Natural lakes are a rarity in California - especially Southern California.
Generally, you'd have to go as far north as, say, Lake Tahoe or Lee Vining to find Mono Lake, Convict Lake, and other naturally-formed bodies of water.
LA has already drained pretty much all the water from Owens Lake.
So that means many of the lakes that are accessible to Angelenos are actually reservoirs - Castaic Lake, Pyramid Lake, Lake Hollywood, and so on.
And other lakes - like Lake Elsinore, Lake Elizabeth, and Lake Hughes - are technically sag ponds. Yes, they're natural bodies of water, but they're not fed by any external source, like a river. Instead, they're areas where the movement of a seismic fault (like the San Andreas) created a gap and the groundwater rose up to fill the space.
Somehow that doesn't seem to count.
Considering LA is a metropolitan area with so many neighborhoods and unincorporated communities named after lakes - Silver Lake, Westlake, Westlake Village, Lakeview Terrace, and the like - it makes you wonder where the actual LAKES of LA are?
Toluca Lake has one, but it's privately owned and inaccessible to the public.
Well, maybe it doesn't matter if a lake in LA is real or not. After all, we live in an area surrounded by movie magic. If there's any place we want to go, we don't have to leave LA - we can just build the place right here.
So whether it's fishing, boating, birding, picnicking, or just experiencing the novelty of actually seeing a body of water - even in the summertime - here are six great bodies of water we call lakes of greater LA.
--
--
Baldwin Lake, The Arboretum, Arcadia
You'll find the natural body of water named after the infamous Lucky Baldwin on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, surrounded by the Queen Anne Cottage from Baldwin's Santa Anita Ranch and the Hugo Reid Adobe from 1840, which was named after the first private owner of the Rancho Santa Anita. These days, in the drought, the lake is more like a lagoon - its water levels having diminished and some of its mud banks exposed. But it's still got fish (the common carp), although the infamous frogs (and signs of other amphibian life) are long gone.
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Lake Balboa, Van Nuys
When you go boating or fishing at Lake Balboa, you may not know it, but you're making good use of water that would otherwise go to waste. You may want to put down your fork before reading about the source of Lake Balboa's water. Ready? It's the nearby Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, which processes some (but not all) of LAs wastewater (i.e. toilet water) that gets pumped in from the sewers. But this water is probably cleaner than any natural source of water (including the LA River, which has recently been harboring high levels of fecal bacteria) because of the rigorous and thorough cleaning and disinfecting process it goes through at the plant. Solids (including poop) are removed, and then the de-pooped water is filtered, chlorinated and dechlorinated. And if there's any doubt as to the health or safety of that reclaimed water, just look at the cherry blossom trees around the lake in the springtime - or at the Japanese garden (a.k.a. the garden of water and fragrance) that's also irrigated by it, right next door to the plant.
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Lake Shrine, Pacific Palisades
Tucked away in the Pacific Palisades is a little hideaway called Lake Shrine, where silent movies were once filmed in the 1920s. Once known as Lake Santa Ynez, it was actually formed when a developer moved earth for grading without filling it back in before natural springs filled it with water. In fact, Lake Shrine is known as the only natural spring-fed lake within LA city limits - though now, it's less for recreation and more for meditation. After a vivid dream, the developer sold the property - including a windmill, a houseboat, and a mill house - to the Self-Realization Fellowship Church of All Religions in the 1940s, which still holds ceremonies, retreats, and other events there today. Its a quiet, cell phone-free zone where you might find a cat sprawled on the sidewalk in the sun, turtles in the water, and inspirational passages from different sacred texts. If nothing else, it's a lovely hidden garden and a cool escape from the heat.
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Franklin Canyon Park, Beverly Hills
Tucked inside the chaparral, grassland, and oak woodland habitat of Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills, there's a three-acre lake that served as the fishin hole in the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show and the lagoon in Creature from the Black Lagoon. But contrary to what you might've seen in film or television, there's no swimming or fishing permitted here - and the only creatures you may find are the frogs that sing a chorus as night begins to fall. Franklin Canyon is a great place for night hiking, with regularly-scheduled full moon hikes accompanied by a naturalist. But if you really want to see something - and your hike has been cut short by the development of the private section of the Hastain Trail - visit the lake during the day, where you're sure to see both local and visiting birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway.
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Photo by: Sandi Hemmerlein
Lincoln Park Lake, Lincoln Heights
There's a surprising amount of year-round fishing you can do at Lincoln Park Lake, just northeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The former Eastlake Park (the eastern counterpart to Westlake) is one of LA's oldest public parks, officially dedicated in 1883. It's regularly supplied with rainbow trout, catfish, carp, and more. The surrounding park has picnic areas, BBQ pits, a lighted ba
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Natural lakes are a rarity in California - especially Southern California.
