| Agency Name: | Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation |
| Type: | department |
| Seal: | Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation seal.png |
| Preceding1: | Forester and Fire Warden's Office |
| Preceding2: | Department of Recreation, Camps and Playgrounds |
| Jurisdiction: | Los Angeles County |
| Headquarters: | 433 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90020 |
| Coordinates: | 34.0663°N -118.292°W |
| Employees: | 1,477 (2010)[1] |
| Budget: | (2010) |
| Chief1 Name: | Norma Edith García-Gonzalez |
| Chief1 Position: | Director |
The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation is an agency of the County of Los Angeles which oversees its parks and recreational facilities. It was created in 1944. It operates and maintains over 71249acres of parks, gardens, lakes, natural gardens, and golfing greens, and of trails.[2]
It maintains 183 parks and operates the world’s largest municipal golf course system with 20 courses. It also owns the Hollywood Bowl and the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.[3]
Weddings can be held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Magic Johnson Park in Willowbrook.[4] Virginia Robinson Gardens is open for tours.
Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation operates nature centers at:
It has fishing lakes at:
The Department hosts approximately 300 film projects a year, including feature films, television series, television commercials, and still photography shoots for various magazines and publications.[5]
Safety and law enforcement services are provided on a contract basis from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Parks Bureau. Prior to 2010, the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety (County Police) and its predecessor agencies were responsible for law enforcement in the county parks.
Since 2020, the director is Norma Edith García-Gonzalez.[2] The department is governed by a five member commission, appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.[6]