The SK8 GYM owners(?) were quite helpful while I was thinking about taking a lesson. But once I…read morepaid and couldn't go, they all but refused to give me a refund. (Without going into detail, the reason was their fault, not mine.) As other reviews suggested, the owners delayed responding, blamed me, threatened me with a fee for the refund.... By the way, there's no way to contact an actual human being in "real time" -- no phone, no chat, just an email. The instructor who gave the lesson was good, very encouraging and clearly a great instructor. If I could rate the instructor alone, I would give a 5-star review. However, the overall experience really soured me to going back... ever. I'll go to the Church of 8 Wheels from here forward.

These negative reviews are totally unfounded, either that, or the business has evolved and…read morefunctions very, very well. These reviews completely scared us a year ago, and a year of trying Park & Rec classes and skateboarding camps where our child really didn't make progress, we enrolled here after a word-of-mouth recommendation. Our child has enjoyed and learned so much through his trainers (extraordinaire!), he has gone from wanting to master a skill, to being held back by fear, and then amazing confidence on the skateboard, and not just that, the summer camp is legit one of the few camps in the city where children actually learn new skills, and bond and have great fun - and have good restrooms to use and sinks to wash hands! Private lessons are not cheap, but thankfully last minute cancellations can be 'bought back' with a small fee.

Defremery Park is deep into the inner city, it's the best maintained, relatively, of the bests i've…read morevisited. the amenities are the skate park, children's playground, the large green area, baseball, tennis , bbq areas, and the historical building on site. the park also denotes the "oak center historical district" mentioning the historical buildings nearby. it's also a frequent gathering place for community events given it's large space.

I come here about once a week for an outdoor skate season. The setup is nice and the skate park is…read morekept very clean. They also have an area for baseball, tennis, and a good old fashioned BBQ. I also love that Defremery Park does a lot to pour into the community (feeding the homeless, summer lunch programs for the kids, etc).

I am getting overcharged, and they never pick up the phone to help. Super frustrating. Now I'll…read morehave to drive all the way out there just to deal with this mess. Do better!

I grew up playing at The Bladium since I was 4 years old with lil kickers. I played with the Bay…read moreOaks and SJND for indoor footie and played with my AAU basketball team in this facility. So many memories, like winning a state championship and rock climbing with my friends. The Bladium was an experience: to drink, to play sports, to work out, to have fun. I recently came back after finishing college, just to find the main football field and a majority of the weight room gone to pickleball. At first, I did not mind, however, it feels like the only people who come in are pickleball players. Its sad to see my friend's old family business being made into a pickleball center. Even the new company's logo shows where their priority is at. Heartbreaking to see. I will always remember the sounds the floorboards made.

Never disappointed with a visit to Jean Sweeney Park. Our daughter enjoys the various play areas as…read moreshe navigates between the different areas, existing in some spaces longer than others. After parking, if you can find a spot, the first play area includes a trampoline, climbing structure, a wide metal slide and an oversized musical chime. To the right, a spacious mesh swing spins with kids constantly filling and spinning it. Directly in front is an ample sand area with a brick barrier surrounding it. To the left are three picnic tables. In front of the sand area is the smaller kids play area which is directly next to the restrooms and water fountain. To the left of the little play area is the zip line. When you go further in to the park, there is a covered area with lots of picnic tables and seating grouped together, more benches and lots of grass to play and explore further. There are paths to ride bikes, scooters, roller blades and skateboards. During warmer weather this park is packed. When we visited, following a prior event, there were already lots of kids on a gray, windy, overcast day. This park is spacious on the interior but parking on the exterior is limited. The parking lot is minimal for the amount of space to explore, which is awesome but makes it difficult to navigate up close parking. Street parking is not really existent unless you enter on the opposite end of the park.

An amazing open space park, with room for plenty of activities and a playground large enough to…read morehold a large amount of kids! The playground has multiple areas for activities; sandpit, toddler play structure, large metal slide, and rope climbing jungle gym. The best part? The long rope swing! Parking was plentiful, and there were plenty of logs for parents to enjoy the shade while being close to their kids. Bathrooms are present as well as picnic tables.

