Johnny Carson Park

Note that this terrific little park is closed until early 2016. You can see info and the selected design at

In the middle of the city, surrounded by high rise buildings and major motion picture studios, you will find Johnny Carson Park. If this park didn’t exist, we would be wishing it did. The park is so green and beautiful, and peaceful.
Years ago the little creek had more water, now it’s just a drizzle and kind of sad looking, but the rest of the park looks «healthy.»
I regularly spend hours in this park but even If I’m just near it, I will plan my route so I can at least walk through it. It’s really just a lovely place to be. And to be honest, most people don’t even know that it’s here! I come here to read or exercise during the week and there are maybe 2 or 3 other people here. Weekends are busier, but not by much. Just around the corner on Riverside Drive is «Bob Hope Park» which is just a lawn with a few benches and trash cans. I think Bob Hope Park gets mistaken for Johnny Carson Park and that’s how this little park remains a local secret.

This park is incredible!
The city did an amazing job of keeping the park its own little entity. They have a huge wall of trees so you can’t see the hospital or the highway. The only road is the one next to the park!
The grass is amazing and they even have a cute little walking/​workout trail. I believe it’s called the «World Trail» or something. Basically you just walk the park and every 25 yards or so there are pull up bars, push up benches, etc for you to do the recommend exercise. They have a small stage and even bathroom facilities. The bathrooms aren’t the greatest, but it’s a park.
I love the park so much because the creek that runs through it just brings so much life to the park. The scenery is stunning and you can see the mountains in many directions from within the park.
I’ve been at this park in different seasons as well and it never disappoints. It’s honestly one of my favorite places to go on the weekends!

Love this park. There isn’t ample parking, unless its the weekend then you can park at providence high school parking lot.
This park is great for everyone! The workout fanatic, the dog walker and the family person. They have a nice dirt path the circles the whole area, with stops along the way each as a different workout station. They also have a nice little play ground for the kids and picnic tables all around. There is also a little river that goes through the park, sadly its run pretty dry.
*side not its a great place for outdoor photography. We did a family photo session here and the picture came out great (we do have amazing photographers as well, they are tepesuz) Also you don’t need a photo permit to shoot here.

I’ve always enjoyed Johnny Carson park Park the great place to sit down have lunch you could even throw a birthday party here if you like the outdoors always a lot of good community activities going on here

This is a pretty great park. However, something keeps it from being a 5-​star type of place.
Recently, I have made a bigger effort to spend more time at the few remaining places in Burbank and Toluca Lake that existed while I was growing here. Part of this is due to the depressing state of constant «development» in these areas: big, beige, brown, boring places are popping up rapidly here. JC Park and some of the nearby holdouts are getting a lot of attention from me.
As others have pointed out, it is a very quiet, relatively calm and somewhat isolated park, tucked away quite inconspicuously between the 134 fwy, St. Joseph’s hospital and what used to house NBC studios. This is both good and bad. Good, for when you want to spend a little quiet time in a semi-​nature environment or do something a little different on your lunch break. The bad side is the almost guaranteed visitation from one creep or another.
Nearly every time, there is some seemingly drugged out or off their drugs weirdo walking around, asking for rides, asking to use cell phones, shirtless and shoeless and always often with hospital admission bracelets. More than once I’ve seen them challenging pedestrians and drivers to fight, etc. Kind of hard to relax and enjoy your surroundings with these ghouls circling around the park.
That said, one of my favorite parts of this park is the frequency of which I find strange and unusual things: a six foot tall wooden man made of branches and twigs bound with ropes (twice actually, one in the creek, one in the bathroom — see pics); Several signs over the years warning park goers of a man living inside the tunnel; tiny drawings on leaves and sticks!
Overall, I’m not too sure what the park needs at this point, the nearby hospital and medical centers are probably directly responsible for creep problem so it’s doubtful that much can be done about that. Aside from that stuff, which no actual danger has come from (yet), I do really enjoy this place, earning it a ⁴⁄₅ in my book.

Very nice, calming spot, almost like a hidden gem in Burbank. Even though it s next to the freeway it s very quiet, quite clean and a great place to escape to.

love this park! located right near the hospital and studios. Plenty of green grass for my pup to run around it. She loved it.

