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Cal Anderson Park
Rating Details »
Categories: Parks, Playgrounds [Edit]
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill1635 11th Ave East
Seattle, WA 98102
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
67 reviews for Cal Anderson Park
Bobby Morris playfield is located at this park. I love playing soccer at this field. It's not large; almost indoor-sized. And yet, the field turf is so spectacular--just the right amount of fake plastic dirt. The ball almost hums along the surface of this field. Given the size, it makes for a fast game. Location can't be beat; minutes from downtown.
Additionally, if you get stuck in goal and the game is slow, there's a pretty die-hard cadre of handball players on the new[ish] handball court at the same location. Those kids don't eff around. At least one person will get hit in the face.
I appreciate coming to this park.
My friends love to come here.
My yoga friends do yoga here and offer events here.
An excellent trainer, Eric, has a boot camp here.. The space is huge and airy and atop a hill.
Lots of great places to eat nearby.Much diversity. parking is a normal Seattle twist and turn challenge. You can do it! You can take a bus!
I F-ING LOVE CAL ANDERSON!
I'm so scared for the winter to come because WHAT WILL I DO? Right now it's get off work, go to the park, day off, go to the park, meeting someone, meet at the park, wanna get schwastey, drink at the park. Wait, I mean, I don't do that.
This is the best people-watching spot EVER. From the gnome people in the tree to the old crazy man who dances with ribbons, there's always something crazy going on.
Cal Anderson Park, will you marry me?
The abundance of shady characters is a turn off. I also wish the park had more shady areas to keep cool during the balmy summer days.
YES. PLEASE.
All I care about in life is spending summer days lounging at cal anderson.
I love what they have done with this park. If you have been around a while you know what I mean. This used to be a drab horrible park with no lighting. It is so transformed. Adding hills makes it feel even more diverse, the great job they did with the incorporation the underground water into the fountain. Amazing, Bravo Seattle!
This park is fun and great to chill at. I discovered it after I had gotten some Dick's and wanted a place to eat it near by. My friends decided that it would be nice to eat our burgers at the park so we did. We also played on the swingset (College kids = still kids lol) we spent most the time just wandering and enjoying the out dooe
I find it is a nice park for the city and the area, there are no scary people. It is clean and has a cool fountain that looks like a vocano with water dripping down the sides and an awesome pond. Go check it out :)
What a small pretty park! I took my dog for a walk around this park since we were in the neighborhood!
The water tower and pool were pretty!! My dog was fascinated by the water running. Good thing I had a good grip her on the leash- I seriously thought she would jump in the water!
It was a nice short walk!
When it is nice outside and I am not at Cal Anderson Park, all I want to do is be there.
I spent the majority of yesterday walking around in the fountain. It's perfect. It's sunny, it's good for kids, there is food nearby, there is grass, there is a playground...the list goes on. It's within walking distance of my house, so I don't have to find parking.
The fountain is probably filthy, but I play in it anyway. It's also shallow enough so that you don't have to worry about the kids as much as you would at the beach or lake. Amazing.
It's such a wonderful gathering place for everyone, really. I can't stress it enough. I love it lots. I want to be there RIGHT NOW!
Open space in the city is at a premium and to have this park in my hood is really one of the best things about Capitol Hill. What with the neighborhood changing before my eyes, I still have the park. Pass the grumpy folks on Broadway, the pissy panhandlers and find community and smiles in the park. I love watching the kids play in the water, conquering the stepping stones and the water troughs as much as the seniors rallying through a leisurely game of boce ball. A day on the hill seems oddly incomplete without even a brief walk-though. Check it out.
For the past month or so, I've been making a habit of hitting Vivace and then Cal Anderson on the way home. The evenings are just so fucking beautiful lately, and well, you know - the kid likes his coffee. And I love my monkey bars. So there you have it.
Sure, I could take him to the park by our house; there will undoubtedly be a ton of kids there, a soccer game for him to watch and wholesome fun for all. Chances that he'll bring my a dirty syringe ("Here Mommy! I got you a color!!! ORANGE ONE!!!") are slim, no half-dressed, but totally drunk street punk will play keep away with his ball ("I know you don't want to FUCK WITH MOMMY ASSHOLE!!") and all the toys will be in tact ("Mommy, what happened to the teeter-totter?", "Some very naughty kids in their mid-twenties obviously thought it would be a good idea to play on it last night baby....sorry.").
But Cal Anderson is special; the fountain is amazing, all the light poles are dreamy and soothing as twilight falls on the park and, honestly, I kinda want my kid to understand that there are nice, clean people in the world - and then there are dirty junkies and the like. No need to be scared of them - but there they are.
We kick back with a kid's cone from Dick's and watch a soccer game, or a basketball game, or introduce ourselves to a plethora of puppies and play with kids who's parents have a little ink on them and don't scare easy.
