I love love love this park. There are several parts to it. There's a very nice grassy hill, surrounded by trees that you can lay a blanket down on and read a book or hang out by yourself or with your friends or family. And then there are tennis and basketball courts and then there's a kids play scape for younger kids and we spent so much time at this park. The community center is also very nice and they have plays or other events there. I've seen quite a few events there and have also taken Zumba classes. There's also an area between the two parts of the park that has a stream and picnic tables and we often met groups down there and had celebrations. I've also seen work groups meet there for lunch. My kids loved to go hang out there because there were so many things you can do there. The Parks in Berkeley, in general I find just amazing. read more

This is a lovely park with plenty of lush green grass for picnicking and trees providing ample shade, as well as concrete stairways connecting to the creek and a bridge leading to the Live Oak Theater. I attended the showing of SF Mime Troupe's "Disruption" this past Saturday, an entertaining and comedic musical production reminding the crowd that everything is politics. In addition, I laid out my mat in the grass to enjoy a meal and read a book, appreciating the relaxing and carefree atmosphere. read more

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A new coffee table book featuring canine travel guide is just published. If you are Bay Area natives and are dog parents; you will find this book useful for planning day trips or daily/ weekend walk around Bay Area. There are 35 dogs involved in the making of this book. The photographer travel around Bay Area to meet us and captured the best images; outdoor in the parks, beaches, the woods and most of the SF iconic tourists spots. My dog is one of the model in this book. The location we choose is Live Oak Park, a community park in Berkeley, East Bay. We see ourselves visiting this park and appreciate the neighborhood. At any time of the day; the park is just beautiful to explore. When you buy this coffee table book canine edition; you will see how each locations are picked by our canine companions represent ours life. Check out the website to order the limited edition coffee table book: https://pawsandplaystudio.com You may use the $5 coupon for purchase if you mention Chanel. See you at Live Oak Park - wooff!!!! read more

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Excellent playground for the littles and great programming for the 7-12's. Well-kept facilities. Clean & safe. One block away from the Thursday afternoon farmers market on Shattuck. read more

Berkeley has so many amazing parks truly. I feel we don't have this many amazing ones in Oakland. We have celebrated few school birthdays in Berkeley now and Live Oak Park is another gem added to the collection. It is just such a vast park with so much greenery. They have a playground as well and clean bathrooms near the center. We played mainly by the creek where the birthday was set up by the picnic benches. Super fun. Kids had a blast exploring the creek together read more

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Now this is what you call a good, old-fashioned community park, which isn't such a big deal in itself. Except for the fact that Berkeley has so many rock outcroppings that they make parks out of a lot of them. What I mean is that the rocks are the parks. Since I'm not a rock climber, I just envisioned all the twisted ankles in my future. Live Oak, on the other hand, offers 5-1/2 acres of well tended grass, huge oak trees, courts, and play areas surrounding Codornices Creek. There's an arts center and winding walkways to complete the picture. What's not to love about this very family friendly space? RELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2CbVh8u read more

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Cute park with a small body of water/stream and narrow bridges. From what I gathered the park has at least 3 picnic sites. You can reserve sites #1 and #2 online (with a fee). Site #3 wasn't on the park website so I think it's up for grabs! There were two picnic tables, two trash cans, a charcoal grill. Our own little private area that we got to utilize for my friend's birthday! Grass can be pretty wet, so if you decide to sit in the grassy areas make sure to prepare. Lots of street parking available and a short walk to a few eateries. There was a tennis court, playground, and a community center. I'm sure there was more but I didn't explore the entire park. The bathrooms we saw were the porta potty (friends said it was bad) and a small unmarked outdoor bathroom (go with a friend because there is only a chain to indicate that it's in use). Great place to picnic and hangout with friends. Can see this especially being good in the summer since picnic spots are tucked beneath the trees under the shade! read more

Calm, beautiful park in a residential setting. Perfect for a picnic or afternoon sun! Tennis courts are close by as well. read more

Live Oak Park - Parks Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Wonderful Park with restrooms, benches, little creek running through it as well as plenty of grassy area tucked in a neighborhood! These tennis courts are my favorite to play at. Court 1 is reservable and usually occupied and court 2 is first come first serve. The court is maintained well and there is a water fountain near by. The lights turn on quickly and are very bright. The only night time courts I know of in north Berkeley! read more

