I happened upon this Marine-themed park when my kids and I arrived at Pump It Up too early one day. A five-minute walk from that birthday party venue, Union Point Park offers wide green space for running, a view of boat action in the Bay, and a cool play structure inspired by the shape of a ship.
There are sheltered picnic tables and public bathrooms, which makes it a nice spot for a get together. Someone had a birthday party here just before we arrived and had attached a pinata to the rafters above the table.
If your family enjoys waterfront activity, this is a fun place to play. The park does not have swings, monkey bars or sand to dig in, so if those are your must-haves, look elsewhere. Kids going through a pirate phase will be thrilled.
Here’s where Union Point Park is located in relation to Pump It Up.
7 thoughts on “Oakland playground: Union Point Park”
Actually, it does have a round sand pit, on the edge of the park nearest the bathrooms. The park is not the cleanest i’ve ever seen and I guess not that many people know about it because it’s usually almost deserted.
Oh thanks, Liz. I didn’t notice the sand.
When I was there, the park was very clean. Great to have a second set of eyes!
@Liz: could you let us know a little more about what you mean by the park not being the cleanest you’ve ever seen? Examples of what isn’t clean would be great. Thanks so much.
I stumbled across this gem last Monday when I showed up too late to Pump It Up to get in. I’d say the park is at least as clean as Montclair Park, if not more so. There wasn’t much sand in the sand pit…at least not enough for digging.
We tried it out today and my sons loved it. They both “used” the bathrooms and gave it passing grades (although I would not).
My chief complaint is that the parking lot was FULL of skeevy looking men sleeping in their cars and the stank of weed at 2pm on a Friday.
And when I say “full”, I mean the playground was empty but for us and every spot in the lot was taken. There were about a dozen guys smoking up at the picnic area and every car I looked in (3 in our row) had a male driver reclined and sleeping.
Came here to check it out today and it was a sad scene… both big slides had holes in them (un-usable). There was tagging all over the place and trash surrounded the park. We ended up leaving to find another park. I can see that this was a nice park at one time.