13-mile trail from Baldwin Hills to the beach set to open in 2020

Plans for a pedestrian and bike trail from Baldwin Hills to Playa del Rey took a big step forward last week when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a pedestrian bridge above La Cienega Boulevard.

The bridge will connect the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area to the newly opened Stoneview Nature Center and the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. That will provide a convenient and conspicuously absent pedestrian connection between the parks, but will also be part of the 13-mile Park to Playa Trail.

Much of the path already exists. Its easternmost leg is the Stocker Corridor Trail, which opened in 2016 and runs west alongside Stocker Street from Presidio Drive—a little under a mile from the future Crenshaw Line. The path then connects to Kenneth Hahn parkland and the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, before linking up with paths through Culver City Park. Most of the trail’s western portion will coincide with the Ballona Creek Bike Path.

The existing segments of the route have all been popular with users, but getting from one to the other can be a chore.

In a statement last week, County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas said the trail would “finally” give residents “a direct route for walking, running or biking through the Baldwin Hills all the way to the beach.”

A connection between the Stoneview Nature Center and the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook has already been completed, and the full trail is expected to open with the pedestrian bridge in 2020.

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