Ohlone Park

Ohlone Park is a beautiful five-block-long green space. Ohlone offers a variety of recreational opportunities, including tot and school-age play areas, a community garden, and an off-leash dog area.

Ohlone Park was built on BART-owned land along the Hearst Corridor after the City of Berkeley decided to underground the BART tracks within Berkeley. A citizen’s committee formed in 1974 to investigate potential uses for the BART property along Hearst Avenue overwhelmingly preferred park development.

Originally known as the Hearst Strip Park, residents debated other names, including “Everybody’s Park,” before settling on Ohlone Park. Following the demolition of People’s Park on University of California land, a section of the park west of McGee Avenue became known as People’s Park Annex.

The park’s preliminary plans were completed and approved in November 1978, and it was formally dedicated on June 7, 1979. The park was built with Measure Y funds from the 1974 bond to meet the recreational needs of Berkeley residents.

Native American artist Jean Lamarr designed and painted a mural depicting the history of the Ohlone people, after whom the park is named, on the large concrete vent at Milvia in the late 1990s.

Features:

• Part of the Ohlone Greenway, with bicycle and pedestrian connections continuing for miles along the BART right-of-way to the El Cerrito Softball Field Soccer practice.
• Turf that serves multiple functions
• Basketball hoop (1)
• Lawn volleyball poles
• Two tot play areas are available: the Bonita tot play area, which includes a tot swing, a Daisy spring toy, and a tot structure with a slide and a climber; and the McGee play area, which includes tot swings and spring toys.
• McGee school-age play area includes swings, a play structure with a slide, and climbers; Milvia play area includes belt swings, a ribbon slide, a horizontal ladder, a chinking bar, a spiroslide, a snake climber, an El slide, and resilient paving for accessibility.
• Areas for picnics
• Off-leash dog walking area that is enclosed (Hearst at Grant)
• Garden for the community (Hearst at McGee)
• Jean Lamarr painted a mural of Ohlone history on a large concrete vent to the underground BART tunnels (Hearst near Milvia)

This park features a lot of beautiful green grass and a lot of open space. Its play structures are unusual and interesting in non-pandemic times. The variety of plants and terrain make it a perfect spot for young children to engage in imaginative play.