Los Encinos State Historic Park

Los Encinos survived the 1994 Northridge quake but it’s a depressing thought that it struggles to stay open. The Park remains open Wednesdays through Sundays and an anonymous donation will keep the park open into 2013.

It’s still one of the best places in Encino to go with small children to have a quiet picnic and feed the ducks (use the duck food provided for a quarter). The rangers also protect tiny turtles born here – you may be able to see them in the ranger office where they are out of harm’s way (from seagull marauders). The lake is fed by an underground spring, tucked away at the Ventura Blvd corner of the park, protected by a plaster and limestone covering - this is where Encino began many hundreds of years ago. If you are interested in Los Encinos and Encino history generally, pick up Images of America: Encino by Michael Crosby at the rangers’ station for $20 or at Barnes and Noble or Costco. It was published last year and it’s loaded with great black and white photos of Encino from its early years through today.

The best way to help save Los Encinos is either to volunteer or to organize a group of kids to visit. To research this, you can send an e-mail or call, but it's better if go along and talk to Ranger Dandurand or Ranger Hawkins during the week to get a feel for it or, better still, attend the Living History reenactments that occur the third Sunday of every month, 1-3 PM. These are small affairs but they have activities to interest the kids (under 12 years old) – stilts, hula hoops, wringing the water out of washed clothes, etc. For adults, they open up the long adobe building seen in the photo above – there’s an excellent museum exhibit inside. These events will only survive if residents support them.

The docent program - technically “state park volunteers” – is down to about 5 people (they could use a few more volunteers). One of them is the fabulous Lil Bauer, who is in her Eighties, and you may be lucky enough to catch her if you go on a Wednesday.

Although the website (here) lists opportunities to be a docent and to be involved in a blacksmith program, I would only recommend them to those who have a passion for history. The blacksmith shop would like more volunteers, but they would already need to know how to do blacksmithing. In the past, volunteer blacksmiths have used the shop during the week. If there is anyone who knows how to do blacksmithing and wants a place to practice the craft and teach the public about blacksmithing, then this is the shop for them. The contact is Gary Standke, who can be reached via the website. If you have one of those really old Encino homes and there’s some old blacksmith materials in the backyard, Los Encinos would love to check them out.