This is my first review for a park but I just had to after stumbling on this on my daily quarantine walk. This park is something out of a movie. The views of the neighborhood, grass, and trees in the evening are so incredibly serene and peaceful. It's also on the way to Indian Rock Park so super easy to stop here on the way there. read more

Can't think of a better place to take a peaceful quarantine walk when I need to escape Tenantsville and listen to nature's music. Steps from home, but a world apart. Perfect for quality me time, morning yoga, socially-distant picnics, you name it. read more

Live Oak Park - "Saturday in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July..." - Parks Near Me - Berkeley, California

Another comfortable park nearby. I did walk to this so I can't say much about the parking. Open field on one side of the park for picnics, relaxing, running around, etc. As a so-cal native, it's refreshing to be surrounded by big trees. I also enjoy how all the parks I've been to have bridges and little nooks with picnic benches. It feels private and open at the same time. read more

Live Oak Park - Bridge down to the other side of the park - Parks Near Me - Berkeley, California

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THE ESSENCE OF the BERKELEY EXPERIENCE. Live Oak Park is located just a block north of the "gourmet ghetto" in Berkeley, CA. The park has a basketball court, tennis courts, out-of-doors children's jungle gym, an activities building, an in-doors theater for showing plays, a stream with a grassy bank on its southern side, and a large grassy lawn on its northern bank, and a picnic area in the dark gully through which the stream flows. To the north and just across the street from Live Oak Park is a small art museum with rotating exhibits where evening concerts of classical music are performed. Only once did I attend the theater. This was some time ago, perhaps in 1975, when I saw a dramatization of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. On one occasion, my laboratory held its weekly journal club meeting at the picnic table in the dark gully. As with all of our journal club meetings, one of us gave a presentation of some aspect of DNA repair. LIVE OAK PARK is truly the "Swiss army knife" of municipal parks. But what makes Live Oak Park the essence of the Berkeley experience? A couple of times each summer, Live Oak Park wakes up with an arts and crafts fair. Truly, what is found is the Mother Of All Arts And Crafts Fairs. There is typically a face painting booth for children, a magic act by Johnny Casino (John Paul Valjean), a juggler (he juggles hatchets and apples, taking bites of the apple as these objects rotate in the air), folk musicians, and displays of quilts, mixed media, metal sculpture, photography, pottery, paintings, woodwork, bookbinding, and media that you didn't even know existed. Apart from the arts and crafts fair are performances by San Francisco Mime Troupe, which I have viewing since the mid-1970s, not every year, but perhaps once every three years. I have been attending events Live Oak Park since 1974, when I moved to the north side of campus and had a nearby apartment across the street from Walnut Square. Please see my attached photograph of Johnny Casino, taken during one of his many performances at Live Oak Park. read more

I was discriminated against by one of the staff his name is Brian he told me it was closed off to the public . What caught my eye was a work out / dance team and I wanted to know how to sign up.. I was greeted with" Can I help u, We are closed to the public" It always sad to be discriminated against when it's your own race rather mixed or not read more

Live Oak Park - Parks Near Me - Berkeley, California

Great park....it's the kind of park that is pregnant with beauty, helping to elicit the right cascade of feelings, the right ages of trees (mature=beauty, which also=shade), the gorgeous, sublime neighborhood setting, and the size to accommodate many and still give one privacy to picnic.... I've walked past on walks many times when I used to live in the GG, and recently, on a picnic with a large group. We spread out into a large circle and enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine....kicking off 'dem shoes and letting that indescribable feeling of warm blades of grass caress the toes and soles. AHH I love this park, which also has courts for batting around the fuzzies, and also sponsors some fun activities for children. Gorgeous Berkeley park. Great destressor for students....pull a Richard Gere and take your shoes off, turn off your phone (or at least silence it!) for just a wee moment, and 'smell the roses' by being present, in *this* moment. read more

Lovely, lovely park. Relatively new in town and happened upon this treasure after brunch with a good friend. It has secluded shady picnicking spots, one even has a faucet and fire-pit. Explore winding stone stairways and step stone across the babbling brook that runs the length of this sloped yet easily accessible grounds. Towering cedars - check. Age old oaks - check check. large grassy knowles - check. seating - benches, picnic tables - check tennis courts - check We'll be back very soon. read more

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I've been here for the Live Oak Fair in June and tashlich (casting my baggage into the creek) during Rosh Hashana. The Live Oak Fair is a fun Arts/Crafts venue with lots of neat stuff and local flavour amongst it's nooks and crannies. And when you need a break from that, the creek bed area is cool, shaded, inviting, and relaxing. My son also finds it an area of great exploration at creek level. And that is a perfect venue for tashlich later in the year. read more

