Even though this says Crotona Park West, I am doing a review of the ENTIRE Crotona Park which is what I wanted to do originally but there doesn't seem to be an address for Crotona Park. On to my review.
First off, I'm very surprised that there are ZERO reviews for this park since it's been a pretty or very well known park in the Bronx to many in the borough. And in the summer time this place is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY from dusk till dawn. Hell, the moment the weather gets comfortably warm, the place becomes pretty alive. I feel this park has so much potential and can be an oasis smack in the middle of the hood. Unfortunately, it's not really living up to the potential (to me) and I'll get into that.
The park can be deemed "the Central Park of the Bronx" and I wouldn't disagree. There may be parks in the BX that are much more beautiful but this park always has something going on when the weather gets warm. During the winter not sound much. There's live events that happen, activities that go on and more. I can't tell you exactly what but I've seen hip-hop concerts, to wrestling shows, to whatever. It goes down here.
This park is pretty big, in fact very big. LOTS of space in the park, lots of green space in fact. Lots of activities that go on, especially during the warmer seasons. There's a pool, a tennis court and program, basketball, BBQ's, plenty of play grounds, a man made pond and plenty of other things happening. If you want to picnic, no problem, if you want to jog, play any sports, whatever, NO PROBLEM. It's really spacious.
I mentioned the greenery, this park is surprisingly green. Plenty of trees and green space, a man made pond (like I mentioned), and lots of other green space stuff. So if that's your thing, you may want to check it out.
As for sports and playgrounds there's A LOT of that here. Lots of baseball, basketball, handball, bike riding, jogging, football and whatever else.
Lots of BBQ and parties during the summer.
So, it seems like I am saying very positive things about this park and I don't want you to get confused. Maybe a 2 is harsh but I can't help but feel like it feels right to warrant it a 2 out of 5.
Reason being is that this place isn't in the best location of the Bronx. In fact, it's in one of the worse areas of the BX in Morrisania. The area is near a lot of project houses going west and it turns into a ghetto fest during the summer. The pollution and loitering goes up the wazoo, people are out till late at night and all sorts of sketchy things go down. You definitely don't want to be wandering alone by yourself in the park unless you're "that guy" and you know no one isn't going to mess with you. Simply put, this park becomes WAY too ghetto for me during the summer and I can't rock with it.
I'm hardly in the BX to begin with anyway, so I opt out for other parks out of the borough. HOWEVER, I want to see the Bronx win and improve and I will say that the people at the parks department and the city have definitely improved this park a whole lot since back in the days. So kudo's to them and I hope to see it improve even more. It's cleaner, greener and there's more bins in the park now.
This park has plenty of potential but its also up to the community to keep it cleaner. Don't let me review deter you, check this place out and see for yourself. It's not terrible, its not bad but it can do a lot better. read more