Stoneview Nature Center | |
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Location | 5950 Stoneview Dr., Culver City, CA 90232 |
Coordinates | 34°00′52″N 118°22′35″W / 34.01444°N 118.37639°W |
Area | 5 acres (20,000 m2) |
Established | 2017 |
Administered by | Los Angeles County |
Paths | .25 mi (0.40 km) fitness loop |
Habitats | Coastal sage |
Parking | Dedicated lot, limited street parking |
Public transit access | Baldwin Hills Link, Culver CityBus route 5 |
Website | parks.lacounty.gov |
Stoneview Nature Center is a county-operated garden and educational facility in Culver City, California along the Park to Playa Trail.[1]
The nature center building and gardens are part of a “transformation of a five-acre brownfield site in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Culver City, California.”[2] The main building, designed by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, is 4,000 square feet (370 m2) and features community space, a meeting/classroom, an outdoor kitchen, and bathrooms.[2]
The park, which has a focus on native California and edible plantings, includes a raised-bed Mediterranean demonstration garden, a native grass meadow, and installations by the contemporary art collective Fallen Fruit.[3][4] The edible landscaping includes oranges, avocados, figs, grapes, lemons, blackberries, and blueberries, and less-familiar California native edibles including lemonade berry, coffee berry and prickly pear.[1][5]
Fitness equipment and workout classes are offered at the park. Stoneview is a key segment of the 13 mi (21 km) Park to Playa Trail; “good views of L.A. are guaranteed on the dirt-and-paved track from Baldwin Hills to Playa del Rey.”[6][7]
The center operates an apiary in partnership with HoneyLove as well as a furnishing an elaborate hotel for native bee, both as part of a public outreach campaign on the importance of pollinating insects.[8]
Stoneview was recommended by local public-radio station KCRW as an outdoor refuge during the pandemic.[9]
The land was previously a primary school campus from 1956 to 2010, and was acquired by the Baldwin Hills Regional Conservation Authority in 2011. [10]