Mar Vista Recreation Center

This park is just a huge homeless encampment. Been living in the area over 15 years and this is the worst I’ve seen it. Under the 405 at Venice or National. On the medians of each stop light and now this. This mayor and city council must be handcuffing the LAPD. This park needs to be cleaned up. Parents watch your little ones if they use the restroom. Never know who’s waiting or taking a sink bath inside.

I come here to run on average of about once a month. If you run the full loop, no cutsies through the middle it is a nice one! A lot of that loop is on dirt, which I like as my usual park is not.
Nice overall sports park, with a soccer field, a couple of baseball fields, a few full basketball courts and tennis courts. Great people watching! Plus I see a sizable group playing cricket almost every time I am there. Go figure. Two parking lots that are ample, plenty on the street as well.

This is the second time that I’ve been here that the bathrooms are locked. If you have a children’s play area, you gotta have bathrooms! Those bladders are tiny!

This review is for the hockey rink. Been coming here for over 10 years and there’s plenty of opportunities to find a game. They have Adult leagues 3 nights a week and pickup games on weeknights and Sunday mornings.
The pickup games are competitive but mostly chill and the guys that play don’t get territorial or psychotic, which can be really disruptive. The leagues are well run as far as leagues go. People will always complain about the reffing or scheduling, but the bottom line is it’s outdoor hockey in SoCal.

Mar Vista Homeless Camp!
My grandson is currently attending summer camp here, and the homeless have taken over big time. There are bags and bags of crap sitting by picnic tables and other areas and it’s totally disgusting. I spoke to the park folks and it looks like their hands are tied. I think some of the creepy folks may stay here all, night, which I believe is illegal. I am stunned that the neighbors tolerate this, especially at a place that young kids frequent. I will, be contacting my local councilman’s office, but people need to get involved. Our tax dollars support the parks, and they’re turning into skid row.

This park is amazing! The people who work here are absolutely the BEST! So sweet and kind. I Lost my keys one time and they had them in the office for me so gracious my son also goes to summer camp here and I wouldn’t leave him with anyone else I highly recommend this park and all the people here are wonderful I can’t say it enough!

They get 5 stars because of their pool. Yes, prices have gone up a bit, but what hasn’t gone up in price? I bring my nephews here at least once a week and they always have a great time. They have about 4 life guards on duty at all times. I even take 5 min naps from time to time sunbathing because I know my nephews are safe. I also like the weight machines around the area, used it once and they work perfectly fine. I noticed that this park has everything, BBQ grills, soccer fields, basketball area, baseball area, multiple tennis courts, and even a hockey league that play at nights. Amazing.
Or if you just want to walk your dog around that’s also fine. I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 3 years now and never had a bad experience with this park.

Came here to run around the park, as well as use the workout the machines. Was just what I needed to get a morning workout. As I ran around the park, I realized the different resources that are available in the park — there’s a pool, tennis court, a field, etc. If I lived closer, I would definitely come to this park more often!

This park is great! Lots of people out enjoying themselves whether its cricket, football, baseball, soccer, tai chi, running, working out on the machine or just relaxing! I have never had any issues here and everyone seems friendly. Lots of different fields and even a inline skate rink and fancy soccer/​lacrosse fields. We love to take the dog here and run around.
Oh yeah there is even tennis courts and a pool here (although I cant remember the pool ever being used, so you might want to check on that).

I come here occasionally with the dogs for a walk. The park is mostly geared towards those who play sports. There isn’t a lot to see here. There is some exercise equipment in some parts of the park for exercise buffs.

I like to come here to exercise. They have two small parking lots and plenty of street parking on all the different streets surrounding it. Because there is a lot of traffic either by foot or cars it is pretty safe. It’s also very close to a lot of houses and residential areas which makes it nice. If they do have a bathroom here I don’t know where it is or if it’s always unlocked. That would be helpful to know. They have a dirt path and the sidewalk for running, a soccer field, a baseball field, swimming pool, a playground, and grassy areas, and outdoor workout stations. Worth a visit to get your exercise on.

I am changing my review from one star to three stars because after this incident I spoke to the manager at the office, and he issued me a full refund of my money. Apparently the staff should have gone themselves to tell the other people to leave. I however think this still isn’t a good answer, if someone pays to reserve a picnic area, just mark it off as reserved, don’t let other people set up and then kick them out once the people who paid arrived.
It’s a shame because I had my baby shower, my son’s first, second and third birthday parties here. For years we thought it was the perfect place for it, but next year for his fourth birthday we are going to be finding someplace else.