This is the absolute minimum you can ask for with a dog park. The only good thing about it is…read morethere seems to be a strong sense of community with owners bringing bags, balls, chuckers and posting notes around. The park itself is relatively small with mostly concrete and nasty dirt. Due to the location you get quite a few low dollar dog walkers who bring 10+ dogs who they have zero control over and let them run wild instead of actually walking them. Also it seems a percentage of visitors do not clean up after their pets which makes it even more disgusting for everyone else. The upside is the central location, proximity to a real park with kiddie equipment, picnic areas and grass and the fact that it is completely shaded by the BART tracks.

My friend refers to this as Vagina Park and it seemed like the dog's bollocks when I moved into the…read moreneighborhood recently. Plenty of space for my vicious chihuahua/min-pin mix to run around not retrieving his mini-chuckit and not socializing with the other pups. There's a disproportionate amount of pit bulls at this park, but I've never seen one act inappropriately - even when my little asshat started snipping at one. Yep, I'm the d-bag who brings his tiny dog into the big dog area to play. He's really a pit at heart, he just missed the memo on his minute stature. Despite the area (which is run down and kinda dirty - watch your step), this park is usually pretty clean and the dog run areas are decently maintained. I ended up with shit shoes way more often at the park in downtown Berkeley. I stopped taking my dog to Grover Shafter because he kept picking up fleas like nobody's business and it was driving me nucking futs dealing with those bouncing bastards. No more vagina park, no more fleas. Hmmm. The basketball courts are in good repair and the illicit dealings seem nil or well disguised as friendly embraces. Were I going back to this park, I wouldn't go at night without my vicious ankle-biter and an invisibility cloak to throw on in a pinch.

Shoreline park is a beautiful walking path and a green belt on Harbor Bay Isle. It's about 6 miles…read morelong and runs into the Harbor Bay ferry. There is a gravel path and cement path for cyclists. On any giving day you can find people walking their dogs, relaxing and watching the beautiful bay and enjoying sunsets. There are several benches throughout the path and they also have restrooms and plenty of trash receptacles. In some sections, they even have picnic tables and barbecue pits. One area also has an outlook and sandbox for children to play in. While out enjoying the path, you can guarantee you will find some beautiful wildlife, and a lot of pictures are taken by photographers and people just blown away by the beautiful view of San Francisco. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a clean, beautiful and romantic path.

The views over here are Phenomenal!! Definitely recommend to catch a breather or two nothing like…read moreit the environment is excellent the atmosphere is amazing

In The Teen and I's new Friday ritual of water watching before we head home, we stopped by Crown…read moreMemorial before heading through the tunnel to let traffic die down a bit.. This was definitely the place to be back in the day! Parking was a snap and we found a bench to sit on starting the water watching. The view was awesome and the sun was shining just like Bob Marley said. There were people, young and old playing in the sand, lots of bike riders, and of course, those dog walkers. The Teen put the phone down and ventured out and some sand, touching and driftwood drifting.. Definitely, we will be back when it gets warmer with hopes of finding front row parking again!

Last weekend in March, a Saturday afternoon 2 ish, not crowded. Easily found a spot not too close…read moreto others. What a great beach for children! No need to worry about large waves. The water was no higher than my teens knees, after he walked 5 minutes into the ocean. My toddler enjoyed sitting in the water playing with his bucket and shovel. Around 5pm the tides were slowly rising. Very calming to watch. My toddler and I enjoyed walking through the mini waves. Bathroom nearby no shower at this one, but still crowded. We were in the middle part of the beach. Wish they had more bathrooms with showers around to rinse off. But we made it work. We still made family memories and enjoyed a day at the beach. Will definitely be back.