Here's to the wonders of childhood and city livin'.
this park has a fountain that looks like a volcano! need i say more?
plenty of grassy area, too, perfect for a rest from walking up and down capitol hill. it also seemed very kiddie and puppy friendly!
yay sunny days.
yay parks.
yay cal anderson.
My of my favorite memories of summer 2008 was walking to this park with my bf on a beautiful sunny day, with some Vietnamese sandwiches, spring rolls, drinks, books, and my beach mat in hand. We had an awesome little picnic and got to watch all the dogs running around on the big grassy field. I think I counted at least 15 doggies out that day which is a real treat for a dog lover who doesn't have the time or money for a dog right now. There were other folks sunbathing, reading, and napping out there and kids were splashing around in the fountain and climbing around in the playground area. There is often also soccer, basketball and even bicycle polo going on here. Sometimes folks will bring an instrument and play it with varying degrees of competence. So much to see and hear. After we picniced, we did some reading, more people watching, and then had a long nap. It was pure bliss.
I have yet to check out the restrooms, so I am reserving that last star until I do my inspection. The other thing that can get annoying is when people put stuff in the fountain like soap, which means they then have to shut the thing down and clean it which sucks. (well cleaning doesn't suck, it's the shutting down of the beautiful fountain that sucks)
Cal Anderson Park is a really nice park in the midst of the urban jungle known as Capitol Hill. It features a really nice soccer park, tennis court, and baseball diamond. It has a cool "fairly new" kids playground area as well as a nice water feature and really nice lawns.
Cal Anderson Park is a park done right !!!
this used to be a big open reservoir just like at volunteer park but they decided it was better to bury the reservoir and we got this beautiful park out of it what a deal for the people living and playing on Capitol Hill
this is the perfect place to go lay out with a book or to take pictures with friends or to have a snow ball fight or to play catch with a Frisbee the choices are infinite just open your mind and enjoy what the park has to offer
I am so lucky to live a few blocks from this park! Green grass, trees, a new playground, winding paths and a gorgeous fountain. There are lots of great restaurants and shopping nearby (see my review of Cafe Argento if you want some coffee or a snack: http://www.yelp.com/bi...). When the sun is out there is no better place on Capitol Hill for people watching. On days when I'm working from home I like to come up here to sit outside and eat my lunch. Or on the weekend if I had too much at brunch this is where I go to work off some carbs. The park isn't huge, but if you make a few loops around it you'll have a nice walk or jog.
Another dedication to Seattle summers....
Im obsessed with capitol hill life. I just love the people, the neighborhood shops & eats. It's not prim and proper. It's laid back and its kept real. Condos are starting to invade, but DO NOT try to make cap hill a fake "urban oasis" like South Lake Union, LET IT BE.
Gettin side tracked, but the park is totally apart of what makes Capitol Hill what it is! Residents, SU and SCC students, visitors flock to the park to lay out on the grass and eat. Play frisbee. Tennis. Soccer. Baseball. And other activities like croquet. outdoor yoga sessions. juggling? I've seen alll walks of hobbies. ;)
It's just a fun vibe. inviting. and a definite highlight of the neighborhood.
Pluses:
-My favorite coffee shop Espresso Vivace is a few steps away.
-Or cool out with some frozen yogurt at Crazyberry from Broadway.
-Beautiful foundation to day dream while sitting on one of the benches.
Well, what can I say....if you are wearing a dress and laying on the grass with your boyfriend, you don't have to worry about another man looking up your skirts.....it's not a bad place, a little bit crowded in the nice weather, nice place for the Hill, love the fountain, but ............again, not a bad place...would rather go to Cascade Park on Pontius where there's a P-Patch full of wonderful works of natural art that people have been working on diligently....or Kerry Park or lots of other choices to make...we have beautiful parks in the state.
Cal Anderson Park has quickly become "Main Street" for the Broadway neighborhood on Cap Hill. I walk through the park every evening with my pups... and we see many of the same faces every day. It's especially fun in the summertime, when there are frisbee, hackysack and other games being played, music played, pot smoked, and other good honest fun stuff.
I'm afraid that the park might change a lot once the construction for the subway station begins.
Oh... and for those folks who also take their dogs to this park: I got a $120 ticket once for having my dogs off-leash. My two 12-yr-old, 15 lb doggies are hardly a threat to anyone... yet Mr. Officer still saw fit to ticket me. So I recommend keeping an eagle-eye for coppers.
I walk through this park at least once almost every single day of my life. It's probably the loveliest part of my commute. Last Sunday I was up early, there was a light flurry of snow blustering around, and the water in one part of the reservoir pool was lightly frozen over... and I felt like I was wandering through an urban Christmas card. Aww.
