I am a fan of Santa Rita skatepark (Albert M Gallego Skatepark) that's located here despite how sketchy the surrounding area is. I would rate the skatepark itself a 4-star but I am giving it a 3-star because I'm taking into consideration the surrounding park area. As a note, I've never used any of the other features at this park aside from the skatepark.
The people and the vibe in the skatepark here is always very friendly. Mostly an adult crowd who are super chill and polite. They welcome all skaters as long as you're polite right back. They just want to support people trying to work on their craft, it's really awesome. This is the skatepark you go to if you want to avoid accidentally running over some younger kids. Since it's not really the safest area, you don't get a lot of little ones here that you have to worry about. I continue to come back here because of the skate community here.
Onto the negatives. There are lots of homeless people around and sketchy figures around. It's not bad enough to completely stop me from coming here, but as a female I, unfortunately, have to take some precautions when going to this skatepark so I'll share those here.
First, I never go here alone. I always make sure to go with or meet up with someone and I wait in my car until they get there. I have a female friend who goes here alone, but will only skate if there are other people in the skatepark as well. If there is no one in the skatepark, she will leave. Second, I never use the bathrooms here. They aren't maintained well anyways, but it has been implied to me that sketchy figures tend to hide in the bathroom doing not-so-legal things. The skatepark itself is gated off from the rest of the park so inside the park I feel fairly safe but the third thing I do is I never leave my personal belongings in arms reach of the outer perimeter of the skatepark fence. I've heard stories of people who left their bags near the fence and gotten their phones or other things stolen by people who reach through from the outside and take off.
I know this all makes it seem like a pretty sketchy place, but clearly the skatepark must be worth it if I keep coming back! read more