Avenue Terrace Playground

This park is so great. There are always a TON of kids, and people leave toys for everyone to play with. It’s gated, so little ones can’t just toddle out. Excellent flat grass for kicking around a ball, too.

Also known locally as Jordan Park, our fifth visit here was also our first time during a weekday and was rather late in the day (4:30 pm). There were plenty of kids to keep it exciting and few enough so that there was no wait for any of the park-​provided toys. The park offers multiple activities and play areas to choose from, dozens of sand toys, shovels and trucks, and a range of trikes, bikes, push carts and scooters for every age. Most of the play areas were shaded at 4:30 PM — a huge plus during hot Oakland days, and with the entire park itself enclosed by a secure fence, ATP is one of the best spots for both parents and kids to have an enjoyable weekday afternoon. Weekends are another story. Some days can be a bit overcrowded and on especially hot days the competition over the toys can be kid-​fierce. But most kids handle it well, sometimes better than the parents, and everyone has a good time. This is a great spot in a safe neighborhood with lots of free parking. A must-​visit!

Great playground. Lots of space. Toddler section. Grass area. Lots of mom’s who ignore their kids and don’t attend to their needs. But great place for the kiddos.

I grew up coming to this park and now I take my daughter. Enough said.

There’s not a lot of choices for parks in the area (Laurel, Midvale, etc.) Good thing we can always count on affluent neighborhoods to have their own special park for their kids. Ahem, enough with the bitterness. About the park… It is surrounded by fence which is wonderful when you have a toddler. People are thoughtful about closing the gate behind them, as well. There is a section for 2 – 5 year olds with «baby» swings, dinosaurs to ride, a play structure, a little area to play house, and everyone’s favorite: sand. It’s not nice, clean, Berkeley park sand, but the kids never mind, do they? Then, there is a section for older kids with appropriate play structure and swings. Adjacent to those two sections is an asphalt area with a basketball hoop. In this area is a wide variety of dilapidated riding toys, wagons, and push toys. They are available to all and a great opportunity for toddler fights… I mean social experiences with negotiating conflicting needs.
Speaking of toddler battles, you’ve basically got two types of caregivers here: Helicoptering parents and disinterested nannies. Helicoptering parents will insist that their child give your child the riding toy or sand toy, because she looked at it once, and they want to do the «right thing.» Nannies will not even notice that their charge yanked a toy away from your kid and hit them over the head with it. As I’m not afraid to parent someone else’s kid, I find this more interesting than annoying.
The other day I watched one kid whose nanny was across the park grab a bottle of sunscreen out of someone else’s stroller, open it, and squeeze it out on the ground. I gently took it from her and put it back when she was about to put some in her mouth. See, meddlesome parents are useful after all!
For me, the best parts are the cleanliness, shared toys, and the very diverse crowd. I have not seen such a diverse crowd at any other park. (Diverse in age, perceived socioeconomic status, language, culture, skin color, mode of dress, etc.)
Also to love: the neighborhood cat that visits regularly and socializes well. The grass field with trees around the border.
The missing star: No bathroom! You’ll see parents ducking behind trees with their kids. If your oldest kid is still in diapers, please forgive them.