Best LA neighborhoods for runners

Wondering where the best neighborhood in Los Angeles is to lace up your jogging shoes? LA’s healthy lifestyle culture and obsession with looks and physical fitness means that you can find a good place to run almost anywhere you choose to live.

But still, there are some neighborhoods that are more suitable to dashing out the door for exercise than others. Those with easy access to paths, parks and trails are among the favorites. And of course, air quality is another important factor. Be sure to time your runs so that you’re breathing as little smog as possible – the coastal cities are best for this, especially in the summer months. It’s one reason there are so many runners in Santa Monica and southward.

Runners who live in LA recommend:

Any neighborhood within jogging or short driving distance to Griffith Park, including West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Studio City, North Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Glendale.  The Park’s 4,100 acres of wilderness include hundreds of acres of trails, but bring your sense of direction or a GPS – many runners report that they have become very lost in Griffith Park because they didn’t pay attention to where they were going.

Beverly Hills is a good neighborhood for running, as not only can you head for the nearby canyons like Runyon, Coldwater, Bronson and Franklin, you can also enjoy the wide streets for road running and get great views of the many nice homes in the neighborhood.

Culver City might not seem like a runners’ paradise at first glance, but be sure to check out the Culver City Median Bikeway (also known as the Rail Trail) which is a great place for cyclists and joggers alike to get away from traffic. The trail runs down the center of Culver Boulevard.

Echo Park and Silver Lake are fun for runners simply due to high volume of intense stair training you can accomplish there – going up and down all those hills can really get your posterior in shape! The run around Silver Lake was always popular, though now that they’re doing the big construction project I haven’t seen as many people working out there as I used to.

Where’s your favorite spot to go for a run in LA?