Lafayette Park

Jimmy Webb never wrote a song about Lafayette Park, but maybe he should have. Less famous—or perhaps less notorious—than its neighbor to the east, Lafayette Park nonetheless offers a good deal of charm. Flanked by the imposing Superior Court building and the impressive First Congregational Church, Lafayette Park bridges the neighborhoods of Koreatown, Pico-Union, and Rampart/Westlake.
Its best feature may be the handsome Felipe de Neve Branch Library, which stands on Sixth Street at the corner of Hoover Street. (The park bisects Hoover, which starts again at Wilshire and continues south.) What the De Neve lacks in its collection, it makes up for in its architecture, which resembles the brick structures that populate the UCLA campus. The library has a patio; unfortunately, this patio does not open out onto the park or onto the space around the nearby fountain. This may be due to vandalism--indeed, the fountain itself is closed off by a fence, and the website Public Art in Los Angeles notes that the statue that once stood in the fountain may have been stolen.
The City of Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department maintains the facility and organizes activities. The park features two new Nike-built futsal fields (futsal is a variation of soccer similar to what we call "indoor soccer"). On any given night you can see adult rec league teams battling for supremacy on the pitch. The basketball courts are also a popular draw, and there's a playground for kids.
Arnold Foerster's 1937 statue Marquis de Lafayette stands near the southeast corner of the park. If you cross Wilshire, you will find two tennis courts and the 1934 statue The Power of Water. Standing opposite the statue, the famous and beautiful Bullocks Wilshire building (now part of Southwestern Law School) shines to your left.
As mentioned above, there is vandalism, and the park is often dirty, but it still offers a shady, quiet place (insofar as a place can be quiet when Wilshire Boulevard runs past it!) to play sports or read a book.

Find Lafayette Park along Sixth Street between Commonwealth and Park View in the Wilshire Center district of Los Angeles. Wilshire Boulevard bisects the park; most of the park is north of Wilshire. Tennis courts and a small patch of grass south of Wilshire are in the traffic triangle created by Wilshire, Hoover, and Lafayette Park Place.

Transit options include the 20 Rapid Bus (Wilshire and Vermont), Metro Red Line (Wilshire and Vermont station), and the 320 Bus (Wilshire and Hoover).