I’m speaking more toward the basketball courts–
I used to love this park. People hanging on the rims and nets rip and bend the basketball goals up. The courts have become ghetto and trashy. People smoke weed and drink, leaving their alcohol bottles sometimes on the courts. What used to be a good place to play basketball has turned into a trash talking, low class place to play. And it’s no longer fun for me.
I’m currently looking for a new place to play even though it was one of the reasons I moved near it in the first place. I’m a block away and it’s free… and I’d rather pay to go somewhere that I have fun at.
Maybe I’ll go up there for tennis or soccer.

I love this park becuase i spent countless years as a child roaming around & in the pool. This park is if i might say very historic, at one point the worlds largest zoo.
look it up & im sure you’ll be amazed at the pictures. I dont live in the area but i plan on coming back soon to have lunch on one of the benches watching the ducks in the water.
This park contains its own parking, gym, pool, tennis court, baseball fieldwater front, child daycare and rec area. Much love.

This is a standard L.A. City Parks and Recreation Department ran park. It has its ups and downs, as all big City parks do. This one happens to be in the Mar Vista area of West Los Angeles.
Personally, I use the park as part of one of the several jogging/​walking circuits I frequent when in L.A.
Not much more to add to what has already been written in other Unilocal reviews. The now almost new (a couple of years) exercise machines that were installed on the south and west side of the park’s outer perimeters are pretty cool; they are designed to use one’s own body weight as resistance. You can just about exercise every major muscle group, much like the typical weight machines at spas and gyms all over the States; but these are outside and you can incorporate exercising on the machines during your round trip jogs around the park.
I noticed that the new soccer field that was installed not too long ago, and obviously one that cost a few dollars, is used by both adult and teen leagues. Some of the adult leagues bring large crowds of supporters and make parking or using the park a bit of a struggle during game times.

Westside L.A. parks almost invariably offer the worst softball-​playing conditions in Southern California. Don’t be surprised if you step on the infield of one and it reminds you of a dusty Renaissance Faire parking lot.
A ray of hope shone down a few years ago on Westchester Park near LAX, when the city closed the entire softball complex, scraped the land down to bedrock, and resurfaced the infields and planted new grass in the outfield. However, a recent visit to that park revealed grass still pocked with gopher holes; uneven, sloping playing surfaces (c’mon – drainage isn’t EVERYTHING), and exposed cement water-​valve covers still there to deflect infield groundballs.
Thus, who might’ve imagined that an impromptu Saturday workout at an old stomping ground, Mar Vista Park, would elicit a choir of angels on approaching Diamond 1? Meticulously leveled and covered with professional-​looking red clay and fine gravel, the first reaction was, when did this happen?
Where the former infield required fielders to sometimes guess which direction the ball would bounce next, the grounders now bounce true, and infielders need not prepare for each pitch by poising their gloves just below their eyes.
As we departed, the groundskeeper began marking the batter’s boxes and foul lines for an upcoming game. He said the three-​diamond complex had been closed about two months for the project, which included replanting all outfield grass, and was completed in early April. He added that smaller Diamonds 2 and 3 were also reconditioned, but not to the extent of baseball/​softball Diamond 1.
But that’s OK. It’s comforting to know that L.A. Parks & Recreation is capable of creating a desirable ballyard surface, and that, someday, someone might convince the department that well-​maintained softball venues don’t cost the city as much money as popular leagues can earn for the city.

Sweeet. Lots of tennis courts and easy parking.

This is a very lovely community rec center. They have a good sized parking lot, bbq pits, slides, water fountains, basketball courts (double rims against my liking), a nice indoor auditorium/​basketball center, and just a whole lot of space for children and families to come enjoy.
I also like that it’s safe to come for a late night game of basketball because lighting is still available.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would come back

What do co-​workers and I decide to do once a week to avoid the 405 traffic? Play tennis. The location is really close to work, so we don’t have a hard time getting there. The place is huge. They have different courts for all sports (baseball, tennis, basketball etc.). They have couple of parking lots but they are very small. Plan to park on the street. We are usually able to find at least one court to play tennis at so it doesn’t get that packet around 6:30.
Does this activity we do until 8:00pm help with 405 traffic? Absolutly not! But we get a work out so no complains.
Good location if you are in the area, if you are not find other tennis courts, they are all the same!!!

I love this park. It has a lot to offer, including a nice playground, a great soccer field and basketball court, and most importantly, a great roller hockey rink.
I mainly come to watch my brother in his roller hockey league and of course for the playground as I have a 10 year old. Highly recommended.