Best I've ever skated. As a Martial Arts Instructor I know how helpful private lessons can be. We…read morejust don't know the next step sometimes and it can take a long time before we blindly stumble upon the answer. It is so helpful to have someone like Bfree, who has a ton of skill and experience, that can show you that next step. BFree is an amazing teacher. He is encouraging, enriching, and enhancing. As the session went on I developed more and more confidence and entered into that place were I was Savoring my grinds and feeling that flow when creating a line instead of being in the place where I'm nervous and worried that I might fall, I realized I forgot to really enjoy my experience. I love rollerblading, and Bfree showed me how to love it more. In one session the way I approach and land tricks, and the way I think about rollerblading at all has completely transformed. I'm definitely going to be a longtime student of Bfree. If you are looking to enjoy rollerblading more and also progress in your skill level, or want to develop more confidence, courage, and clarity in your rollerblading, BFree is your man. I also want to comment on the guy's character. One of the main reasons I signed up for a private lesson with Bfree was because I liked what he was doing in his community and for the rollerblading community as a whole. In BFree Blading Academy First Friday in Oakland video I saw, you could really see a genuine kindness in the guy. He is exactly like that in person. It makes me really happy knowing that the money I spend on private lessons with Bfree is going towards supporting a family man, towards benefiting the Oakland community, and towards benefiting the Rollerblading community as a whole and putting wheels under more people's feet. It's a huge accelerator honestly. After our session I honestly felt like a walked away 100 times better. On flat, on vert, on coping, on ledges, on rails... Just better at rollerblading in every way possible. He's teaching style is on point too. It was exactly everything I was hoping it would be. Rollerblading is fun. Do it. #letsgetitforever

Just had my first skate lesson. Brian met me at a skate park by my house in Oakland. I'm a beginner…read moreand he made it really easy for me to understand the basics, like STOPPING". The lesson was customized for my needs which was really helpful considering how clumsy I am. Brian was very patient and helpful. I'm going to sign my 3yr old up for classes too! Soon we will be able to skate around the lake and Golden Gate Park

Tennis, basketball, play structure and large fields. Great park that on the surface has it all…read more.. but dig a bit deer and its just a ok. I think this whole park needs a scrub down with some warm soapy water. Its fine but it doesn't really shine. In the heart of downtown - i think its best for a little walk during lunch hour if you work at the nearby businesses - maybe Kaiser. Needs a refresh. Some new energy. A feng shui master.

Mosswood Park has been here hiding here in plain view since 1907. it's a convenient outdoor space…read morefor community events like Juneteeth, kaiser demostrations, picnics, as well as private events. amenities: large grassy area, children's play area, tennis & basketball courts, baseball field. it's a great resource for nearby residents. i haven't been here for years. parking isn't a problem as there are many parking lots around. homeless tents have been sighted on da moss. (not surprising).

Date: 10/1/2016 Time: 12:37 PM 63° Partly sunny…read more I have been to this park for at least three picnics in the past; twice with my classmates from Oakland Tech and once with the alumnus from McClymonds aka Mack. Well, some of the people thought I was lost and wondered why would a Chinese woman attend a picnic which was predominantly African-American. I mentioned who invited me and that I was also a 6th grade classmate to a guy (CO'70) who was on their football team. Thereafter, it was cool. (Hey, I am friendly, I don't bite even though I am a Lady Bulldog from Tech. I got a few laughs.) DeFremery Recreation Center is a Victorian style building in DeFremery Park, which is located in the heart of West Oakland on 16th & Adeline. It is a very spacious park (9.5 acres) with plenty of picnic areas, shade trees and a swimming pool. Other features include tennis courts, basketball courts, softball field and a skate park. The center itself offers a variety of activities (cultural, educational and recreational) to teens and youths. They also have African-American dance programs and day camp during the summer. Although there was another event in Oakland's Dimond District (Oaktoberfest) occurring at the same time, my husband and I could not be at two different venues at the same time. Since I don't drink beers, ales, brews, etc., we decided to head over to Defremery for a cultural festival. Purpose of my visit: The Oakland Black Cowboys Association held its 42nd annual parade and festival. We arrived late and missed the parade. However, we lucked out and found street parking next to the park. There was no driving around the blocks to find parking. I later found out somewhere in the park there was a parking lot. The park was filled with a few food and clothing vendors, information booths from different organizations and my favorite - the American Black Beauty Doll Artists. The organizer of the Festival of Black Dolls Show and Sale gave me the 411 as to when to look forward to the event. Stage was also set up for music and live entertainment. Eats: Oxtail with red beans & rice, greens and cornbread. For $12, the portion was generous and quite filling. The meal was enough to feed two people. Purchase: two cowboy hats and two T-shirts from the Oakland Black Cowboys Association. Fun time for families with children. I know one thing, my husband and I will mark the calendar on the first Saturday of October for a visit to DeFremery Park.

Park has parking around the whole perimeter and a small parking lot next to the main blue Victorian…read morehouse. There is plenty of space to set up a picnic, throw an outdoor gathering (BBQ, Birthday, etc). Some shaded areas within the park. There is an open basketball court as well.