Lafayette Recreation Center — Attraction in Los Angeles

A scruffy little park adjacent to MacArthur Park. If you enjoy skateboarding there's a decent little skate park, some well maintained basketball courts and fair restrooms. Many people don't know that the infamous MS 13 street gang was born in this park. It started out as a benign group of skater/stoner kids. No drug sales or violence or any indication of what it would become. Over 2 decades it somehow evolved into one of the most ruthless street gangs in LA. Comprised mostly of the offspring of Salvadoran immigrants, the most dangerous and prominent members were deported to El Salvador, where they now rival the Salvadoran government in fire power and cash. They have conducted a reign of terror in El Salvador unlike anything they could manage...

I'm quite impressed by the new look feeling by that they have brought to Lafayette Park. Before it was just within walking miles to MacArthur Park and wasn't much better but now I can say that I was really pleased to have sat in the grass enjoyed myself people watched family's enjoying one another. They have a wonderful recreation area that children are safe to plan they also have a gymnasium and a bunch of family activities no matter whether low income or not that can be participated in I am also quite pleased that they have now a program for young children to get involved with a visual arts and do something positive with their lives despite their...

Basketball practices are not great-as they have young volunteers training kids that clearly don’t know the game. My son was unfairly treated. They would sit him out multiple times. A young girl named Martha was in charge on their team and she thought it was okay to keep sitting my son out multiple times without rotating everyone in the team. If Lafayette is going to hired kids/ volunteers they need to make sure they are kid oriented and everyone is being treated with respect and dignity. We’re building the future, not making children feel any less. Not...