I almost don’t want to write a review about this park because I’m afraid it will get too popular! I loooove this park. It’s one of my favorites. The entrance is a little weird (you have to drive you car into the high school parking lot, then past the high school, and park in that giant parking at the end). When you want to exit, you have to exit from a tiny little driveway thingy right next to the park. Weird. You can probably also park on the street (might have to try that next time). It’s a pretty huge park with some exercise equipment (nothing that really moves, though. just basic stuff) that is scattered throughout so you can run/​walk and do the various workouts. Kind of inconvenient, if you ask me. But anywho, it’s got a dirt path that goes around the park where people jog and walk their dogs. My dog loooves the park because it’s got tons of grass, and I love it because it’s uncrowded and huge, in an interesting neighborhood. I’ve yet to meet anyone creepy there. It’s surrounded by the studios (NBC and Disney and such), and it’s kind of fun to watch people standing around in 90 degree weather waiting to get into NBC. People watching at its finest. :P I recommend going if you’re in Burbank, but please keep your doggies on leash, as my doggie will have a shit attack if she sees your unleashed dog. Thank youu. ;)

«Hereeeeeee’s Johnny!» Okay, not really. Mr. Johnny Carson hasn’t come back from the dead to stalk Burbank as a zombie. However, his legacy lives on and is immortalized in the little green park across the street from «The Tonight Show» studio.
Johnny Carson Park is a green, tree-​lined, grassy knoll open to the public but helpfully maintained by NBC’s charitable affiliates. The park features walkways, picnic tables, trees, and a small playground for the kiddos. Although it isn’t anything exquisite, Johnny Carson Park is quiet, peaceful, and not filled with loud, annoying people running around. Bring a dog or a book… you will certainly lap in some serene luxury.
Trying to stalk a Tonight Show guest? Johnny Carson Park is directly across the street from the Tonight Show stage and the driveway which guests take to access the show. The park is within full visibility at all times of the studio, sidewalks, driveways, etc. If your recent career change is to be a paparazzo, then this is a perfect spot to begin. Parking on the street is limited to 2-​hours so check your stalking watch frequently.
It should be noted that Johnny Carson park is well-​maintained: the picnic tables are in good shape, trash cans are not overflowing, and there isn’t dog poop everywhere. This is noticeably better than other Valley parks.
Johnny Carson Park is wonderful for a quick respite, lunch, dog walk, etc. Admittedly, studios and antennas may take away from the natural beauty but if in the area, the park is a nice spot to check out. Not a destination park, but great for residents.

A nice little park across the street from The Tonight Show studio.
I remember the good ‘ol days when I used to work in Burbank and we would go grab lunch at Martino’s Bakery when it was on the corner of Alameda and Main Street and then my coworkers and I would just take our lunch to the park for a little picnic. It wasn’t the same park as this one, but it is right down the street on Riverside Drive.
Anyway, a bunch of Food Trucks come to The Point, at 2900 W. Alameda, every week. The Point is just east of the NBC Studios and one block west of Providence St. Joseph Hospital. Last Monday I saw that the Canter’s Truck and a few others would be at The Point. There are no tables where the food trucks park, so you have to take your food to go. Also, the Canter’s Truck staff say that they just take cash, but they were short on change on Monday and they do take credit cards. The main guy has one of those little devices for his phone.
To see the schedule of Canter’s Truck go to their facebook page. I’ve also seen The Lobster Truck, No Jodas Cuban Kitchen, the Grilled Cheese Truck and many others.
For a twitter feed of all the food trucks in Burbank go to:
After we picked up our sandwiches we pulled out the trusty i Phone with Unilocal and typed in parks and Johnny Carson Park was listed as being right around the corner. It is a lovely little park across the side street from the studio. You could probably see celebrities in the lot parking their cars if you had a zoom lens with you, but that might be borderline stalkerish so just forget I mentioned that.
There are plenty of picnic benches, nice trees for shade and it is a great place to have lunch or take your dog for a walk. I will definitely remember this park next time I go visit my favorite food truck.

This is a very small park located in the commercial area of Burbank near NBC and Providence Hospital. There are bathrooms, playground and picnic tables. Some parts of the park has great shade. What I like about this park is that it is not crowded and you will be able to find the perfect place to chill and bbq. This not the place if you want nice, lush green park and vastness like Griffith Park. But if you are tired of the crowded parks on nice days this park is a gem to chill without the hassles of a million peeps around you.