Check Out SF’s Amazing New Chinatown Playground
Newly Renovated Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground and Clubhouse Opens in Time for Lunar New Year
Friday, February 12, 2021
New open space in Chinatown will provide safe, clean place for kids and their families to play, and newly renovated clubhouse will operate as a Community Hub in March
Mayor London N. Breed today announced the opening of the Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground—a center for community engagement and recreation for all ages in the heart of Chinatown. The playground recently completed a top-to-bottom renovation that includes an expanded children’s play area, new clubhouse featuring public art, and improved access to the park. In March, the City will open a new Community Hub at the clubhouse, which will provide approximately 12 students with in-person support for distance learning, healthy meals and snacks, and recreation opportunities.
What’s New About the Park?
The playground, serving families in one of San Francisco’s densest and most culturally celebrated neighborhoods, now features custom designed play equipment inspired by Chinese mythology. A huge, climbable water dragon sculpture wraps itself around a two-level tower and slide. A fiery phoenix sculpture bridges the separate zones for tots and school age children.
The reimagined half-acre park features new bridges and pathways that connect into a cohesive design. Renovated sport courts accommodate basketball, badminton, volleyball and pickleball players. A new plaza with fitness equipment and resilient surfacing opens to the newly improved Hang Ah Alley. The property also includes new landscaping, irrigation and stormwater infrastructure.
The clubhouse and its rooftop athletic court have been renovated as well. The clubhouse now includes a large multi-purpose room with bleacher seating, kitchenette, elevator, expanded bathrooms, office space, and storage. Each feature of the park is connected and ADA-accessible, with improved lighting and pavement.
The $14.5 million renovation was funded in part through the 2012 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond. Funding also included $4.5 million from the Downtown Park Fund, established in 1985 to collect fees from commercial developers in the downtown area. Additional funding was provided through the City’s Open Space Fund.
Community Youth Center (CYC), which encourages high-need young people to explore their full potential through academic, career, family, and community life, will provide a Community Hub in the clubhouse starting in March. In September, San Francisco created the Community Hubs Initiative to provide in-person support for distance learning and out of school time activities for San Francisco’s highest needs children and youth. Since then, the program has served 2,000 students at 80 locations throughout the city. The new Hub will serve 12 middle and high school students, with a focus on those who live in public housing and SROs, as well as English language learners. The playground will remain open to the public while the Hub is in session.
New Mural
“Maiden’s Dress,” a mural by San Francisco artist Julie Chang, stretches across an interior wall of the clubhouse. Inspired by both classic Chinese iconography and San Francisco Chinatown’s rich cultural heritage, Chang consulted with Chieh Tzu Yuan Hua Chuan, or The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, as she illustrated the Maiden’s Dress peony—signifying abundance and honor. The grid pattern of the concrete blocks is painted with traditional design elements—a red knot symbolizing good fortune, the green bamboo lines signifying integrity and resilience. All these intersecting moments reveal more intimate patterns and shapes, weaving together the existing historical site with the newly renovated center.
The redesign of the park and clubhouse was shaped by the Chinatown community. The culturally nuanced outreach was carried out in English, Mandarin and Cantonese and included surveys, meetings with community leaders, and focus groups of seniors, teens, and daycare providers.
Working with the Chinatown Community Development Center, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department organized neighborhood organizations and introduced members of the public to the plan, inviting them to provide critical feedback that influenced the final design. Additionally project advocacy was provided by the Committee for Better Parks and Recreation in Chinatown; CYC; local daycares including Kai Ming Head Start, Wu Yee Family Center and True Sunshine; the Chinese Culture Center, Chinatown YMCA, and San Francisco Recreation and Park Commissioner Allan Low.
The Recreation and Park Department project was also made possible by numerous other city departments, including the Arts Commission, Planning, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and the Public Utilities Commission.
San Francisco Public Works provided environmental services as well as construction management for the project. The construction team included CLW Builders Inc. and Cal Pacific Carpentry. The design team was led by CMG Landscape Architecture and included Jensen Architects, InterEthnica, Urban Design Consulting Engineers, Pivot Structural Engineering, HRA Consulting Engineers, McGinnis Chen Associates, Inc. and M Lee Corporation.
Who was Willie “Woo Woo” Wong?
Formerly called Chinese Playground, the park opened in 1927 with swings, slides and sport courts. Its last major renovation was finished in 1980. In 2006, it was renamed to honor Willie Wong, a Chinese American basketball star who played at the University of San Francisco from 1948-50. Wong earned his nickname due to crowds shouting “Woo! Woo!” every time he scored.
