Wilacre, Fryman, and TreePeople: the three trailheads above Studio City.
Three parks, one trail, and the most common mistake in the neighborhood. Where to park, how long the loop takes, and which end you start from if you want shade.
Ask ten people in Studio City where Fryman Canyon is and nine of them will send you to a parking lot on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. That lot is not Fryman. It is Wilacre Park. The real Fryman Canyon is up on Mulholland, and the two are connected by a trail named after a woman almost nobody in that lot has heard of.
This matters more than it sounds, because once you know the three pieces you can pick the right one for the morning you are having. Here they are, from the bottom of the hill to the top.
1. Wilacre Park, Laurel Canyon and Fryman Road
This is the famous one. A 128-acre park run by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, with a big lot at the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Fryman Road, restrooms, and the lower trailhead of the Betty B. Dearing Trail. The lot fills early on weekends, and there is a small parking fee, so check the current rate before you go. It is about eight minutes by car from the Coldwater side of the hills.
The trail climbs hard for the first stretch, then settles into a wide, shaded fire road through walnut woodland and coastal sage. Dogs are everywhere. So are people in very good athletic clothing. This is the social hike of the Valley, and on a Saturday morning it is as much a meeting place as a trail.
2. Fryman Canyon Park, up on Mulholland
The actual Fryman Canyon is a 122-acre park whose main entrance is the Nancy Hoover Pohl Overlook on Mulholland Drive. The lot is small. There are workout stations, a couple of historical displays, and the upper trailhead of the same Betty B. Dearing Trail. The view from the overlook is the whole San Fernando Valley, which is why the lot is full at sunset even on a weekday.
Starting from the top means you descend first and climb on the way back, which some people prefer and some people learn to regret. From the Potosi hill it is about eleven minutes by car, up Coldwater and east on Mulholland.
3. Coldwater Canyon Park and TreePeople, at the crest
The third piece is the quiet one. Coldwater Canyon Park is 45 acres on the Mulholland crest at the top of Coldwater Canyon Avenue, and it is the headquarters of TreePeople, the nonprofit that has been planting trees across Los Angeles since the 1970s. There is a nursery, a small amphitheater, picnic spots, and trails that tie into the Dearing network. It is five minutes from the Coldwater side of Studio City, straight up the hill, and it is almost never crowded.
If I am sending someone to one of the three for the first time, it is this one. It feels like the hills are supposed to feel.
The Betty B. Dearing Trail, the thing that connects them
Betty Dearing was a conservationist who fought for exactly this ridge in the 1960s and 70s, and the trail is the thread between all three parks. The classic loop runs about three miles with roughly 450 feet of elevation gain, passing through Wilacre, lower Fryman, and Coldwater Canyon Park. Most people do it in an hour to ninety minutes. The full Dearing Mountain Trail is longer and rougher, rated intermediate to difficult, and it ends at a junction with the Briarcliff fire road.
Start from Wilacre if you want the crowd and the restrooms. Start from the Overlook if you want the view first. Start from TreePeople if you want shade and quiet. Any of the three gets you onto the same ridge.
Why this ridge is the point of living south of Ventura
Here is the real estate truth about the Studio City hills. The reason to pay for a street above Coldwater or Laurel Canyon is not the view, though the view is real. It is that the Santa Monica Mountains start at the top of your street. The Valley floor has the grid, the parking, and the Boulevard. The hills have the ridge, five minutes up, and the Boulevard, three minutes down. A house in between gets both without choosing.
On the map at the bottom of the listing site, all three trailheads are pinned with drive minutes from the house. Coldwater Canyon Park is the closest at five.
3646 Potosi Avenue is a hillside Mediterranean on a private street above Coldwater Canyon. TreePeople is five minutes up, Erewhon is three minutes down. Four levels, 4,784 square feet, offered at $1,998,000. The lifestyle map with every trailhead pinned is on the listing site.
More from the hill
Coldwater and Ventura: the corner that made Studio City Hillside homes south of Ventura: what the hill gives you and what to check