Tag Archive for: echo park lake boathouse

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Take a ride on the waters of Echo Park Lake

The pedal boats are back in business on Echo Park Lake! It’s been around four years since the city shut down pedal boat operations at the Boathouse due to budget cuts. Yesterday the operators of the pedal boats, Echo Park Lake Pedal Boats, Canoe & Gondola, greeted lines of people renting the bright yellow boats on the newly renovated Echo Park Lake.

The boating company is operating on a 90 day pilot program for the summer, after which the city will review whether or not it was successful. The cafe vendor will also operate under the same trial period – Square One Dining is expected to start serving on August 1.

Cost is $5 per child and $10 per adult for both the pedal boats (up to one hour) and canoe rides (the latter includes two laps around the lake with a guide). A gondola ride sounds like a nice date night – a half hour for one couple will cost you $50.

Wednesdays will be a great day to head down and rent a pedal boat – called “90026 day,” local residents can rent a pedal boat for just $10.

Hours right now are Monday through Friday, 11:00 am-7:00 pm, and weekends open at 9:00 am until 30 minutes before sunset. We imagine hours will fluctuate depending on the season.

The menu for the cafe has not yet been released, but according to The Eastsider LA will include “park fare” such as hamburgers, hot dogs, juices, and brunch items. Currently the sample menu on the Square One Dining website looks pretty delicious – gourmet cold and hot sandwiches, salads, soups, and more. Hopefully the price tag at the new Echo Park Lake Boathouse won’t reflect that menu – the cheapest lunch sandwich is listed at a whopping $10.50.

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Pedal Boats may be back in Echo Park Lake soon!

Flickr photo via atezrm

While the city has not yet released the list of food vendors being considered for the recently rehabbed Echo Park Lake boathouse, one thing looks good depending on how the paperwork goes – the pedal boats may be back by the beginning of August.

A Facebook page by the name of Echo Park Lake Pedal Boats Canoe & Gondola claims they are in the process of finishing up some paperwork to be the official vendors of the boats. A recent status posted on the page states:

We have had to close our Atascadero Lake site due to lack of water for the rest of 2013 so all of our safety gear and pedal boats are available for Echo Park. We are currently in the paperwork/permit process for Echo Lake. It is a lot more involved than expected, for example contract and compliance papers come to over 120 pages. City staff has been great in helping us wade through it all. Current hang up is trying to get our existing 1 million insurance for water craft upped to the required 2 million. Stay tuned…..

From what we remember before they shut the pedal boats down a few years ago, it cost about $10 per hour (per person!) to rent. We haven’t confirmed how much the rentals will be once things are up and running again, but the Atascadero Lake location mentioned above appears to be about the same.

Will you be first in line to rent pedal boats on Echo Park Lake?

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Behind the fence: Tour of Echo Park Lake construction

About 100 interested locals (including politicians, volunteers, and candidates) spent the morning in LA City hard hats amongst the dust and debris behind the fence of Echo Park Lake. Guided in small groups by project manager Marlon Calderon, our 9:00 am group (the first one!) got a close-up look of the North side of the Lake where Lady of the Lake statue will stand, the “boardwalk” alongside the wetlands and bridge, and the Boathouse – inside and out.

The project is about 60% complete, and come February, it should be full with water. The 60 construction workers are working on Saturdays to beat the rainy season, which will hopefully just fill the lake up naturally without any help from the city water sources. Our guide Calderon mentioned that with the Lake being the lowest point in the Silver Lake / Echo Park area, 26 million gallons of water can fill the lake in three hours – so there shouldn’t be any issues getting the water in there.

The Lake’s historic and widely known bridge

The Lotus plants will actually be planted in the next two months – a “berm” (like an under water dam) surrounding the Lotus bed on the North side of the Lake will keep all the water for that area in.

While many trees were removed due to disease, there are 400 trees currently being maintained and watered, and 200 more are expected to be added before the Lake’s grand opening in Spring 2013.

The Boathouse has yet to have an official concessions company, but the kitchen is high-end and fully stocked (leaving many of us to hope for something along the lines of Homegirl Cafe taking over). They’ll also be adding in a new boat dock, while bringing up the entire Boathouse to compliance to make it fully functional (that means paddle boats, people!).

More photos and info after the jump!

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