Snow Park

Snow Park is a park that provides outdoor leisure and nature conservation in Oakland, CA. A public area accessible to the general public, the Park, under the maintenance of the Oakland Parks Department, provides open spaces.
 

Snow Park is a small grassy land plot adjacent to Lake Merritt in the Lakeside District of Oakland, whose peaceful, pastoral nature testifies to the many uses it has been put to over the years.
 

It originally included part of the second cemetery in old Oakland (mostly emptied, they say, after 1863, once Mountain View got going). The region later housed a mansion that became the Snow Museum, which eventually came to include a small zoo, after decades as a private residence.
 

The property was then groomed into its present park-like shape after all buildings were razed in the late 1960s (check whether this was due to fire) and a construction scheme properly rejected.

The lake-facing side maintained a putting green until about the 1980s, and passersby would be struck by the strangely incongruous, but almost poetic sight of intently focused golfers caught up in their own worlds, seeing eternity right there in downtown in a wild flower, as vehicular traffic whizzed by just a few feet away (there were far fewer stoplights then).
 

The putting green was inevitably pooped into oblivion by our mates who were honking.

More recently, Occupy Oakland's suburban overflow home was Snow Park.
 

In 2013, Snow Park was debated as the proposed site of a dog park in hopes of quelling the dispute over Astro Dog Park. For an unexplained cause, the platform was dismissed.
 

Due to the improvements in the dogs-in-parks legislation in April 2014, in this park, dogs are now permitted on-leash.

Snow Park has been the venue for the annual Oakland Running Festival, including the Oakland Marathon, since 2012, with the start/finish line at 19th St. x Harrison St. The venue was City Hall Plaza for the first two years (2010-11), but that area was outgrown by the event.

Snow Park is at last completely reopened after several years of renovations. It's just a broad, wide expanse of grass that slopes gently towards Lake Merritt, but the grass itself, like the walkways, benches, and popular amenities such as a playground, is at least in good condition.

It's simply an enjoyable, welcoming, and large room for all to enjoy, and it's vastly improved from what it was a couple of years ago. In addition, it acts as a natural buffer between Lake Merritt and any growth that from downtown might invade it.

They have a playground area for youngsters, toilets, plenty of benches, and some of the greenest grass around. The best place to hang out or have a picnic.
 

Oakland City did a fantastic job with this park!