Staycation: Paddle Boating in the Neighborhood

We took Abby's advice this past weekend and explored our own neighborhood. Having lived in Echo Park for almost three years, we had never taken advantage of some good clean fun right down the street.

We headed down Echo Park Avenue, crossed over Sunset Boulevard and ended up at the Echo Park Boathouse. With no one in line, we strolled right in and bought our tickets. Since it's only $7 per half hour or $10 for an entire hour, we splurged and booked the whole hour.

Walking down a ramp to the "paddle wheelers" we picked out a sparkly pink paddle boat and suited up in life jackets. There were just two of us but each paddle boat seats up to four people.

It was so relaxing being out on the water and we pretty much had the lake all to ourselves. This is definitely one of those times when we wondered why we hadn't made this trip sooner.

You can paddle boat on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to six. Be sure to head over to the Boat House before the end of summer.

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Comments (7)

Ha! Hooray for you! I had my first Echo Park paddle boat excursion last month when a friend was in town visiting. I had been wanting to do it forever, but didn't want to do it alone. ;) It was actually really fun!

posted by jes on August 11th 2008 at 4:01pm
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I'm thinking of moving to the Echo Park area, so thanks for sharing!

posted by simplystage on August 11th 2008 at 4:16pm
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If you're ever in Orange County you can do this at Irvine Lake too!

posted by LilyC on August 11th 2008 at 7:00pm
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Beth, fun idea! I have lived in L.A. my entire life and never knew you could paddle boat in Echo Park. Your photos are really pretty.

posted by farfalla1 on August 11th 2008 at 8:46pm
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Cute! I just did this at Lake Merritt in Oakland, but the boats aren't nearly as charming.

posted by verhext on August 11th 2008 at 11:06pm
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I did this at Lake Eola when I lived in Orlando. They have a big fountain in the middle, the boats are shaped like swans though, so you paddle a swan around the lake.

posted by designpirate on August 12th 2008 at 3:24am
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826 LA is hosting a paddle boat race this upcoming weekend at Echo Park lake-- you should come out to watch it! (Aug 17th at 4pm)

I just made the move from West Hollywood to Echo Park... Looking forward to exploring.

posted by thegutlesswonder on August 12th 2008 at 7:40am
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