These 40-year-old slides in Bernal Heights are fun for kids and adults alike!
In the late 1970s, Esmeralda Slide Park was officially unveiled in Bernal Heights. It’s a hidden neighborhood gem, complete with a sweet garden and great views, created by neighborhood volunteers with the help of city agencies and city-sponsored landscape designer Andrew Butler.
But it’s especially worth a visit to take a trip down these 40-foot metal slides, which will definitely get your heart racing.
Seriously, this is a super fun ride with a stellar view. Bring your own cardboard if you want to really fly!
The slides, previously known as the Winfield Street Slides, have been there since the late 1970s. But the hillside was originally much more barren than it is now.
[Image: Ben Wiseley via Flickr]
In 2015, a group of about 40 Bernal Heights residents volunteered to give it a makeover, and Esmeralda Mini-Park has never looked better.
Neighbors Joan Carson and Nancy Windesheim organized the effort to give the slides a brand new launch deck up top and a rubber landing pad below. Not to mention new retaining walls for the hillside and a variety of charming plants.
[Image: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
In 1979 at the park’s dedication party, then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein raced and defeated district supervisor Lee Dolson on the Esmeralda slides. She’s not the only politician to give them a whirl – Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. took the plunge in 1998 while wearing a three-piece suit.
Be sure to visit Esmeralda Slide Park at the intersection of Winfield Street & Esmeralda Avenue in San Francisco. Park hours are 7am – 8pm, 7 days a week.
[Featured Image: @littlehiccups via Instagram]