Victoria Manalo Draves Park

It could be a very nice park if it wasn’t because is literally full of homeless and people doing drugs in open view. It has nicely decorated with animals silhouettes metal fences, sports area, children’s play area… but do not even try to use the restrooms or sit in the grass. Dog owners have them without leash, which seems to be against the rules.

Nice little park in the heart of SOMA, with a variety of different areas/​activities packed into this small little space between 6^th and 7^th St. We usually come here to play basketball, and most times we can find a couple other people for a pickup game. I’ve also been to the other side, where there’s a nice green space for dogs to run around and a baseball field as well. It’s surprising in the heart of SOMA, because this park is relatively well maintained as well.
We usually go here out of convenience — it’s not really a ‘destination’ per say, but nice to have so close by. I wouldn’t imagine anyone outside a 1 mile radius even knows about it, and outside of that area they can probably find a different one. A local spot in the neighborhood.

Don’t think you can come to this park and lay on the grass. You’ll be sitting in the dogs restroom area.
The positives about this park:
There’s a Baseball & Soccer field
Restrooms
Children’s play area (secured)
Plenty of benches
Basketball court
The negatives about this park:
People do their drugs in the open
The restrooms are dirty
Owners don’t always pick up after their dogs
It’s noisy
I will say that the grass is maintained and the flowers they planted a few years ago definitely improve the scenery. There aren’t too many park options in SoMa, so this is a convenient park to come escape for a few minutes during the work hours.

My dog loves this park, largely because of the preponderance of food trash on the ground, but also because of the occasional brave soul who also brings their socialized pet to the baseball field.
For those occasional joyful moments alone, I return… and grant this open air homeless shelter/​flop house two stars.
Otherwise?
Watch out for the needles discarded on the ground and brace for the bizarre.
If you ever wanted to have (or more accurately, have thrust upon you) a conversation about government mind control, aliens among us, the ability to project evil into another’s soul or any number of completely bezerk conspiracy (and beyond) theories, head on down to Victoria Manalo Draves and get your crazy on.
Actual transcript of conversation I had there two days ago.
Dude: «Where’d you get that wolf?»
Me: «He’s not a wolf. He’s a dog.»
Dude: «I AM A GOD.»
Me: «Sounds good.»
Dude: «I AM A GOD. I make dogs and that is not a dog. That is a wolf.»
Me: «If you say so.»
Dude (now following me around): «Where’d you get that wolf?»
Me: «Jupiter.»
Dude, measuring with his hands: «This is too big for a wolf! This is a DRAGON!!!»
Me: «All right, my friend. This is where I get off. Have a nice day.»
As I departed. he yelled to me about the government poisoning his mind, a theme I hear often. Maybe the methadone? Dunno.
Anyway, I live three blocks away and will no doubt be back — probably today — but almost every time, this place brings me down.

It’s a cute little park, sometimes it looks kind of dangerous for kids to hang out at.

This is my neighborhood park. It use to be a pretty nice park. It always had a bit of a hobo problem but in the past year or so it has become basically a hobo camp. I’m not exaggerating. There are clusters of homeless with grocery carts and tents inside and outside of the park. There are homeless that just hangout in the park all day taking all the benches and tables. Leaving no room for other people to enjoy the park. I’m not sure if this is because the neighborhood is starting to gentrify and the homeless just have nowhere to go but the presence of so many homeless has created problems for those of us who live near and use this park.
This use to be my regular dog park but I now only go here when my dog desperately needs to go out and I don’t have time to go to a proper park. I no longer feel this park is safe for my dog. Some of the above homeless have dogs and they are not properly socialized and some are very agressive. My little dog was attacked by a group of large dogs. When my little guy tried to defend himself some crazy guy started screaming at him and I think would have kicked my dog had I not been there to stop him.
There is also drug and food refuse everywhere! If I take my dog off his leash he will go straight to the bushes and find chicken bones within a minute. He once came back with a plastic bag with drugs (that I assume was meth) in it. That isn’t just gross it is dangerous.
Sometimes the park seems to be cleared out of homeless and I return hoping I can enjoy a few minutes of peace. The last time this happened I was talking to some other dog parents on a beautiful sunny day when we realized that some dude was getting a handjob from a prostitute in the middle of the ball field. It was 3pm on a Tuesday! We all couldn’t believe it. Clearly they knew we were there. This is Folsom street and we have seen a lot around here but for god sake keep your exhibitionism confined to the weekend. There are kids playing in the park during the week.
I now jog or drive to China Basin with my dog. It is much further away but well worth it to me because this park is just sad.

