About one quarter of Vancouver’s parks (62, if we’re being specific), are what we called “medium mixed-use parks”: places between .4 and 3 hectares in size, and with at least a playground or an extra amenity beyond a basic field. 

In other words, the backbone of the city’s system: neighbourhood parks that provide a few things, but aren’t giant tourist attractions or big destinations for soccer or baseball games. 

We’ve got seven of them in a row coming up, which sort of makes sense: few of these types of parks are amazing (only three of them crack our top 20), and plenty of them are probably interchangeable, serving the needs of the community without being an attraction unto themselves. 

Cambie (at 54th and, er, Cambie) is certainly one of them — there’s a perfectly acceptable community playground, a spartan playground, and gentle slopes along the edges. The impressive thing about the park is you barely hear all the noise from the street with the same name, owing to the very tall redwood trees blocking out the noise, making it the sort of park that you need to know about in order to seek out. 

Could it use some upgrades? Absolutely. A lot of the parks in this area could stand for a washroom, or a more expansive playground, or a few more tables or covered areas to help provide a more community feel.

Don’t discount what they currently give though. A park like Cambie is well-used, and well-liked, if not necessarily loved.