Park: five stars for all the reasons you can read in the other reviews Minus one star for the idiots who let their dogs off their leashes. There are children in the park who are afraid of dogs. There are cats in the park who get eaten by dogs. There are cars in the street who run over dogs. There are dogs who like to attack other dogs. Not only is it the law to keep your dog on a leash, people, but it is the humane thing to do for all involved including your dogs. Last time I was there someone's dog ran into traffic and almost got hit by a car. That is not fair to the dog or to the poor person who could have killed the dog. I love dogs as much as the next person but control them while they are in public for everyone's sake. read more

I LOVE these tennis courts! I don't know why they are not more popular, but I actually would like to keep this place a hidden treasure for myself, so shhhhhhhhhhhh...tell no one! There are only TWO courts here but there is basically no one here competing with you for a court! They are in great condition, fenced off individually, and....THEY COME WITH LIGHTS!!! There's a cute little park right next to these courts and a little play area for kids and dogs! When you are done with tennis and all tired, you can sit on the swings and have a nice long heart to heart chat with your tennis partner while watching little kids run around and fall (kidding!). Again...don't know why these courts are not more popular! read more

This park embodies a Berkeley summer to me. As others have written - the size is perfect. Always a good crowd so you feel like you are in a cool spot, but large enough for you to still have privacy. Blocks from the gourmet ghetto. My favorite summer night includes a cheese board pizza to go, a hidden bottle of wine and a dinner picnic at Live Oak. The children's play area is also awesome although with very limited shade so a hot day is not ideal there. read more

Love this park! Came here today for the first time for the Himalayan Festival and this park is a perfect setting for it. Tall trees, very shady and cool with a bridge and a creek running through it. Lots of grass and the park isn't all level, which adds a lot of dimension. read more

Its been a pleasure living close to this park! Live in an apartment so I cant BBQ, this past 4th of July we attended this park to do so (I've been going almost everyday since for the basketball courts). Everything went perfect. Peaceful feeling park, with open grass to have fun on. People with dogs, reading, laying in the sun, just a great place to chill out. They do have a pitt, its definitely serviceable, just always think safety. There's a basketball court, and tennis courts. Kinda reminds me of a mini "Diamond Park" in Oakland. Just go there... read more

What an oasis! My fiance and I have finally been touring the Berkeley spots we've passed on our bikes but never stopped at (or heard of but never even passed), and Live Oak Park was one of today's stops. (Indian Rock was the main stop: see upcoming Yelp list of such fantastic mini-nature parks in Berkeley!) As Eric B. says, the stream and bay trees cool the shady area around the Art Center to a lovely temp, no matter how strong the sun. Kids seem to have a great time here, as do kids-at-heart: there are just enough sticks on the ground and big trees for kidsies to play with, and plenty of benches for parents to relax on. Today at lunch hour, there was one representative gentleman sitting at a picnic table reading the Chron under the bay trees. A mural brightens the bridge leading under Walnut Ave. (a pedestrian underpass allowing you to walk along the stream from Spruce to Shattuck, uninterrupted). The grove and stream span two blocks, Spruce to Walnut to Shattuck; lawns run alongside the grove from Walnut to Shattuck. We were thrilled to discover this green patch connecting these beauiful residential streets we know so well. Take your kids, take a lover, take a picnic, take a gander at the Art Center gallery -- you'll be enchanted. read more

This review is for the Live Oak Park Fair held June 12 & 13, 2010. This is an annual event held in the park each June. It supposedly "showcases fine art and gourmet food in the upscale community of North Berkeley". How much is wrong with that quote. So the items featured at this event are "juried" by a committee from the promoter of the event Jane Etre Productions. Sounds Berkeleyesque to me. The truth is the group that puts this event on is a group of snobs, true to the typical Berkeley crowd. Good enough for Berkeley. Just not good enough for any other city. They pick and choose products for their show based on personal likes and not on what would be in the best interest of the customers who attend the event. Bottom line is there are plenty of other events you can attend during the sam weekend every year. If you want to hob-nob with the yuppie crowd, this event is for you. If you are like the rest of us normal folks, STAY AWAY!! read more

Excellent little park tucked into a neighborhood that hosts loads of little events - I particularly enjoyed the Himalayan Festival last time I was here. Fair set up can leave things feeling a big congested - loads of trees increase competition for sunny spots to sit. Charming little urban park! read more

