California City's Central Park and its lake

01What is in Central Park?

Central Park is the city’s main park, on 82.90 acres in the centre of the built part of town, owned and run by the city. The city’s own description lists an arts and community centre, the Mable Davis Senior Center, an athletic field, tennis, basketball, volleyball and handball courts, three Little League fields, a T-ball field, a fenced dog park, a summer swimming pool, a children’s playground, covered pavilions and picnic tables with barbecue pits, Freedom Park with its veterans’ plaques, and the Strata sports centre, with lawns and mature pines for shade.¹ The Parks and Recreation office is in the Strata Sports Center.²

At the centre is the lake, with Emerald Hill and its waterfall beside it; the hill was built when the lake was dug, and water pumped from the lake runs down the waterfall to aerate it. The city described the lake in 2015 as offering fishing for bass, carp and catfish and birdwatching for migrating and nesting birds.¹ The Chamber of Commerce promotes the town to birders, and says more than 360 species have been recorded in the habitats of Central Park and Galileo Hill.⁹

For the rest of what the town offers, see things to do in California City.

02How big is the lake?

It depends who you ask, and the city itself does not say. The plans unveiled in 1959 called for a 20-acre lake.⁴ Wikipedia, citing a 1972 newspaper report, describes a 26-acre man-made lake.⁶ The US Geological Survey’s mapped outline of “Central Park Lake” covers about 15.5 acres.⁷ Those numbers measure different things at different times, and none is a survey the city has published. The history of the master plan explains why it was dug.

03Why is there a lake in the desert?

According to the East Kern Historical Museum Society, plans for a 60-acre Central Park were unveiled with much fanfare in September 1959, with a 20-acre lake for boating and fishing, a 40-foot waterfall and an 18-hole golf course; by January 1960 earthmovers were shaping the lake and golf course.⁴ The architects Smith and Williams, with the landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, designed the parks, golf courses, pools and green space of the new city, on the premise of easily accessible water.⁵ Unlike most of the planned city, they were built: the new town came to include a central park with its man-made lake, two golf courses and a Holiday Inn.⁶

Two golf courses remain in town,¹² which the city code names as the Tierra del Sol course and the par-3 municipal course; the par-3 is counted as part of Central Park.³¹

04Can you fish in Central Park Lake?

• Yes: fishing in Central Park Lake is allowed from 6am to 10pm.³ The city described the lake in 2015 as offering bass, carp and catfish.¹
• The lake closes to fishing for five days before a city-sponsored fishing tournament, with at least two weeks’ posted notice.³
• While the city stocks the lake with hatchery fish, the daily limit is five bass, five trout, or ten fish of any species.³ Whether it is currently stocking is not something the city publishes; ask Parks and Recreation on (760) 373-3530.²
• California requires a sport fishing licence for anglers 16 and over; children under 16 do not need one.¹¹

05Park rules: hours, dogs and the water

The city code sets the rules for its parks, and a breach is an infraction.

• Hours. City parks are closed from 10pm to 6am.³
• Dogs. Not allowed in Central Park, even on a leash, except in the designated dog park, which is open from sunrise to sunset, takes no more than two dogs per handler, and requires dogs to be leashed going in and out.³ The Chamber of Commerce puts the dog park next to the Little League field on the north side of California City Boulevard.⁸
• The water. No bathing or wading in the lake, ponds or fountains. The only boats, rafts or surfboards allowed are those provided or rented by Parks and Recreation or operated under its permit, and water skiing is banned.³
• Children. A child under eight must be accompanied by someone at least 16 in any park with a lake, pond or pool, outside supervised activities.³
• Fires only in the stoves, hearths or fire circles provided, or in approved portable stoves in posted areas.³
• Vehicles only on the park roads, at 15 mph or less.³
• Camping in a city park only where the city designates it and with a paid camping permit.³ For where visitors can camp, see camping in California City.

06Desert Tortoise Days in the park

The town’s spring festival ends up in Central Park. In 2026 the Chamber of Commerce held Desert Tortoise Days on 2 and 3 May, with a parade from City Hall to Central Park and events in the park over both days.¹⁰ Check the date with the Chamber before planning a trip around it.