Ladera Linda Community Park

★★★★☆

A park seen from above: Grassy fields, some trees, a long, low, flat building, and basketball courts are visible. A few lines of houses can be seen past the park, but then the land gives way to ocean. On the horizon you can see the two lobes of Catalina Island in silhouette.

A park with open grassy area and drought-tolerant gardens, a few picnic tables, basketball and tennis courts, and playground. Ample parking, clean restrooms and a drinking fountain/water bottle-filling station at the community center. All the facilities are new within the past year or so. Not sure what’s going on with the larger fields past the tennis courts, but they seem to have been left to dry out over the summer. Nice view of Catalina Island.

It’s just downhill from the Forrestal Reserve trailheads and parking area, which makes it a good stop after a hike to refill water bottles, hit the restrooms, or have a picnic. (I took this photo from one of the trails at the nature reserve.)

View on OpenStreetMap.