Dug S.
Yelp
There's basketball courts, soccer fields, swings and playground, and shelters, all central to the neighborhood, one block from Depot Town, and across from Adams Elementary School. And inexplicably, there's also an old cannon.
But what really matters is the DIY skatepark, built in an unused tennis court Burnside-style, asking forgiveness vs. permission (does any tennis court ever actually get used anyway?). It's a mix of rough concrete over cinder block and wood forms, interspersed with a bunch of other wooden boxes, benches, bars, banked walls, etc. It's got a giant crack running through the middle of the flatground, and the metal edging that serves as coping on all the boxes and paved ramps/quarter pipes is sharp and sticky. There's a crazy pink pump bump that barely meets the ground. Extra plywood and cinder blocks strewn by the edges. Parking blocks set atop an irregular spine, and an almost-smooth bank/quarter (a lot of the transitions here are to be found nowhere else).
It's punk as fuck, and totally gnarly. The park might be free, but the price of admission is blood. Be prepared for a burly street session, trying not to constantly eat shit. I love our smooth-as-butter skatepark in Ann Arbor, but I also love this brutally-hardcore Ypsi setup. Hurts so good!
