23500 Civic Center Way, Malibu, CA 90265
Overview
Legacy park is an amazing, fifteen acre nature area where kids will love to run around and play. Opened in October of 2010, It is located just minutes down the street from the Malibu Country Mart and playground. While there is no playground equipment, Legacy Park is a great alternative to the busier nearby playgrounds and parks. An added benefit is that it allows kids to immerse themselves in nature.
As we circled the gravel and sometimes paved paths that wind through the park, we were greeted by different art installments of animal sculptures. These Mosaic art sculptures are textured and great for kids to touch.
The sculptures were dispersed every so often as we continued to walk. There are plenty of sculptures for everyone to appreciate as they walk the grounds. From owls, to newts and lizards, to coyotes and snakes. Altogether, there are eight different animals represented, all being wild animals that are native to California.
All of the sculptures were part of the Legacy art project. This was a one of a kind project created solely for Legacy Park. My wife and I were both very impressed by the detail put into all of the art.
There were many educational opportunities in the form of informational signs as we meandered around the park. The paths took us through four different native habitats – native woodlands, riparian/wetlands, coastal prairies and coastal bluffs. The park is also very environmentally friendly. The park has a water reclamation system that is able to capture and treat up to 2.6 million gallons of storm water and urban run off per day, helping limit pollution from reaching the ocean and reusing the clean water to irrigate the park.
Scout’s Story
One of the biggest benefits and upsides of this park is its relative quietness in an otherwise busy area. On the morning that we visited Legacy Park, I had first attempted to take my daughter,Scout, to the playground at the country mart in Malibu at around 9 am. Shortly after we arrived the park became immensely crowded. Being that Scout’s immune system is compromised from battling stage 4 cancer and enduring months of chemotherapy, I began to grow uncomfortable as a huge mom group arrived and the crowds of kids grew to become more than I was comfortable with. It hurt my heart significantly to have to pull my seventeen month old daughter away from the other kids to protect her.
Having no way to truly explain to her why she couldn’t play or stay any longer, I teared up as I carried her to the car. All I wanted was to find a place for Scout to be able to get some energy out. It was going to be a long morning for her as we were making a drive home from Oxnard. I sat in the car on my phone looking for somewhere else to go. Eventually, I found Legacy Park on the map and decided to head there.
We drove less than five minutes down the road and I was unquestionably happy that we had found this park for her. There were a few bird watchers and a couple of people here and there strolling through the park but overall there was a huge feeling of solitude. This is a park that I will undoubtedly take my daughter to any time that I am in the Malibu area in the future.
Getting to Legacy Park
23500 Civic Center Way, Malibu, CA 90265
From Hwy 1 turn onto Cross Creek Rd in Malibu away from the Ocean. In .2 miles turn left onto civic center way. you will reach Legacy Park .2 miles later and there will be street parking stalls on both the left and right side of the road.