W Gage Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90044
Hours: Monday-Sunday (8 AM-8 PM)
Restrooms? No
Playground Surface? Rubber
Parking Lot? No. Street parking only (very limited)
Gated/Fenced? Yes. Fully fenced and gated
Overview
Vermont Gage Park, is a tiny park, located in Los Angeles, approximately ten minutes from the Natural History Museum. After being installed in 2016, the playground quickly became a huge hit with local families. The main focus of the park is the castle playground, which is utterly phenomenal and incredibly well designed. The all inclusive playground includes ramps and walkways, that make navigating the play area possible for kids of all abilities. There is a small picnic area with picnic tables, adjacent to the playground. However, there is no lawn area or other amenities outside of the playground, including restrooms.
This is possibly one of the best playground designs I have ever seen. However, the neighborhood that the playground is located in, is rather rough, to say the least. While the city did an amazing job of having this built here and trying to upgrade the area for families and kids, it hasn’t worked. I have heard from many people that this was once a great place to bring their kids but it no longer stands that way. Some playground equipment has recently been covered by tarps and is currently being used by the homeless as a make shift shelter. Additionally, the playground had a pungent, prevalent, smell of urine. Hopefully the city can do something to revamp what was once a reasonably nice place for children to visit and play.
Features
Incredible castle themed playground with a play area for kids 2-5 years old and one for kids 5-12 years old
- This magical playground includes a castle with ogres and a drawbridge (that doubles as a wheelchair ramp).
- Concrete sculpted Dragon and frog. The dragon has steps built into him so kids can climb up him
- 2 bench swings, 2 baby (bucket swings) and 2 accessible swings
- A roller slide, 4 person teeter-totter and sphere climber (A homeless man had it tarped and was using it as a shelter)
- Toddler sensory play panels
Scout’s Story
As our daughter Scout’s cancer was placed into remission two months ago, she is finally getting an opportunity to do activities in public places, with no fear of a weakened immune system that is not capable of fighting off illness. On this day we would be taking Scout to the L.A. Zoo through a foundation for kids with chronic illnesses. We were super excited and decided to make a few stops on the long drive to Los Angeles. Our first stop along the drive would be Vermont Gage Pocket Park.
We arrived around 9 AM and were able to get a parking spot directly in front of the playground. I sat in the back of the car with Scout, as she finished eating what little bit of her breakfast that she would actually eat. My wife pointed out a man swinging in the handicapped swing, with the harness over him. I found it a little odd, but I could clearly tell that he was homeless. As the man disappeared, my wife mentioned to me that she felt a bit uncomfortable.
I got out of the car and entered the playground by myself to encounter the homeless man, with a tarp draped over the sphere play climber, where he was apparently living. The playground also had a very unpleasant smell of urine. As I walked around, I admired the amazing play structures while pondering if this was really a place in which I wanted our daughter to play. Eventually, the homeless man exited his tarped play structure and sat on a picnic table watching me. He appeared very friendly and although I wasn’t upset with him for sleeping on the playground, I ultimately decided that me being here, just felt awkward.
As I exited the playground, my wife and daughter were now standing outside of the car. A man (neither homeless nor an addict) approached us and initiated an interaction. It’s not worth going into what happened and it was just a minor interaction, but once again, it was something that made me feel awkward and uncomfortable enough to not want to have our daughter here. The playground is truly incredible and I wish our daughter could have experienced it. I hope that my experience was an uncommon one and that others in the future will be able to enjoy this play area, that was so thoughtfully crafted.
