It’s easy to spend hours amid the global vegetation, waterfalls, spring-fed lake and historic buildings of this fantastic, rambling, 127-acre park. Originally the private estate of real-estate tycoon Elias ‘Lucky’ Baldwin, it’s so huge there’s even a tram to haul those who are foot-weary.
The grounds are often used in filming, standing in, for instance, for the African jungle in African Queen and as Central Park in End of Days. It’s in Arcadia, about 5 miles east of central Pasadena, right by the Santa Anita Park racetrack.