St. Mary’s Park and Dog Park

St Mary is a staple can’t go wrong with the history and nostalgia of this place.
The gymnasium was well known as one of the best places for pick up basketball in the 80s and 90s. Now what you can find is young neighborhood kids playing and refining their game on the court.
The park is pretty open and clean however, I would definitely keep my head on the swivel at night though.

Came here while visiting to let my husky run around.
Parking was hard. We parked in the neighborhood behind the park. Unless there is a parking lot somewhere else, we couldn’t find it.
They have a big grassy area, a kids play area, and a dog area. Its medium sized and gated off. Lots of little dogs playing and all well behaved. There are benches and tables to sit and relax while your dogs can run around and enjoy themselves.
There is a watering area for the dogs, a path to walk around the grassy dog area, and lots of tennis balls left by awesome dog owners incase you don’t have any.

This was our first time taking our newly adopted dog to the dog park! It was a good experience even if our new pup didn’t play a lot with the other dogs.
I really like that there is a double gate at the entrance to the dog area and the whole dog park is fenced in. There are a couple gates where really tiny dogs might be able to squeeze through but it wasn’t a problem for us.
It was a great place for our dog to run free instead of being stuck on a leash.

This park is my favorite park because it has things all dog parks need: grass, water fountain, benches, trees and the occasional squirrel!
This park is a comfortable size, a bit small but it does the job. I enjoy the sidewalk that loops around the park and that there’s bark and wood chips along the entire perimeter of the park because dogs tend to poop there instead of in the grass! One less turd to watch out for.
The grass is generally maintained, lately a lot more digging and it’s growing a bit sparse, but some real grass beats lots of fake turf in my book any day. The dog park in Foster City is just a green toilet IMO. There’s definitely a smell here at St. Mary’s but it’s only around the entrance where the trash cans are and where most dogs mark when they walk in.
The benches are great! It allows me to spend more time at the park and my dogs are definitely happy about that! Because they’re smaller, I don’t walk them before coming here so that they have more energy to play with their friends!
There is one lady here though that brings her Rott/​German Shep one year old puppy named Chopper here (around 2−4pm I believe, only encountered her once on a Wednesday) and she does NOT walk him before coming here. He’s a great dog but full of puppy energy and harasses small dogs. Poor dog parenting that’s going to get him hurt if she doesn’t do a better job. He kept trying to play with all the small dogs there which was about 7 at the time and they were not having it. I asked her to leash her dog and she refused and started dragging him away with his pinch collar HAHAHAHA. Like I guess? Anyways, back to the topic.
Other than that one bad encounter, the people here are really nice! The party is normally here around 11am and around 4pm. Anything in between that time is kind of empty or senior citizen (sorry not sorry!)
Really love coming to this park, because sometimes if you get all the right dogs here, you can have a great dog run just doing laps around the place!

Went here for the first time last night to play some soccer through MeetUp. I was surprised that it was actually a pretty decent park. Here’s the gist of it:
1. Easy parking — It’s located in a residential neighborhood and street parking is easy to find especially around 6:30 PM
2. The main entrance is easy to find and is right in front of a gymnasium
3. Nice, clean and spacious field
4. Feels pretty safe to be around, especially if you’re not familiar with the area (i.e. it isn’t ‘seedy’ park)

It’s double fenced, great grass area, lots of seating.
but currently closed til the beginning of March due to renovations. And parking can be a bit difficult.
I’ll definitely be back when they reopen!

The park itself is very nice and is on three different levels. The park on top is a huge open space with a baseball diamond on one end. Lots of people also take their dogs here to play fetch. There’s also indoor basketball courts, which I assumed is closed to the public. However, last I heard it was open to the public on Wednesdays for open gym.
The kids playground is one level down, huge and looks like it must have gotten redone recently. Lots of fun things for kids to play on. There are also two tennis courts with 1 basketball court next to the kids area. I’ve never seen the tennis or basketball courts busy.
There’s also a medium-​sized gated dog park at the very bottom of St. Mary’s Park. It’s definitely much smaller than Douglass park (another dog park my pup loves), but there is enough space for the dogs to romp. 80% of it is grassy, and there’s a walkway around that grass so that the humans can keep their feet clean. All in all, the people here seem pretty responsible dog owners, and the park is well kept. The drinking fountains drain very well (unlike upper douglass), so you pup will always have clean water. I do with that there were some lights in the park, because once dusk comes, it gets very dark very fast.

