Happy Thursday, Beach & Bay!
After years of waiting, Pacific Beach’s playgrounds are finally open once again. The playgrounds at Fanuel Street Park and Crown Point Park spent close to two years fenced off and empty, leaving children and parents with little to occupy them along the bay. Now both sites are reopened, allowing residents to get the most out of summer play.
The two playground sites took very different journeys. In August 2024, the city pulled Fanuel Park’s old play structure after discovering bad corrosion from king tides. Local resident Dan Smith of Zoom Recreation partnered with the San Diego Parks Foundation to fund a replacement, as a means of getting around the city’s long waiting periods. They collected nearly $200k in donations to build a new play structure and Zoom Recreation installed it for free. On an evening walk last weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to find the new play structure fully unveiled.
The playground at Crown Point Park was a venture from the City of San Diego’s Mission Bay Park Improvement Fund. This project came with a $5.5 million budget for the new playground and renovations to the accompanying parking lot. The funds for this project came from Mission Bay lease revenue, earmarked for upkeep and habitat restoration within Mission Bay. Construction started in March 2025 and appears to be completely done, though certain areas will remain fenced while new sod takes root.
Both playgrounds were rebuilt with inclusive equipment, so kids of all physical and sensory abilities can play together on the same structures rather than in separate accessible sections. Now that the new structures are in place, it’s like a piece of our community has been restored.
Ashlyn Lipori-Russie
Beach & Bay Press newsletter host
Beach & Bay story spotlight
What’s in a name? The Tourmaliners lift spirits through surf music, but needed a little push to get there
By Donovan Roche • Special to Times of San Diego
The Tourmaliners, out of PB, play Friday at the Tiki Oasis fest. Their new single, “El Gato,” dropped July 19 and an album is coming in September.
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