I love my neighborhood park! This time of year I'm usually only in the rec center, but in the summer it's so wonderful to see all the kids and families chilling and playing and enjoying being outdoors.
As far as what's outdoors, there are basketball courts, tennis courts, a play fountain (on in the summer), a cute fenced-in playground, dog run, and 1/4 mile loop track with a turf field that folks use for soccer and football. Often when it's a nice weather day, there is a snack cart or someone selling Icees. I kinda wish they had vendors with healthier options like fruit, though.
The recreation center was under renovation for a long time and re-opened about a year ago. I joined right away, it's fantastic! Membership is through NYC Parks & Recreation so it's much cheaper than nearby private gyms. There's a small but sufficient fitness room with treadmills, stair master, stationary cycles, ellipticals, weight resistance machines, free weights, yoga mats, medicine balls, and Pilates balls. There's a tv in there as well; they always either have News12 or one of those Music Choice channels on.
Upstairs in the red center there's a nice, big open multipurpose room. They regularly hold free classes and workshops there, from arts & crafts classes for kids to seniors yoga. They've got a weekly schedule of free Shape Up NYC classes; I've taken a Zumba class and a Cardio Kickboxing class and they were both fun. The instructors aren't world-class or anything, but I felt welcome and very comfortable dropping in.
So it's no Prospect Park or anything, but as far as Bronx parks go, this one's family friendly and mostly well-kept. Check it out some time! read more