Griffith Park & LA Zoo

Griffith Park is the largest municipal park with an urban wilderness area in the United States — 4,310 acres of chaparral-covered hills, oak woodlands, and hiking trails that are home to mountain lions, coyotes, mule deer, and the P-22 legend (a mountain lion that lived in the park from 2012 to 2022, crossed two freeways to get there, and became the most famous wild animal in LA history). The park wraps around the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains and provides the outdoor recreation that makes living in LA's traffic-choked basin tolerable.

Beyond the Griffith Observatory and the hiking trails, the park contains the LA Zoo (83 acres, 1,400 animals), the Autry Museum of the American West (documenting the history and mythology of the American frontier), the Greek Theatre (an outdoor concert venue operating since 1930), and the Travel Town Museum (a free collection of vintage locomotives and rail cars that is the best free family attraction in the park).

The park was donated to the city in 1896 by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith, a Welsh mining magnate who later shot his wife in the head at a Santa Monica hotel (she survived; he served two years in prison and then donated the observatory and Greek Theatre as what can only be described as guilt-funded civic improvements). The park is free, open from 5am to 10:30pm, and accessible from multiple entrances — the most popular approach is from the Hollywood side via Fern Dell, a shaded trail that passes through a fern-lined stream canyon.