 5pm) but probably didn’t need to since no one else was waiting to grab the spot that we were eyeing. We were able to set-​up tablecloths and decorations. The lemon/​orange trees that were scattered near our area provided such a great decoration as well as shade for those who wanted to stay out of the sun.
Grills: We purchased charcoal from Smart and Final, which is literally a fence hop from that particular location. It worked very well. We cooked about 30 lbs. of meat or so and it went smoothly.
Our party: We did a carnival themed party and had some games set-​up for kids. In addition to playing those games, the kids enjoyed running around the open field. It was wonderful. A great space for kids to play safely without the worry of cars zooming by.
RESTROOMS
WOW! Can I just say that these were the CLEANEST restrooms I’ve used at a park?! Clean as our own bathrooms at home! There’s soap, paper towels, toilet paper, clean floors, running water… one thing that I know is important for parties is clean restrooms!
OTHER INFORMATION
For specific questions about having a party at the park, it would be most helpful for you to contact the rangers who are SOOOO kind and great! If you want to, I think that you can reserve parts of the park or something like that for a fee. We took a risk and decided to just get there early and get the spot that we wanted. They also have lots of creative and fun ideas for parties as well.
Overall, this park amazed me. I’m so grateful for parks! This park will be open for 1 more year and I think from that point it’s based on donations. So, if you visit this park and love it– do think of donating or supporting it by volunteering as well!

A hidden gem along the busy Ventura Blvd. You would never know that there is peaceful lake with ducks (and duck feed available for purchase) that would be a great place for a picnic. I took the self-​guided tour around the park and visited the historic adobe from the 1800s. I heard there is a petition going around by the locals who want to keep this place open. Due to budget cuts, this place is set to close in July 2012. This a park is a wonderful and safe place to take kids to run around and feed the ducks and would be sad if they were to close it down. I saw a kid driving his little motorized car around the park. I love this place as it is so much more peaceful and cleaner than the larger Lake Balboa nearby.

LOVE this place! :)
It’s really a hidden gem in the middle of busy Ventura Blvd… when walking to the front, I hear people honking and speeding… but as soon as I walk into the park… it’s an oasis.
I’ve been here… sooo many times… I can’t even begin to count. The best part is the little lake with the ducks and geese. Absolutely adorable. They have this large mailbox… full of packages of bird feed. Each package costs 25 cents… but it’s on the honor system… but come on people… just pay the 25 cents… it’s for the animals and the upkeep of the park. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun to feed the ducks… and the ducks will typically come out of the fenced in lake part and will follow a line of feed… if you make it in the dirt… so you can get super close to the ducks. The geese on the other hand… stay in the fenced area. The geese are so cute… I swear I just want to hug and squeeze them… and rest my head on their gorgeous feathers… but don’t get me wrong… the geese are scary. They make a ton of noise… and are always squawking and they have teeth… and will bite or nip at you.
I’ve seen many generations of geese here… the cutest is in the spring when there are baby geese. I have so many videos and pictures of the ducks and the geese. They’re absolutely adorable.
Also, there are a couple old historical buildings on the property… which are worth checking out… and tons of orange and I believe, lemon, trees… so the orange blossoms smell amazing in the summer. Just beware of the bees…
Seriously this place is an oasis… and it’s so tranquil… definitely a place to check out.

Encino Lake is an amazing place to go for some Sunday afternoon birdwatching. I’m a huge fan of the Wood Ducks, but we also saw some beautiful Buffleheads, Mallards, Toulouse Geese, and the strangest bird of all: the turtle.
We heard that Hooded Mergansers show up from time to time. I’ll change the rating to five stars when I see one of those. Didn’t get to check out the historical buildings. Maybe next time.

A quaint little park in the middle of bustling Ventura Blvd. Yes! I know!
For those of you Valley people, you know how congested Ventura Blvd is, especially east of Balboa Blvd. But in the middle of all that, this small park with a historic home and LOTS of ducks, exists.
There are plenty of fully grown trees in here that shades the majority of this park.
It’s a great park to rent for a party because it’s small enough that your guests won’t drive around several times looking for the right party (coz you know, usually there’s more than one going on) and then you.
We held one of our grandmother’s birthdays here. It was awesome!
There were plenty of picnic tables and it was so shady that it was comfortable although it was in the middle of summer.

Great place to take your little one! Ducks, Geese, Swans, and Pigeons! For 25 cents you can buy bird food and make it interactive. It’s always great when you get your kids outdoors, especially when they get to be with nature.
The historical buildings are awesome too. The valley’s hidden gem for sure!

The San Fernando Valley, while well developed, has many locations where it’s easier to visualize history than some other areas of Southern California. Sometimes these historic buildings are just jammed right in the middle of a super-​dense urban zone, so it’s kind of a history-​shock to walk onto the grounds of a place like Los Encinos and immediately pick up on the pastoral vibe. With the well-​restored buildings and small but informative visitors center, you’re transported back to the rancho era and beyond. I especially love places with natural springs and ancient trees, where you’re connected tangibly to all those people who came before.
Borrowing from the Los Encinos site:
«Los Encinos State Historic Park at the corner of Balboa and Ventura Blvd., in Encino California, was, until the late 19^th Century, the hub of human habitation in the Southern San Fernando Valley.
This five acre park is blessed with a natural spring, the water of which was reputed to be so sweet that animals would come for miles to drink from it. Because of the ready source of water, Indians of the tribe now called the „Gabrielino“, „Fernandeno“ or „Tongva“ lived at the site of the park for hundreds, and perhaps thousands of years.
This valuable property passed through many hands, going from Indian to Mission to Californio to French and Basque control through the 19^th Century. It now remains a visible link to our past, and in Los Angeles, such connections are rare and tenuous.
After having provided water for the thousands of people who have lived here over the centuries, the natural spring today feeds a flourishing duck pond. The ducks of Los Encinos, along with the tranquil surroundings amidst the bustle of Encino, have made this a favorite spot for parents to bring their children. It is also a great place for picnics, parties and weddings.»
Be sure to visit and support this park — like other state parks it’s hanging by a thread. The ducks need you!

To know that in the Valley there is such a historic and peaceful park is a beautiful thing.
You’ll find a lovely pond (constructed in 1874) where ducks roam around and you can bring bread crumbs to feed them.
The park is located right on Balboa and Ventura Blvd. and features a natural spring that has a rich history in the San Fernando Valley.
The park is open Wed-​Sun. The Garnier Building visitor center is open for self-​guided tours. You can also book appointments for free guided tours.