I really like this place but there are some things that bothered me.
Let’s start with the great.
Love dog area is fenced and there are two gates to ensure safety. YES?! HELL YES?!
It’s spacious, enough for many people to be there.
Parking was easy.
The okay:
I was confused initially on where it was exactly located. But, now that I know where it’s at, it’s amazing.
The bad:
Not even really the location, but the other guests there.
Why:
My dog is in training, he’s recently picked up a bad habit and I am training him to get rid of this bad habit.
My dog along with his buddy for that day sniffed each other out and barked and it was cool. They didn’t really want to chase each other, they were interested in other dogs. Then, this gal and gentlemen come with their dog that seemed very timid. Her dog comes up to mine, he sniffs, he barks, and I was walking towards him to pick him up and remove him from «the fun» because of the excessive barking. The owner of my dogs buddy also was getting ready to do the same. Then, the timid dog really stood still and her owner made comments in an obnoxious loud way, where she stretched out words like, «awww. what’s wroooonggggg? You neeeeeeeeevvvveeeeeer act this way» in a manner that we could hear even though we were standing about an arms length away. The gentlemen who came with her just gave those big «yeah, I know» eyes. That just set a weird tone and seconds after, she says to him in a really mumbled rude tone, «my dog just doesn’t do well with dogs that constantly bark».
I was sort’ve shocked, the other dog owners were a bit taken back and we didn’t want to be «THAT PERSON» who just set her straight and say, «listen up, we’re training our dogs not to and THAT’S WHY we went to pick them up and remove them». But we let it be. She ended up moving kind of far with her dog, thank god… and other people entered the park. Our dogs stopped barking but we were already kind of upset.
I don’t want to justify neither dogs excessive barking but… I read something that made me chuckle when researching tips for dogs barking at parks.
«Telling a dog not to bark at a dog park is like telling a man in a bar not to hit on a woman» LOL.
Just some good humor.
I am for dogs breaking bad habits and learning how to train to do so. So bare with us… HATERS!!!

Love this place! Ample parking, huge fenced in area with real grass and a walking path for people. The dog area is not separated for large/​small dogs but very well maintained and friendly dog owners as well. Definitely planning to bring the pooch back again for some run and play time!

Nice grass! My Westie Yayo loves it here!
Fences and double gated!
They are always cleaning or servicing this park every few weeks or so.
I just wish it was closer to my house! It is a pretty far drive! But good parking!
It is right next to St. Mary’s Recreation Center so there are plenty of activities to do for humans too!

For the amount of space there is for running, for the GRASS that the dogs love and not that nasty dry litter box material most dog parks have, this is by far my favorite dog park. The owners who bring their dogs over are responsible and kind. It’s a great environment for all parties involved.

Really lovely. Friendly canines and humans. I just wish it were closer to where I live.

If you’re looking for a dog park around the Outer Mission, this is a great park to stop by. Various dog owners and dog walkers stop by so your dogs can socialize easily. The dog area is completely fenced and there are benches around the perimeter.
Getting here can be quite tough if it’s your first time coming here or if you’re not use to this neighborhood. The streets surrounding here are really narrow and the dig area is all the way down the hill.
Luckily, there’s plenty of street parking before everyone comes home from work and there’s even disabled parking inside the park itself.

I’ve been bringing my dog here for a while and we love this park! It’s fenced with real grass and always friendly for my dog to chase around with. This park is pretty big with lots of running room for the dogs. They also offer shaded benches, tables and water fountain. I’ve actually seen people had a mini picnic inside the park for their dog’s birthday!
I’ve never came across any aggressive dogs here and the owners pick up after their fur babies. If you come around noon time, there are dog walkers who brings dogs here to run around.
I’ve been reading people saying this park is closed all winter and rainy days, which is a bummer… but that won’t stop us from coming here until then!

