San Miguel Park is a small neighborhood park along the side of a road in Newport Beach…read more Interestingly it is Newport Beach's first universally accessible playground and has ADA features designed for children of all abilities. There's a private parking lot on-site. The park has multiple kids playgrounds, grassy areas, basketball courts, handball courts, a baseball field, a soccer field, and picnic tables. There are also convenient public restrooms.

San Miguel Park played an oversize role in a remarkably important part of my late childhood…read more In 1990, my childhood friend Michael's family moved from Whittier to Newport Beach. I'm three years older than he is, but he was a handful as a kid, so his mom liked to have me over to occupy him, and we always got along famously because he was the adventurous little guy while I was the rule-following older guy. If our ages had been reversed, our friendship never would have worked. We were used to running around his inverted cul-de-sac in Whittier and using different shrubs and bushes as bases. They all had numbers, and I believe some of them had code names in case other kids in the neighborhood had gotten wind of the numbers when we were playing hide-and-seek. But his family moved to a gated community, and while we could generally run around the neighborhood there just as easily as we could in Whittier, there were suddenly annoying rich people telling us to get out of the street/off their lawns/out of the sewer (!), so it wasn't as much fun. Michael's mom trusted me implicitly, so she probably didn't know that I followed Michael in his schemes. Once we got sick of playing Bump 'n' Jump in the downstairs activity room with the spectacular view (Michael liked video games less than any kid I knew), he would suggest we go to the park to play. Michael's mom wasn't used to driving us around, and it took way too long to walk all the way around the gated community to get out of it and to the park, so we did what most pairs of thirteen- and ten-year-olds did and hopped fences and climbed down the hill. We didn't call it San Miguel Park. It was just this thin strip of green space alongside fancy houses. It had a baseball diamond, a field, a basketball court, and four handball courts. When I came recently to do research for this Yelp review, it seemed way more manicured and set off from the neighborhood than it used to be, which makes me think a lot of the amenities might not have existed in 1990. What did Michael and I do at the park? Our usual little-kid stuff, although I was just about to outgrow most of it. We would often take his dad's racquetball rackets and a racquetball and try to play racquetball in the handball courts, specifically the northwest court. As you can imagine, that never worked really well, so we eventually modified Mojo Risin', the game that Michael played with his brothers that normally involved throwing stuffed animals, into its Mick Jagger version, in which Michael would strut around imitating Mick Jagger in front of the handball wall, and I would pelt him with the racquetball. It sounds stupid, but it was really fun, and Michael was spectacular at being a realistically annoying Mick Jagger, even at the age of ten. The park itself is pretty neat, although it's sad that there's no actual baseball diamond. There's a huge backstop and space for a diamond, but there's no dirt, and they've even removed the small benches and bleachers that used to be there. Also, the local soccer leagues use the backstop area to store all their goal equipment, so baseball plays second fiddle to soccer, which was the opposite in 1990. There's a parking lot that is only accessibly from the northbound side of San Miguel Drive. I don't think you can park on San Miguel, but you might be able to park on Spyglass Hill Road. In any case, there are plenty of spaces in the lot. The basketball court is in good shape, but unfortunately, there are permanent, dangerously sited benches and trashcans right next to the court. The handball courts get a lot of use, but they're not in awful shape. For some reason, they close earlier than the park itself does. There's also a green area near the handball courts that feels underutilized. There are one or two picnic tables down there, but they're not shaded, so it might not be pleasant to eat at them. It looks like something was planned but never built in this part of the park. It definitely wasn't landscaped and maintained as nicely when I was a kid. I think it was all dirt then. If you're coming with little kids, be sure they don't wander by themselves over to the northern edge of the park. I believe the speed limit on Spyglass Hill Road is something absurd like 40, and cars come careening down that hill around the bend faster than that. Ridiculously, there are no painted crosswalks at the northeast corner of the park, at the intersection with Port Harwick Place. I don't understand how that is even possible in such a residential neighborhood. I know the local Richie Riches probably never walk or ride their bikes anywhere and have their parents or their nannies drive them everywhere, but I can tell you from personal 1990 experience that when Michael and I were crossing that street to get to the park, it was a little bit nerve-racking. In the 32 years that have passed since that time, the traffic has only grown worse and faster. Be careful when you're crossing that street!

