Lindberg Park
by Melody Hansen
DID YOU KNOW?
Lindberg Park is a 4.39 acre park located in the Studio Village neighborhood, just off the Ballona Creek bike path nestled in amongst tree-lined streets and classic Culver City homes. The park features include a large playground, tennis courts, basketball courts, fields for soccer, baseball and/or softball, BBQs, picnic tables and a recreation building.
On the property is also a small neighborhood preschool, La Playa Cooperative Nursery School, where during the week many children and families find enrichment and care for some of our youngest residents.
WHAT NEEDS FIXING:
Lindberg Park is a beloved gathering place in the neighborhood, but it is sorely in need of an update. The play structures are full of splinters, the rubber playground turf is worn down, and while there is space for parents/caregivers to sit around the perimeter of the playground, the main area with picnic tables is not shaded, making lunchtime uncomfortable on hot days. The sand is filled with debris - it is not uncommon to find glass or other sharp objects buried right where our children play, and when something is broken (ie: the slide that was taped off for a full year), it takes far too long to be fixed
Due to lack of drainage, the fields have issues of their own, including flooding/heavy puddles during rainy seasons, which in turn exacerbate the potholes and dips in the grass. This makes the fields a potentially treacherous area for the many types of recreation that happen here on any given day. The basketball courts are cracked and aging, the bathrooms are very old and ragged, making it less than ideal for families to use.
WHAT PARKS IS DOING TO IMPROVE LINDBERG PARK:
If you drive, bike, walk, or roll by the east end of Lindberg Park on Rhoda Way, you will see a chain link fence from the covered picnic tables right down the first base line of the baseball field. This is because the Parks Department is going to demo and redo the covered picnic tables! They have fabricated the new canopy which will be installed with new seating and new paths.
Look for these improvements soon!
WHAT LINDBERG PARK MEANS TO ME:
When my family first moved to Culver City in 2017 from Venice, we lived around the corner from Lindberg Park in the Studio Village neighborhood. At the time we had one son who was just 2 years old, and we had no idea how great this city is for families. This park and neighborhood is what made us fall in love with Culver City and want to make a life here…. the proximity to the bike path with the footbridge, the grass for my family to play in, a big playground well-suited for all ages of children, the quiet neighborhood streets with big shady trees lining them. When we brought our second son into our family, it became an even more important part of our routine to walk to the park and enjoy the swings, nature, sunshine, fresh air, and being with our neighbors.
In 2020, Lindberg Park became our refuge. We were living in an apartment and didn’t have outdoor space of our own, so we’d get outside for some socially distanced playtime in the fields. When our older son learned to ride a bike without training wheels that year, we’d ride the few short blocks from our apartment to Lindberg. My husband and I would take turns getting out of the house on our own (sans-kids) during that tough year, and often we’d end up at Lindberg after a run through the neighborhood to lay in the grass, or to take a book and sit in the shade for a while. The reprieve this park gave our family was something so special and needed for us.
Since then, we have moved into a house, but are living not far from Lindberg Park - we are just a short bike ride away, and my boys jump at any chance to go there. It’s a perfect meetup spot with friends from school, or to play baseball together as a family on the weekends. It’s a short walk from Farragut, CCMS and CCHS, and the library, making it an easy landing spot for kids of all ages.