So beautiful… A little piece of green heaven in the heart of SOMA. This park has a baseball field, 2 playgrounds, basketball court, and tons of places to sit. They also have bathrooms. The park is well kept and pretty clean, lots of grass, not a lot of weeds, nice trees, landscaping, etc. the only issue can be the homeless people camped out there for the day, but the park is big enough that this is avoidable. A wonderful little retreat.

I’ve been coming here for almost a year now, and can recommend with confidence:
If you’re a kid or a homeless person, this is a great place for you!
For kids:
A big sports field (baseball field + large green area) at one end of the park, a basketball field at the other end, and at least two gated play areas with tons of playground equipment!
For the homeless:
Free rannge of the rest of the area: several picnic tables and benches in the middle of the park, restrooms, a nice, flat sleeping area at the sports field, and great slopes for the sunny days at the main entrance or in the middle of the park, where there are also additional benches.
Unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot for the dog owners. If you’re willing to make your way here through the trash and grime that greet you on the surrounding streets and underpasses, smell of urine and what ever fun and exciting puddles and shattered glass on the sreets, there is absolutely no room for your unleashed dog here. Even if you’re a sane person and you know to keep an eye on your dog, and you keep away from the kids’ areas and an occasional sports event at the sports field.
I know, I know: the layout of the park seems logical: specific areas reserved for sports, kids’ playgrounds fenced, safe and separate as they should, leaving the middle area for the rest of us, in fact the signs by the hill in the middle of the park specifically indicating that while skate boarding and smoking are NOT allowed, dogs ARE allowed in this area. But that is not the case: you’ll be ticketed if a police officer catches your dog off leash in this area that is specifically assigned for dogs. After walking you like a child over to the above mentioned (and photographed) sign and expecting you to be in accordance that the sign in fact PROHIBITS dogs (while you can clearly see that there is not a red strike across the dog sign as there is over skate boarding and smoking symbols) and giving you a ticket, he will proceed to gently walk around the congregating or sleeping homeless, careful not to wake anyone up.
While I’ve never been ticketed in this park, just seen it happen as I again did today, I am becoming increasingly grossed out by what this park is all about. This is the only green area in SOMA, yet this is how the City wants it used. Umm. I mean _​not_​used. I never come here without my dog, it’s so disgusting to walk here, but I’d love to allow my dog a chance to play and enjoy the green — dogs love nature, too! My dog is getting a bit too old to walk much further than this, yet loves to play with other dogs and enjoys the green parks. Being leashed up just frustrates him, as it would any dog (that’s how you get «problem dogs».)
People who bring their dogs here seem very considerate and sensible, in control of their dog’s behaviour, and mindful of other park visitors. Dog owners seem to always be the ones to leave and make room for other activities, so I don’t see what the problem is here. There is a clear area in the middle where we would love to allow our dogs to meet and play, they cause no one any harm, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be the goal here.

This USED to be a nice park filled with couples, kids, and dog owners. It was a fantastic spot to watch young puppies enjoy the rare grass found in SoMa.
Then the cops routinely walked one block from the precinct and started harassing and ticketing dog owners. The dog owners are gone and now the park is filled with bums, heroin addicts, and trash. A shame.