Beautiful small park. Tree lined quiet street. Great basketball ball courts too!Play area for kids…read moreand families. Doggie bags available for picking up after.

Nice family park on the north end of the Balboa Peninsula Newport Beach, CA. Public bathrooms and…read morebasketball courts. Beautiful trees and green space.

The University Community Park has tennis courts, a baseball field, basketball courts, beach…read morevolleyball courts, large grassy areas, a playground, and some covered areas with grills. There were tons of people on a nice days and it was packed. It's located next to the University Park Library and also the Adventure Playground with more space for kids to play and roam. It was a huge park with lots to do.

I love that this playground has separate playgrounds for infants, toddlers, and older kids with…read moreseveral fun spinning equipment in the middle which was fun for us older "kids". There's also a sand pit, some picnic benches, and huge grassy area w some recreational courts. Just note that only the playground is shaded so it may be pretty warm on a hot sunny day. This is located next to a library, school, and Adventure Playground which is an awesome free play area though probably more fun for kids older than 2 years old. We enjoyed walking the paved paths through the neighborhood to get to the shopping center nearby to get some boba from Class 302 and for food. There's also another playground along the paths.

This park is located at the Cornell Commons Apartment Homes near UCI. It's in between a bunch of…read moreapartment complexes and also walking distance to UTC. There's street parking around the exterior but beware of the parking signs as no parking is allowed during the weekday. There's not much here other than a basketball court and a large grassy area. The pool and tennis courts are only used by the residents of the complex and there are no public restrooms.

No playground for kids. Walkable to shopping center. Two tennis courts and basketball court with no…read morehoops/nets. Gated pool. Flat grassy area has a baseball batting half dome but no field.

Came with several friends to learn and practice pickle ball. One of our group lives in the area…read moreand was able to make reservations. Practiced some volleys, serves, learning some basic rules, and discussing etiquette. Really nice recreation area with pools, tennis, pickle ball, and basketball courts amongst other spaces. Plenty of parking, well manicured landscaping, and overall grounds.

Definitely enjoy visiting this community. There's so many pools and jacuzzi in this neighborhood…read more Lots of bbq areas where you can grills burgers, steaks, or veggies. I like bringing the whole family and coming here to swim and enjoy the views. There's also a sand volleyball area that you can play with friends. Lots of playgrounds thought this Woodbury community.

My son has been with Cali Rebels for 4 years and it was the best choice for his development. Cali…read moreRebels coaches are also high school coaches who teach real basketball with team concepts. My son is now 1 year away from high school and I have no doubt that Cali Rebels has prepared him for that next level.

A solid Youth Basketball program to develop players for higher level. Coaches take time to teach…read morehigh school level defense concept which is a must for organized basketball. At grassroots level, not that many AAU teams focus on defense. There are multiple coaches with high school / college coaching experience.

Amazing facility for the Costa Mesa community. They offer plenty of options for gymnastics, ballet…read more& karate classes for toddlers to older kids. Their Teen Center is awesome for middle school and high school kids to hang out after school. (Pinball machine? VR headsets? Yes!) They also offer free events and excursions at low cost for the teens throughout the year. There is a small daycare facility as well, The Child's Pace with super sweet staff. I believe it's sliding scale and not affiliated with the city, but definitely an affordable option for daycare and after school programming for younger kids. The gymnasium is well maintained and offer pickleball in the mornings, basketball for adults and youth during the day. Clean bathrooms, super helpful staff.. definitely a hidden gym!

There are 2 play areas, both shaded by canopies and trees…read more The playgrounds are well maintained and have a LOT of sand. There are swings, a sand pit, 2 horseys and a stationery train. The park comes alive in the evenings with kids playing basketball and football.

Maybe the shadiest playground in Irvine with thick trees all over the picnic table area too. Two…read moreplay structures are next to each other, 2-5 and 5+ with partial foam partial sand terrain. Younger lot has stationary train feature but backs to car traffic on Yale. Bathrooms check. Street parking. Basketball court.