The hook
A spring-fed lake ringed by gardens and a windmill chapel hides off Sunset Boulevard, with a portion of Gandhi's ashes enshrined at the water's edge, open to anyone for free.
01Why it's worth it
The Self-Realization Fellowship, the meditation order the monk Paramahansa Yogananda founded, built this on a natural spring in the Palisades in 1950: a small lake you can walk all the way around, planted thick with flowers and shaded by trees, with a working windmill converted into a chapel, a houseboat, and a memorial holding some of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes, one of the only such shrines outside India. It's a genuine pocket of quiet minutes from the traffic of Sunset, meant for meditation and open to everyone. The Palisades fire came close in early 2025 and members kept the roofs wet through the night; the gardens reopened later that year, with some buildings still coming back.
02How to experience it
It's off Sunset Boulevard near the coast in Pacific Palisades, about six hours from the Bay. Free, though hours are limited and some areas were still reopening after the 2025 fire, so check first. Walk the lake loop slowly; it's small, and the whole point is to slow down.