It’s not the best park, and it’s not the worst.
Named after the Olympic diver Victoria Manalo Draves, a former Olympic diver, the park serves as a place for the neighborhood kids and students at the Bessie Carmichael schools to play.
We bring our students here all the time to play in the playground, use the field for kick ball and other sports, as well as water fights. However, use caution when bringing children here.
Look around the play area because we have found used needles. Also keep the gates of the playgrounds closed because unleashed dogs will run in and have hurt some children. Dog owners, please keep your dogs on a leash even if they are trained for park attendee safety. Although there are clear signs that say «NO DOGS» many folks bring there dogs here anyway. Just respect the other people who are here too. One time a coworker did get in a verbal altercation with a dog owner because a dog ran through the park and hurt a kid.
There are many different characters that frequent the park. The police do come by every no and then if something does happy. The station is right around the corner on Bryant and 7^th.
For the most part, we don’t have problems when bringing our students here, but just be cautious.
Until next time, happy fun days playing in the sun!

Full of homeless people who drop a lot of trash everywhere which attracts the rats from across Harrison St. As a local I see the rats running for food all the time. while it is used bya lot of kids I am not sure how healthy this palce is.
1 star for the staff who pick up all the mess
1 star for the grooming of the grounds

I don’t have a name for this park. I often refer to it as ‘that nice one over there’, pointing from my work perch to the general area of Sixth and Folsom. I’m not sure who Victoria Manolo Draves is, but she must be swell to have this awesome, two-​acre oasis dedicated to her.
‘That nice one over there’ was a natural choice for a name because, as we all know or assume to know, Sixth is Skid and Skeeve. Sixth and Folsom is a stone’s throw away from the epicenter, but aside from the slightly more affluent people doing designer drugs at 1015, as compared to the less fortunate doing using more impure drugs just down the street, there sometimes isn’t too much of a difference. Then these cafes, «green» apartments, and wine and beer specialty stores opened, and finally Parks and Rec brought it and stopped ignoring the area.
I like this park because it is NOT the result of parting the Red Sea and separating the neighborhood’s constituents. There’s a mélange of neighborhood folk with dogs, many children, people eating sandwiches between appointments, a few homeless people, and many pit stopping after business attended to at the jail. And many more. There’s a emphasis on happy children and their playground equipment and a collective understanding to not invade the childrens area, no matter how loaded you are or how much you believe yourself to be a child at heart. Off limits.
With this spattering of sunny days, I have found myself here, enjoying a Deli Board sandwich from their new brick and mortar across the street, taking in the background’s very civic-​centered view (Federal Building to the north, jail to the south), but the more time I spend, the more I am interested in the people and dynamics that make this place possible. Please bring more sunny days so I can continue.

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs.
Best place in SOMA for your pup. Best times are early AM and ~5pm until dark. You can sometimes get a group of 10+ dogs playing and having a good ol’ time. Everyone is really friendly and the park is mostly fenced (well, its completely fenced but has 3 entrance gates where it is theoretically possible for a dog to run out.)
I’ll have to invoke my 5^th Amendment rights regarding whether or not the dogs are off leash. Just sayin’.

Great park, doggy friendly and kid friendly. A quick update, there is an older review here saying there are no bathrooms, there are now!
I bring my dog down here for a play and everyone dog and every person we have met here is very friendly.
There are two gated entrances and it is locked at night. I love the community garden here, although I am not a part of it, it does look beautiful in this urban landscape.
Definitely a go to in my neighborhood.

From across the street where we were having breakfast at Soma Inn Café this jewel of a park looked only like a basket ball court surrounded by a gate that would’ve been better suited as prison bars. Considering it was located between 6^th and 7^th streets I was only hoping it would’t be too disgusting for my puppy to go potty on the small splotch of grass I could just make out as we finished our meals and paid the tab. But since Madison had behaved so well while we were eating I knew I had to honor my promise to let her stretch her legs and take in a few scents. So we went.
What a perfect little park. Completely gated it’s a total escape from the dirt, grime, and homelessness you can find all over both 6^th and 7^th streets. There is a grass covered hill for the pups to run and play, a basket ball court, two play grounds for the kiddies, and a fiels for soccer, football, or baseball. And still lots of room to lounge and enjoy the sun.
Whether you are a dog owner or a parent, you will love that the park only has one (maybe 2) entrances. Even the play grounds with swings and slides are enclosed again to keep kids in and dogs out. The layout is genius. Now that I have a dog this is probably going to be my favorite SF park outside of Golden Gate of course!

