Fern Dell in Griffith Park: Its History and the Shaded Walk to the Trails Cafe

Long before it was a park, the canyon was a gathering place of the Tongva, also called the Gabrielino people. A city plaque at the Fern Dell entrance notes the Gabrielino village sites.

In 1896, Griffith J. Griffith gave his ranch land to the City of Los Angeles, and the canyon became part of Griffith Park. In the 1910s, city parks superintendent Frank Shearer began planting native and imported ferns in the ravine. The ferns gave the garden its name.

The spring drew visitors early. In the early 1900s, health-seekers came to drink its water, which they believed had healing powers. By the early 1920s, the first terraced pools, footbridges and faux bois railings were in place. Faux bois is concrete shaped to look like wood.

During the Great Depression, workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps lived in camps in Griffith Park and enlarged Fern Dell. They added stone-lined water features, picnic areas, retaining walls and railings. They built in the rustic style the National Park Service used in its parks at the time.

Much of that stonework is still there. When you walk the stream, the stone ponds and walls you pass are a large part of what makes Fern Dell look the way it does.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County calls the area the Ferndell Nature Museum, a museum with no building. Its plants and animals are the exhibit, and they mix California natives with species from around the world.

• Native ferns. Maidenhair ferns and lady ferns grow along the stream.
• Ferns from far away. Tree ferns and leatherleaf ferns from other continents grow beside elephant-ear plants from Asia.
• Native trees. Coast live oak, western sycamore and California bay shade the trail.
• Animals in the water. The turtles, koi and goldfish in the ponds are not native to California, according to the museum.
• Animals on land. The museum lists Cooper's hawks, Nuttall's woodpeckers, squirrels and western fence lizards among the native wildlife.

Later decades were hard on Fern Dell. Its faux bois railings and stone ponds fell into disrepair, and steady skilled upkeep stopped. The Cultural Landscape Foundation lists the garden as at risk.

Friends of Griffith Park, a nonprofit, leads the Griffith Park Historic Fern Dell Preservation Project to restore it. Early funding came from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust. In 2019 the group rebuilt Fern Dell's historic pedestrian bridge with the city's Recreation and Parks department.

1. Start at the bottom. Fern Dell Drive meets Los Feliz Boulevard at a Griffith Park sign with a bronze bear cub statue, a 1976 gift from the people of Berlin.
2. Find the trail entrance. Walk a short way up Fern Dell Drive. The shaded path along the stream starts on the left, near Black Oak Drive.
3. Follow the water. The trail runs about a quarter mile up the ravine, past the terraced pools and small bridges. Out and back is about half a mile.
4. Go up the road to the cafe. At the top, step out onto Western Canyon Road and walk a short way uphill. The Trails Cafe is a small walk-up cafe with picnic tables and food to go.
5. Keep going if you want more. Past the cafe there is a playground and restroom. From that area, the West and East Observatory Trails climb toward Griffith Observatory.

Parking is along Fern Dell Drive and in a lot off Western Canyon Road. Read the posted signs before you leave the car.

• Counting on fixed cafe hours. Published hours for the Trails Cafe do not agree, so check its current listing before you go.
• Feeding or releasing animals. The turtles and fish in the ponds are not native, and the museum notes that some non-native species harm native ones. Leave the water as you found it.
• Leaving the path. The ferns and old stonework are fragile. Stay on the trail and the bridges.
• Expecting the uphill part to be easy. Fern Dell itself is short and shaded. The Observatory trails above it are steeper, so bring water if you plan to continue.

Fern Dell is one of the easiest ways into Griffith Park from Los Feliz. Read our history of Griffith Observatory above Los Feliz before you hike up, or plan a night at the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park. Our guide to free things to do in Los Feliz has more, and the Los Feliz events calendar has this week's gatherings. If you host one nearby, you can add your event for free.

Los Feliz Events is a free community calendar for Los Feliz, Los Angeles, from Rooster Homes™, the Los Angeles real estate brokerage led by Brandon S. Arlington and Sarah Arlington. If you are thinking about buying or selling a home in Los Feliz, you can contact Rooster Homes. We are always glad to talk about the neighborhood.