I’ve debated how to rate this place for a while now… here’s the issue: when it’s open, it’s the best fenced-​in dog park in SF. Looks really nice, real grass, excellent parking options, water for the dogs, and — most importantly — consistently very nice dogs and dog owners (very easy for both you and your dog to make friends!).
But the «when it’s open» is probably the most important phrase in the above paragraph. It’s closed all winter, and it closes every time it rains, remaining closed for several days after the rain stops. They built this place at the bottom of the hill, so water collects and takes a long time to drain, and they don’t let the dogs back in until it does. Also, it’s closed every Friday until 2 pm for fertilizing.
Sometimes I feel the rec department cares more about keeping the grass looking nice (which it does) than letting the dogs play. I understand the balance here: if they just let the grass get completely destroyed then pretty soon it wouldn’t be any better than the other enclosed dog parks (cough cough dust bowls) in SF. But on the other hand, St. Mary’s has separate ball fields and playgrounds (also very nice), so does it really matter so much if the grass in the DOG PARK gets a little destroyed after the rain? I mean, it’s a dog park, not the White House Rose Garden!
So I’m giving it 5 stars because that’s what it deserves when it’s open, but it’s a major drag to show up 3 days after the rain has stopped and find it still closed.

As far as dog parks go this is a good one. Just like all dog parks some people don’t pick up or open both gate letting dogs out! Kids walk by and open the gates. So just be on gaurd and help by picking up unattended poop even if it is not yours.
Love the space, grassy area and paved path to walk around on!
I found a parking close by no problem.
My Dog loves it!

This review is for the dog park only. It’s located at the lowest part of the park, down the hill from the playground and gymnasium.
There is a decent-​sized central area of grass for the dogs to run around on, some benches for the humans, and a water fountain inside the dog park area. There is some limited shade available from trees around the edges of the grass.
Beware — there are some foxtails scattered mostly around the edges of the park.
Minus 1 star for several groups of shady-​looking people walking by. Good thing I had my menacing poodle there to protect me! (hah!)

This review is for the playground portion only.
I hear it was remodeled about a year ago. You can definitely tell! No disturbing pieces of tanbark in your shoes. The whole place is covered in cork! Thumbs up!
The park was clean and really looks on the newer side. There’s a rather large play structure in the middle that goes almost the whole length of the park. Several slides and swings for kids of different ages, lots things for the kids to climb on, jump over, twirl, etc. There’s even a small «rock climbing» wall.
It’s a wonderful neighborhood park!
The only thing this place doesn’t have are restrooms? (Unless it was located somewhere else in the park.) I was afraid one of my kids was going to have to use the bathroom, but we dodged that bullet. Whew!

We love our neighborhood dog park because Sasha is much better off leash than on. Love that there’s grass instead of gravel or wood chips. I’m sure it’s not as easy to maintain. They fertilize it every Friday morning, so the dogs go crazy the rest of the day. I have to remember to bring a ball though — she’s a little ball hog and keeps stealing others’ when she’s on high-​energy mode.
Watch your step as there’s a chihuahua that shimmies its way through the side of the gate on his own. He does what he pleases, and it doesn’t appear that his owners care to clean up after him. :/

This is my favorite dog park in and around the city so far. However, keep in mind that in the time between around 11−3ish is when the dog walkers show up with their huge pack of dogs. A lady I was talking to who had just brought her own dog there like me mentioned that a few days ago she had counted something like 44 dogs at this park. Wow that’s too many for this place.
Coming around 5pm and on into the evening you will see the regulars and no dog walkers. The regulars are all friendly people. I showed up once to the dog park a little early and encountered a lady on the «snooty» side, but I haven’t seen her since.
As for Tina P.‘s issue with the freeway, to be honest I don’t really notice that it is actually so close to the freeway. What I do notice is the constant wind chill! Bring a good jacket; better yet a warm hat!
For anyone who may be coming to this park on a regular basis, there is a Yahoo! Group for St. Mary’s Dog Park (
) where people post updates about closures due to rain or maintenance and other useful information.