Okay, so the crackheads and public bathrooms and drunk teenagers aren't quite as precious buuuuut I appreciate them too. It's Capitol Hill, what do you expect?! Even at its most ghetto, I never feel unsafe passing through. Sometimes I get off work (or, more likely, barhopping) past midnight and I can still cut right through Cal Anderson without worrying about getting accosted or anything. It's well-lit and I feel like... someone would hear me if I screamed? Comforting.
Cal Anderson has everything: you can walk your dog, play sports, read a book, go jogging, and score drugs (not that I really do any of these things, but in theory, I could! It's nice to know you have the option). I would remove one star just for the people who wade in the water, or even worse, let their little children play in it unsupervised... that just CAN'T be sanitary. Come on. Gross. But that's not the park's fault, therefore I give it maximum props for convenience, usefulness, prettiness... it's the Central Park of my neighborhood. (Uh.. kind of.)
Honestly the only reason I ever venture into the park is to drunk-walk to Dick's at 1:30am before they close to get a delicious deluxe and then walk back to my apartment but first stopping to splash through the fountain. The water comes up to your knees, you know.
I have been wanting to go shoot some hoops, however.
This is my favorite park in cap hill and so convenient to get to. It's fun to just come here on a nice day to people watch and see all the dogs going on their walks. If you ever see a dodge ball game going on in the tennis courts, stop to watch! It is crazy entertaining.
The world's happiest bee lives here!
Go to the playground and check out the cheery plastic bee that is mounted to a spring and just try not to smile :)
It's a great park smack in the middle of an urban area. Do we have better parks in the area? Of course, but none of them are a block off of Broadway, and it sure beats how this area was before Cal Anderson Park was created.
The gigantic fountain in the middle of the park is soothing, but it still manages to pique my curiosity. It is attached to some sort of vintage water reservoir and I'm not sure how that worked into the design of the fountain. Does anyone know where I can read up on this fountain?
Pug and I love the park. Bf and I love using the soccer field late at night.
So far, the cops have been pretty cool about it.
Helpful hint!: I think when you have a dog out with you late at night then it makes you seem less shady almost respectable! Security guards bend the rules, wave and pass on by even when you have a hood up, are chainsmoking cigarettes, and carting around a vitamin bottle full of red wine.
ETA: If you have a doggie, watch out for the leash patrol!!! Luckily, we haven't been ticketed but other dog owners have received $100+ for letting wild dogs roam free. Make sure tags are on, too!
One thing I continually love about Seattle is how much the city makes sure that there's stuff other than concrete and asphalt around. I don't know how many times I walked by the park before I realized it was a park and not just some random thing. (What I thought it could have been, I'm not too sure).
One night while walking around (a little drunk) I finally managed to walk through the park. They have an awesome fountain that I could sit and watch for a long time. Also, the baseball field is Astroturf which is always fun to play on.
I think it's about time for an impromptu drunken kickball game on the Astroturf some night.
The best part of this park? Watching the douchebags play frisbee! I've gone with numerous people to this park on a warm day and they always mention the frisbee players and laugh. My favorite part is when they dive for a catch and do a "cool" tumble. Who exactly are talking to these tools?
My real favorite part is when I get to see the cat that's walked on a leash. A little brown cat that stomps across the water as if it's nothing - so great.
Aside from all that it's a very grassy park that beckons you to lay back and do nothing. I do wish there were a few picnic tables to read or eat at, but I make do on the hillsides. All things considered, I'd say check the place out if you're passing nearby - but it's not really destination worthy.
I live a few blocks away from Cal Anderson Park. In the summertime, this park is wonderful! I took my then 2 week old son here for his "first-time" at the park. It's very family friendly.
The playground has a soft rubbery flooring instead of cold concrete. It makes those falls just a little less traumatic for the little boy whom I am a nanny for.
I've never taken anyone I know to a public wading pool, but this park has one if you or your kids are into that kind of thing. The fountain/pond at the north end of the park is always full of people running through to cool their heels, literally.
It's a great place to take pictures too. It has vintage street gas lamps (they don't run on gas, but they are old fashioned gas lamps), nice pathways and also every week you can meet up with the locals for Chess night, all year round. At night you can sometimes catch people who play dodgeball in costume, just like the movie. Tennis courts, Basketball courts, Baseball fields, and even soccer fields.
Lots to do here at the park. I love it...all it needs is a food vendor selling falafel and it'd be perfect for me!
Edit** 08/11/08: I've learned that the wading pool is cleaned everyday and is monitored by an on-site staff person. So no dogs run in to the pool to pee and no-one who is without a roof over their heads takes baths. I've been taking my son here regularly and he loves it!! A few nights ago the park was hosting a movie in the park type of event. It was awesome! Good show, good crowd and an amazing backdrop view of the city skyline.
