Anne L. Francis

Modern, All-Ages Playground

Helen Wills Playground has something for everyone.

Outside, you'll find several play structures, including three metal slides, a metal climbing tower, a few short cement tunnels and a large sand pit with somewhat clean sand and a metal mini toddler slide. For older kids, there's a tennis court, basketball court, and a volleyball court, all clean and well-maintained. The majority of the play space is concrete and rubber, with composite decking material on the wide ramps leading to three slides and an upper level exit. The wide, smooth surfaces of this modern, spacious playground make it a good choice for chalk drawing, push-toys, toddler ride-ons, small training bikes, trikes, and scooters.

Inside the playground's clubhouse, there's a fully-stocked table tennis room, the manager's office, drinking fountains, bathrooms (dirty, often devoid of supplies), and a playroom for the younger set (babies through preschoolers) with a small kitchen where you can purchase bottled water and popsicles. The playroom is stocked with some toys (fairly old and dirty), a play kitchen and house, and a lot of children's books. This is a high traffic room, due to the kitchen, so expect your kids playing on the floor to get quite dirty.

Helen Wills Playground is located a stone's throw from the Broadway tunnel to North Beach/Chinatown, on the corner of Broadway and Larkin in Russian Hill/Nob Hill. Street parking in the neighborhood is hard, although you may luck into a 1-hour metered, or 2-hour non-metered spot on Broadway right next to the playground.

Security note: though the playground is completely enclosed by tall fencing, there are two gated entry points, one on Broadway, the other on Larkin. The Broadway entrance is sometimes left ajar (mostly by tweens and teenagers, from our observations) and the upper level Larkin entrance is at the end of a long, angled ramp, putting your kids quickly out of view if you're not right behind them.

Despite the gate issues and the tough parking, Helen Wills Playground is a great destination for the whole family. Enjoy.

Helen Wills Playground
1965 Larkin Street (Broadway at Larkin)
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-292-2016

Stars: 4 out of 5