Visitors to Echo Park have long enjoyed a variety of recreational activities. A swimming pool, tennis courts and a softball diamond may be found on park land south of the lake, while picnic areas and a children’s playground can be enjoyed alongside anglers fishing for trout and catfish in the well-stocked lake.
It is boating, though, that has always captured the imagination of visitors to Echo Park. The original wood frame boathouse built in 1921 featured a functional watchtower and rented wooden canoes. It burned down later but by the mid1930s had been rebuilt in the popular Mission Revival style complete with arched windows and a clay tiled roof.
The lighthouse is now strictly for show and the canoes have been replaced with sleek, pedal-powered fiberglass boats, but the old-fashioned charm of boating on Echo Park Lake has changed little over the years.
(Excerpt from “Ghosts of Echo Park”. Only a few copies are left! Final orders will continue to be taken via the mail. Send $15.00 to Echo Park Publishing, P.O. Box 261021, LA 90026.)