Thank you city planner(or whoever) for putting the park there.
My life is noticeably better with a park within blocks from wherever I go.
It's a great park. Big enough, some benches, water feature, walk way on one side, then always clean artificial grass field, and tennis(&basketball) courts on the other side.
I'm not sure how to review a park, but I feel like I have to say something. I've been here many times, starting with the grand opening playing bocci ball, watching the kids play chess, and send their boats down the waterway. Since then, it has been a good thing to know it's there. I took yoga classes in the hut, and slid around in the snow. I try to walk through it as much as possible, drunk or sober. It is relaxing. The people are really cool and respectful. It is Capitol Hill's backyard.
Atop the Tele-Tubby Hill as the sun goes down, you can see the people turn into shadows. The lamplights brighten as the conversations quiet down and the running turns to strolls. The city rushes around you, and says, "It's your turn to watch. We will work tonight. It's your turn." You smile and slump a little from relaxation and scotch. Tomorrow you will work as someone else will perch. And watch. And enjoy.
During the summer, this is a great place to spend hours just hanging out with your dog. Wading in the fountain has saved me from heatstroke on numerous occasions. In winter, it's a lot emptier, but still cool. The fields don't seem to drain very well, so they get swampy, and a lot of people seem to feel that winter is a good time to go back to nature and quit picking up their dogs' poop. On the other hand, when it snowed it was like Disneyland. Half of Capitol Hill must have been out at midnight throwing snowballs.
Best part of the park, in any season, is the trombone (or trumpet?) guy. He sits on a bench near the fountain and plays in the evenings and it makes it a really nice place to be.
This park was so gross before they fixed it up.
So lovely now. I usually just walk around the fountain and hang out a few times a week. Cops are always driving/walking/biking by so I always feel safe even late into the night.
edit: just played soccer with my league. that soccer field is way too wide. good astro tur though
One day, when it was cold and they turned off the fountain in Cal Anderson, I climbed to the top and ate Dick's burgers. It was the highlight of my winter.
Oh, and Christmas! That was pretty cool too.
I CANNOT WAIT FOR SUMMER 2009. All of my free time will be spent in this park.
My perfect day....
Sunny but chilly enough for a sweater. A coffee drink from cafe Vivace. Knitting while watching people walk by.....
Oooo I'm such a fan. We practice soccer there, sometimes on the Playfield, other times on the grass lawn.
It's also nice to just relax on the grass there. The fountain's very pretty, esp at night. In the wintertime, the fountain freezes over (it's makes for beautiful pictures)
I think it used to be a water reservoir...therefore the old waterhouse.
It's perfect, mostly in the summer. The fountain (of Salmacis) irradiates ions that soothe the soul, its water cools naked feet and Ra comes down on my naked chest, lying on the lush, green gardens of this exceptional place. IMHO I see it as my very own Haight-Ashbury in microcosmos.
Bat-n-Rouge is a RIOT.
I come here often to play soccer or for just a walk. It's a great looking park too, especially the fountain. The addition of the playground makes this a favourite spot among parents.
I moved up to Capitol Hill after the park was completed, so I don't have first hand experience on what the park was like before. However, I heard it was very bad before the renovations.
I'm not sure if there's some sort of secret Cirque Du Soleil training facility near here but I can't think of a time that I've been here when I didn't see someone either juggling, walking on stilts or hula hooping.
This is a big change from 3 or 4 years ago when this reservoir park was a pretty scary place with a jogging track and lots of very intense shady activity going on. I once saw a group of men chase down another guy and swing tire chains at him to get some money they said he owed them; scary stuff
Now it's a lovely place with Teletbubby Hill providing a cute wading fountain and lots of nice laying on the lawn sun soaking opportunities for those rare, but perfect warmy summer Sundays. Plus the free shows from the jugglers in training is always fun.
You know when it's late at night, and you and a bunch of friends (and eventually strangers) are looking to play late night kickball? This is the best place to do it. A nicely lit baseball field to do so in, although you need to supply your own bases. Seats for people to sit in and watch. And it's easy access for the strangers walking by who want to join in. The rest of the park is nice too. Although, now that I think about it, I really haven't spent much time there during the day. I'm not sure what that says about me. Hmm. I know one Yelper thinks I'm a vampire. Anyways, where was I. Oh yeah, you can play here after 11pm and the police won't bother you. When I was doing late night kickball here, I didn't leave until 2:30am and there were lots of people still there. I'm going to just come right out and say... Best city park on Capitol Hill
Cool neighborhood park. On nice days it's great to just sit outside and read a book. You get all sorts of types here, from hipsters, to families, to homeless, to myself (not sure where I fit in the Capitol Hill ecosystem). On certain nights there is dodgeball to be played in the tennis courts, which is always a win.
