Just below the elevated Astoria Blvd station (N) (W), the Hoyt Playground is a huge space. 

Too much, much of that open space is paved concrete. It's not a very welcoming park, though I assume its paved concrete to make it easy to maintain. The other downside is the heavy traffic along Asotira Blvd and 278 entering the Triborough Bridge kind of dampens the mood, but at least there is a huge open expanse of sky and sun. 

The playground suffers from the main problem created when highway infrastructure projects include money for parks. The park is next to the highway, and cars make experiencing the space unpleasant. 

There are some trees that offer limited shade between the two sets of climbing equipment, but the playground isn't really set up to sit there and keep an eye on your kid. On truly hot days it would be very unpleasant to spend much time here. 

Our first time here, our toddler was baking a fever. We wouldn't know that until later when we stuck a thermometer in him like a turkey on Thanksgiving, but even under those conditions he enjoyed himself. More recently he was worn out from dancing at the Astoria beer garden, just around the corner, but still found enough energy to play on the red section of the playground. 

That's what is interesting about this place. The playground has two distinct pieces of climbing equipment and both are substantial, so the whole place feels like visiting 2-for-1. The water featured in the middle is also well separated from the equipment so that it should be easy enough to keep a kid from getting wet. 

Both sets of climbing equipment are older from the previous generation of playground renovations. Overall I think that makes them interesting to climb and play in a lot of instances, although this equipment has definitely been well-worn. 

There are also concrete areas for playing sports adjacent to the playground, and a mix of ad hoc games were being played. 

One thing to notice is a lot of people use the park as a shortcut t

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The Hoyt Playground was constructed alongside the Triborough Bridge, as part of the larger project in 1936. Parks took over in 1937. The history here is the Triborough construction began in 1929, before the crash, and was paused for a few years during the Depression.

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An access ramp was recently completed from 31st Street, and portions of the park including the exercise equipment was renovated in 2016.