They took all the trees
Put ‘em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ‘em…
Shame on me for overlooking this green space for so long. I actually predate the park by at least four years, and since I’m such an urban guerrilla, I didn’t start noticing it until Jamie W. kept pointing out, «Hey Ed, did you know you live near a park?» Ah, indeed I do, and if I didn’t notice the park, I certainly wouldn’t know it had a name. I found out it’s named after a former Filipino-​American diver who earned two gold medals in 1948. She must have been the female Greg Louganis of her generation, a worthy namesake.
The park is two acres stretching between Folsom and Harrison on a central block between 6^th and 7^th Streets, an area in desperate need of some greenery. The baseball field dominates the Harrison side, and the basketball court anchors the Folsom end. In between is an impressive set of attractions: a children’s playground, a community garden, a few picnic tables and a strangely protruding mound. Thanks to community volunteers, the park is pretty close to immaculate, no small feat.
Stan the Submerging Man is long gone (he was an eighteen-​foot public art sculpture) — but you can still set a spell on a bench and imagine yourself a wood nymph who just ate the Kitchen Sink at Extreme Pizza. I watched a young couple play Scrabble on a picnic table. How sweet… or maybe he’s just cheap. I give it six weeks. Sometimes you can get really overwhelmed by city living, so a brief respite here is most welcome (preferably set to the Counting Crows cover of Joni Mitchell’s «Big Yellow Taxi»…
).
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.

A nice little oasis in the urban jungle. I regularly bring my two precious Shibas here for a little romp in the outdoors. Yes, the park sometimes plays host to some bums, but overall, I’ve liked the humans and the dogs that I encounter on the weekends. It’s a clean park (no poo poo lying around) and it’s mostly gated, so there’s some barriers between dogs and cars.
One word of caution: if your doggie is not good off leash, you might want to consider leaving them on-​leash. Last weekend I was here one dog ran out onto the street and a pack of dogs chased after him. Luckily my Shibas have a natural hatred of cars, so they didn’t leave the park, but doggie parents, beware!

Do you know that this is not just a park?
This is a community-​pushed project (SOMACAN). In 2003 I took a class at SFSU with Professor Dan Begonia. Tito Dan challenged us to to name famous FilipinoAmericans.
We didn’t know that the first woman to win a gold medal in diving was FilipinoEnglishAmerican in 1948. A woman who was not allowed to practice in pools with white children.
San Francisco has not been welcoming to Filipinos — we were not allowed to own land, they wanted us moving, and the Manilatown that would have exsisted next to North Beach and Chinatown has little to it (I-Hotel)due to redevelopment and politics. Many moved to SoMa.
I love this park, but I love the spirit behind it more — that a child born to immigrant parents can overcome obstacles. That a community who had so much taken away can take a stand and says, this is my place, we are here. And its quite fitting that urban children can grow and play in this beautiful place.

I rarely brown bag my lunch to bring to work. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is the lack of a place where I could sit down and eat. I love the outdoors, and this park is perfect. There are lots of benches, and usually there are only a handful of visitors using them.
Nice landscaping. Green, green grass. A softball diamond complete with picnic tables and benches in the outfield. A brand new, very colorful mosaic sculpture was put in just recently and it sits in between the two children’s playgrounds. I looked for a plaque or a marker with more information about this piece of art, but it has yet to appear. The park is well kept, fairly clean and completely surrounded by fencing. My guess is that it is locked after hours.

Wow, who would guess you could squeeze this beauty into the block bounded by Folsom/​Harrison/​6^th/​7^th??? There’s lots of broad green grass and cool landscaping and pleasantly chirping birds. (Those must be artificial, but still.) And at Bessie Carmichael Elementary across the street, the little kids (also artificial?) seem really happy.
Nobody seems to have discovered this place. Shall we keep it that way, or shall we Unilocal it into the popular consciousness?