There is so much to offer from this park! Beautiful tall trees surround a lush green lawn where visitors play frisbee, picnic, and play. Next to the lawn is a short pathway leading to a small creek with stepping stones. Often you will find children playing in the creek and a musician might be playing his or her guitar softly nearby. There is a set of two picnic tables and a grill nearby for small gatherings just east of the creek. A wooden bridge takes visitors across the creek and up some stairs to a recreation center, tennis court, basket ball court, tot lot and school-age play areas. The tot lot is fenced and both play areas have an age appropriate play structure as well as swings (after all, what good is a playground without swings?). For a virtual tour of this park, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjUNdB3Nn-s&t=1s to see more! read more

This is my favorite park in Berkeley! I like it best when it's early in the morning and the sun is coming through those huge trees- just filtering through the leaves and hitting off the surface of the creek. So romantic. Has to be early in the morning, otherwise the sun is overhead and you don't get that Disney movie-esque singing. And also it's pretty crowded on a nice afternoon. Weekday mornings: not a soul in sight. There's also benches and sweet graffiti. read more

What a beautiful park.. Small and just perfect to get away from city life. I was there for a very short time but already planing to go and have a nice picnic soon. read more

Live Oak Park is a pretty big (considering it's in a residential neighborhood) park, equipped with basketball, volley ball, and even tennis courts. It's only a few blocks from the Gourmet Ghetto--why eat your Cheese Board pizza on the median (which is against health codes anyway) if you can make a picnic out of it? If you feel like going all out on a picnic spread, they have BBQ grills where you can show off your mad grilling skills. There is a playground for children and playful adults. Even with all these amenities, the atmosphere at the park is pretty chill that you can take a nap in the sun without being disturbed. Live Oak Park also hosts a few different fairs, including one for which it is a namesake. read more

I don't usually review parks, but dang. I've been here many times for festivals or just a quiet day with the kids. It's always fantastic. The kids love to play in the river and the clientele is super diverse (lots of languages, colors and ages). Bonus - it's a Berk park NOT overrun by the homeless. Rare treat! read more

What an adorable park! Quaint green space, a creek, bridge, and a big fireplace you can cook your friends in. Perfecto.

This review is for the tennis courts, of which there are two. The surfaces are excellent, there is some dust/leaves on the end of one court but there is a broom and I did not find it slippery at all. The court play about middle as far as fast/slow. I haven't played there at night but there are 6 lights per court. Also there are wind screens and trees nearby so the breaze does not affect play as much as other locations. Other than the side fences being about 2 feet closer to the sides (these courts are end-to-end with a fence between them) than I would like these are fantastic courts. read more

Lots of good memories going here to attend the annual Himalayan fair, for many years. Only thing is that the place has a lot of ups and downs and as such is not the easiest place to walk around. Its a great place for having a get-together or just walking around. Basketball and tennis courts are also there, which is nice for some recreation, along with a little kids' park. Overall, a peaceful and nice place. read more

This is a great, semi-hidden park in Berkeley. It has a beautiful creek that runs through it, lots of trees, and a large open grass area to play catch or soccer. I believe there are two BBQ picnic areas near the creek that are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. If you want to get one on a weekend, you usually need to get there by 10:30 oe 11:00. There are also some basketball and tennis courts. read more

My husband and I love the parks in Berkeley, we have enjoyed the beauty for many years. We had never tried to reserve a spot for picnic before however and the experience is definitely one for BUYER BEWARE! I booked a spot at the park from noon to 7:30 for $144(not cheap) online on a Sunday, the same day my husband said it's too much let's cancel. So I searched through the online tools with no cancellation option supplied. The next day was a holiday and the office was closed, even so I emailed. At first my request was rejected on the basis that I needed to provide 7 days notice and since I had booked at seven days and there had been a holiday I was at 5 days. After a few phone calls the problem was resolved. So I monitored my bank account to look for a reversal of the charges, no luck. I called and I was told that the City of Berkeley does not do that and that they will send a check with a 25% administrative fee. Lesson DO NOT BOOK BERKELEY PARKS unless you absolutely mean it! read more

this park is really wonderful. every year they have a Himalayan fair with many booths filled with art, jewelry and delicious food. this park has tons of green grass, a stone bridge and enchanting ivy. it also has beautiful trees, bbq pits and pic nic tables. read more

located around various family friendly places such as the playground, community center(you can find activities for kids). offers relaxing atmosphere that's why you can see people meditating. read more