Callister is a nice park but fairly generic, the type we’ve mentioned a few times, with basic amenities but small design touches that elevate it.

So let’s do some more history time, because Callister has plenty.

Originally just a few acres of land owned by the Callister family, it was turned into a sports field by local promoter Con Jones — best known for his local cigar store empire — in 1912. Over the years, the field’s ownership transferred from Jones, back to the Callister family, and to the City of Vancouver, with a few jurisdictional skirmishes between the park board, city and PNE over the years.

The arena was home to soccer, baseball, rodeo, even demolition derby. It was the type of place less remembered for its architecture or design, and more for the fact it could hold all sorts of events and all sorts of memories for two generations of the city.

By the time it was destroyed in 1971, it had been in deteriorating condition for decades, eulogized by Vancouver Sun writer Denny Boyd as “a place of sweat and controversy, of athletic achievement and political bickering. It was burned down, plowed up, returfed and damned.”

Now it’s a perfectly acceptable park. There’s a small forest in the middle that little ones can explore, an older playground in a bowl shape, lots of benches and trees and green space, ideal for either light sports or chill hangs. Renfrew Street can get busy, but the park is deep enough and there’s enough trees that it fits in comfortably with the rest of the neighbourhood

Not bad for a place with plenty of history that bellies its modest stature today.

Established in 1930, Glen is one of the older parks in Vancouver, but one without much fanfare — no newspaper notices when it opened, few amenities or upgrades in its history, just a quiet park with a playground and a basketball court in the middle of an east side neighbourhood. 

The playground has a lot going for it though: a large sandy area with multiple slides, separate play structures for different ages, and a zip line. And the park is right next to the street, but the classic Vancouver motif of large trees overhanging a quiet neighbourhood street gives extra character and serenity to the area. The field is dotted by a number of tall trees, ideal for quiet contemplation or hide and seek, giving it a feel far from the big city. 

A blessing for any neighbourhood, really.

(cracks knuckles, flexes elbows) 

Here’s the Fun Story About Dude Chilling Park That Shows Just How Cool We Are: a local artist put up a deepfake sign for the park — which is actually called Guelph — that said “Dude Chilling” in 2012, referencing the park’s charming art piece, a wooden reclining figure.

The park board took it down, because that’s what bureaucratic bodies do when regulations are broken, but the people signed petitions, and the board voted to install a new version of the sign, and there was much rejoicing and online virality. 

Now it’s commonly called Dude Chilling Park, and fits completely with the ethos of a hipster East Van park, where 30somethings can let their dog roam off-leash, or share a couple beverages with friends — both activities technically banned, but after all, the dude abides.  

It’s a fun story! You can tell your friends from out of town about it, and it makes our city look silly but ultimately responsive to public demands!

(it’s also another story about a political party that ran vancouver for a decade which was very responsive to things that made millennials excited, and then very unresponsive for years when home prices started exploding beyond the reach of those millennials, but that’s another story!)

In the midst of all of Vancouver’s treasures at the water’s edge, Renfrew Ravine is a nice inland surprise. 

A large natural gorge that stretches seven whole blocks just north of the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station, the park is essentially a series of trails down to Still Creek, along with a long flat walking trail along the eastern perimeter filled with interesting art. 

How much you enjoy the park depends on a couple of things: some of the trails are quite manufactured and accessible (mostly on the north end), while some are steep and scrambly (mostly on the south end), but there’s no signage to help people determine which is best for them. And while the bottom of the park is a peaceful oasis, there’s a bit too much garbage and other assorted paraphernalia around for some people’s enjoyment.  

It’s hard to fault a large nature area too much though, and in 2020 Renfrew Ravine is a wonderful thing to have right in the middle of a metropolis.

Another big fields-and-playground-and washroom park taking up several city blocks, Carnarvon has a few interesting elements to raise it above the pack a bit.

One is the weird old-timey fitness course, a collection of equipment that looks like it hasn’t been upgraded in decades, but seems usable for basic chin-ups or whatever it is one does on a balancing beam. Another is a pair of excellent play structures between the fields and the school, one with rubber turf and ramps and plenty of climbing equipment for all ages. And the baseball fields are popular, with just the right amount of space in between each of them.

Factor in a decent amount of trees providing cover in the summer, and you’ve got a park with a lot of different elements that work for a lot of different groups.

#83: Sparwood Park

“Pleasant arrangement of doggos, puppers and the occasional woofer.”

#3 in Killarney

6998 Arlington Street

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For Kids

B+

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For Adults

C

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Design

B-

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Atmosphere

B-

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Final Score

_^26.29

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Champlain Heights feels a world away from the rest of Vancouver: the winding planned community of cul de sacs and mixed-use housing remind one of a suburban town more than our usual grid and numbered avenue neighbourhoods.  

Lodged between three other parks and a school, Sparwood is never going to be a destination unto itself, which means local residents will get to appreciate its charms all to themselves: the excellent little forest that almost feels like a natural campground, the space for dogs to frolic off leash, the way the park snakes around the elementary school, the solid field and adjacent school playground (which has a mini rock climbing apparatus and a long sloping slide). 

A number of walking and bike paths intersect the park, allowing folks to travel through on their way somewhere else — though one imagines most people in the neighbourhood are quite happy to stay in the area.

#82: China Creek South Park

“Pretty awesome if you love what’s left of North America’s oldest skatepark!”

#6 in Mount Pleasant

1255 East 10th Avenue

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For Kids

B+

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For Adults

B-

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Design

C+

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Atmosphere

C+

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Final Score

_^26.44

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More than anything, China Creek South is known for its skateboard bowls.

Opened in 1979, the pair right in the middle of the park look fairly generic today, but were the first in the city to be installed and the third public ones in all of Canada, the other two built on the North Shore the previous two years.

As such, it became a hub for the culture through thick and thin, being saved several times from proposed removal, including in 2006 when a park board planner said “the residents … are saying the noise is not acceptable anymore.”

Depressing as that sentence may be, the bowls were saved and an additional playground was installed. Today the park is quite lovely for everyone, with a little community garden, lots of gentle slopes and trails, with noise from Clark Drive and the lack of a real sense of purpose to its eastern half the only real drawbacks. 

Not a bad legacy, for something that started as a $35,000 investment on an old dump site. 

#81: Rupert Park

“Golf ball almost hit my head.”

#6 in Hastings-Sunrise

1600 Rupert Street

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For Kids

C+

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For Adults

B+

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Design

C

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Atmosphere

B

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Final Score

_^26.45

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How much you enjoy Rupert Park probably depends a decent amount on how much you enjoy pitch and putt golf. 

Vancouver has three such courses (the other two are in Queen Elizabeth and Stanley Park), where every hole can be played with three clubs at most, and a round can be enjoyed for less than $20 in around two hours. 

And of the three pitch and putt courses in Vancouver parks, Rupert is the best: a nice mix of straight forward shots for beginners, and tricky hits over water and through narrow tree openings to tiny greens, with slopes on the edges of most of them that repel mediocre shots away. Add in the fact that it’s not nearly as crowded as Queen E or Stanley, and it’s an excellent value. 

The rest of the park is fine. There’s a baseball diamond, a few tennis courts, a pretty good playground with plenty of slides and ways for kids to scurry up and down depending on their age, and a walking trail. 

For a big park designed in the 1970s to give a large green space for the city’s northeast section, it’s fairly pedestrian and somewhat underused outside the golf course — the creepy tunnel connecting the park to the abandoned parking the only real quirk, for better or worse. 

Come with a nine-iron and a sense of patience for a good walk spoiled, and Rupert is a solid par, perhaps even a birdie.