The city has drafted three futures for the flat end of Griffith Park, the part south of Los Feliz Boulevard between Riverside Drive and the I-5. On paper they look like three different parks, but most of the numbers are close. All three add parking and replace the temporary building at the Griffith Park Adult Center with a permanent multigenerational recreation center. Each one also keeps 12 tennis courts. The real difference between them is what happens at the freeway. That choice also decides how much flat ground is left over for everything else.
The first public look at these alternatives is Wednesday, October 21, at Friendship Auditorium. Before then, here is what is on the table.
The Park Today Next to Each Option
The Recreation and Parks task-force packet from October 1, 2026, sets out the alternatives from the design team, MVVA, slide by slide. The same packet lists the current site at 297 parking spaces, a 15,800-square-foot play area and a 7,000-square-foot community center in a temporary building. The full packet is public. Laid side by side, the figures look like this:
| Parking spaces | Playground | Community center | How it meets the I-5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current site | 297 | 15,800 sq ft | 7,000 sq ft, temporary | Existing crossings |
| Strengthen | 470 | 62,200 sq ft | 40,000 sq ft | Improved pedestrian bridges over the I-5 and the river |
| Reconnect | 470 | 52,700 sq ft | 42,000 sq ft | Land bridge over the I-5 |
| Transform | 450 | 66,200 sq ft | 53,000 sq ft | A park cap over the I-5 |
The table shows the pattern. Parking settles at about 450 to 470 spaces whichever option wins. Each playground is more than three times the size of today's play area. The community center goes from a 7,000-square-foot temporary structure to at least 40,000 square feet. For Adult Center members this is a big change. Marian Dodge of Friends of Griffith Park told The Eastsider the center "has been trying to get a permanent facility for more than a decade."
The Transform slide prints its center as "53,00 SF." The benefits matrix in the same packet gives it as 53,000 square feet.
Each Freeway Choice Changes the Rest of the Map
The freeway is the one big variable. How each plan crosses the I-5 decides where the fields, courts and gardens can go.
Strengthen leaves the freeway alone. It improves the pedestrian bridges over the I-5 and the LA River and keeps the new uses on the park side. Structured parking and a new destination playground go south of the 60-inch storm main. The recreation center goes west of Riverside Drive. The tennis club is reconfigured, and the Ranger House moves south of Friendship Auditorium, with new garden space between the two buildings. A parking lot and a new program are added north of the pool.
Reconnect builds a land bridge over the I-5 to tie the park to the river. It stacks a soccer field on top of structured parking. To do that, the 60-inch storm main has to be rerouted, which is a utility project in its own right. The playground sits north of the recreation center.
Transform caps the I-5 and builds park on top of it. Tennis, two intermediate soccer fields, pickleball and the river connections all move up onto the cap. That frees the original ground below. The recreation center can then sit near the pool and anchor the north side. A large picnic plaza gathers around the historic buildings at the center of the park. A new gateway garden at the north end is designed to complement Sunnynook Park at the south end.
So the picnic plaza and the gateway garden depend on the cap. Without a structure over the freeway, the courts and fields need the same flat acres those gardens would use. The design considerations shared across all three options name improved LA River access directly, "including a land bridge or freeway cap." The same list includes connected accessible paths, safer crossings and historic preservation.
Pickleball appears only in Transform. The city's project FAQ says no decision has been made to reduce courts and there is no current plan to add pickleball. This is worth watching because an earlier concept from the June 2 Steering Committee meeting included fewer tennis courts. The benefits matrix in the October 1 packet shows 12 courts under every alternative, the same count it gives for existing conditions.
What Neighbors Asked For Before Any Drawing Existed
The alternatives respond to a summer of outreach. From June to early August the team logged 1,042 bilingual online survey responses, 78 participants in virtual listening sessions, eight interviews or focus groups and 35 website comments.
The engagement summary found one shared priority above the rest: invest in existing park assets first, then make the area more of a multigenerational destination. Respondents agreed on restoring the pool. They wanted better restrooms, lighting, shade, signage and maintenance. They wanted safer access and crossings, and they wanted to keep the tennis, soccer, playgrounds and Adult Center programs.
That puts real weight on the freeway question. A cap or a land bridge is the most new-build idea in any of the plans. Yet much of the input asked for upkeep of what already exists. The same summary lists three tensions still open for study: parking against less car dependence, new recreation against open space and habitat, and new amenities against repairs.
The river came up repeatedly. At the July 15 listening session, participants asked for a link to the LA River bike path and safer crossings of Los Feliz Boulevard. Others worried that bike lanes could make traffic worse or leave out people who don't bike. Other suggestions included a commercial kitchen at the Adult Center, a tennis practice wall, a café, basketball courts and the return of pony rides.
A road concept in the October packet deals with the crossing that frustrates people most. It would shorten the crosswalks at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. Southbound Crystal Springs Drive would become a shared park path, and northbound Crystal Springs would carry linear parking and bus or shuttle access. The concept also reconfigures the freeway ramps, adds crossings and improves walking links over the I-5.
Three Landmarks That Run on Their Own Clocks
The master plan won't decide some of what neighbors notice most at this end of the park. Three landmarks are on separate tracks:
- Griffith Park Pool. A $36 million replacement is in design with the city's Bureau of Engineering. It includes a new competition pool, a splash pad and pool-house work. The project record lists construction from March 1, 2028, to August 31, 2029, and no contractor has been selected. The Eastsider describes the finish as early 2029, which is earlier than the city record shows.
- Mulholland Fountain. The fountain has been dry since a 2021 flood damaged its equipment room. LADWP's project page says the project is in design and that construction begins in the second half of 2026. A July city presentation instead projected construction in early to mid 2027. The Eastsider reported that LADWP had not said whether work was on schedule. The Tom LaBonge Aqueduct Centennial Gardens around it stay open.
- The former pony-ride site. In July the city canceled its request for proposals for the site after too few responses, and a new proposal is being developed. At the July listening session, staff said the pony-ride and train sites were not then inside the master plan area, though the boundary could expand.
The pool and the fountain could reopen years before any land bridge or cap is built. The master plan is a framework for that longer horizon. The project page targets adoption in spring 2028 and notes that improvements and funding have not yet been defined.
October 21 at Friendship Auditorium
The workshop runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Drive. It is a drop-in open house, with short presentations at 6 and 7 p.m. followed by stations where you can talk with members of the master plan team. Spanish interpretation will be provided, and other language accommodations are available with 72 hours' notice. If you can't attend, an online survey runs from October 23 to November 30. The October 1 briefing describes the alternatives as not final. It calls this workshop the first public chance to review them.
Old homes in Los Feliz tend to have a long past behind every arched window, and this end of the park has a long future ahead of it. If you're weighing how plans like these could shape the blocks near Riverside Drive, or you'd just like to talk through the history of the Los Feliz houses that look onto Griffith Park, Jose Prats and the team are glad to walk those streets with you. Schedule a showing or a conversation whenever you're ready.
