A small pirate ship themed playground and picnic area within a recreation center in West Los Angeles, California.
333 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049
Hours: Monday-Sunday (Dusk to Dawn)
Restrooms? Yes. Located by the Rec Center.
Playground Surface: Rubber
Parking Lot? Yes. Small, dedicated parking lot (15 spots) fills quickly.
Gated/Fenced? No
Overview
Located in West Los Angeles, about 15 minutes from the Santa Monica Pier, Barrington Recreation Center features a small, but nice playground with a recreation center on site. The main attraction of the playground is the pirate ship, which has an intricate amount of detail.
Consequently, it is one of the cooler and more unique pirate ship themed playgrounds we have come across.
In addition, the park includes four very nice tennis courts, and a full court and half basketball court adjacent to the playground. A picnic and lawn area are directly behind the playground. There is a recreation center on site, as well. The park can get pretty busy and the parking lot is extremely small and tends to fill up extremely fast.
Features
Two separate play structures, including an incredible pirate ship structure
Main Play Structure for Kids Ages 5-12 Years Old
- 2 slides, including a spiral slide
- 2 bench swings and 2 baby (bucket) swings
- Climbing wall, vertical climbing ladder, and horseshoe climbing ladder
Pirate Ship Play Structure for Kids Ages 2-5 Years Old
- Incredible detail on this amazing pirate ship (cannons, skulls, ropes, anchor, and lantern)
- 3 slides, including a spiral slide
- Small area inside the pirate ship that makes for great imaginative play
- Snake ladder climber and toddler table with stools
Other Amenitites
- Recreation Center directly behind the playground, with indoor gym and basketball courts amongst the many amenities
- 6 picnic tables and good amount of lawn space
- Full and half basketball court, 4 tennis courts, and baseball and soccer fields
- Reservable picnic area by reservation; 10 picnic tables and grassy area in a gated area off to the side of the playground
Scout’s Story
On this beautiful Friday, my wife and I had plans to take my daughter, Scout, to the Skirball Cultural Center. The cultural center didn’t open until noon and we were looking for a place to let Scout run. About ten minutes away was the playground at Barrington Recreation Center and seemed to be a great option to kill some time. Scout has been battling stage 4 cancer for eight months now and was just recently approved to have her tumors operated on. With her white blood cells still recovering from her most recent chemotherapy, we wanted to get her outside while making sure to be safe at the same time.
Scout’s Day at Barrington Recreation Center
The park was a bit crowded and with Scout being only 23 months old, the bigger kids were pushing her younger, slower body around a little bit. We let her go down the slide a few times and run around for awhile before retreating to the baby swing.
The playground at Barrington is really neat with its incredible pirate ship and we felt blessed to be able to visit and let Scout play here. Her surgery is coming up in exactly two weeks and we are hopeful of the outcome. One of the hardest things is not being able to explain to her that her body doesn’t heal the same as other kids and that we can’t always do the same stuff as others at this time. While we await Scout’s surgery and the next steps in this fight, we will continue to keep letting her be as much of a normal kid as possible. We are excited and looking forward to the time where we don’t have to hold her back. All things considered, we feel grateful to have reached the point that we have in her treatment and are optimistic for the future.
