This playground is a land of many contrasts.
The first time we came here, it was sunset off-season and I thought it was very rundown and depressing. The second time, it was summer and all of the rose bushes and trees were in bloom and it was lovely!
It’s a popular neighborhood spot for solo adults for some reason. But the little-kid section is large and everything seems fun and maintained well enough.
This big neighborhood playground is a decent place to play, but apparently that's not all that happens here.
A few years back, I recall encountering a drunk teenager who was hanging out in the park around midnight. He tried starting a fight. A less cool-headed friend almost gave him the fight he was looking for, although my wife and I scurried away hoping to diffuse the situation. It's funny now that we bring a toddler here in the middle of the day.
There are still plenty of shenanigans happening in the park. One afternoon we were here and two teenagers were sitting at one of the tables doing some over the clothing heavy petting. I was pretty sure they were going to need to buy a pack of Plan B before the afternoon was over.
It's also a bit strange to see how this park collects people without children. The playground is open to some green space and connects to tennis courts and basketball courts, but more than most playgrounds has adults hanging out. Partly this is because there isn't much demarcation between the playground and greenspace.
What I do like about it is the equipment on both the toddler side and child side has a lot of platforms and access points which created a continuous loop between slides and stairs. It's a fun game to climb up and slide down and keep going around in circles.
There's no arguing this playground equipment is older and heavily used. The paint has faded and everything seems a bit grimy, but the actual pieces are really good and fun to play on.
As an avid flower enthusiast, I also appreciate the roses separating the two sides of the playground. The green plants here are actually pretty spectacular, at least in the summer. It's a bit more desolate in the late spring.
The playground is named for physicist Enrico Fermi. The playground was last updated in 2001 and is jointly operated by Parks and Education departments.
