John Hinkel Park

What a lovely park. We came here weekends ago for a birthday party. It was our first time here and we absolutely loved it. The park is gorgeous and has picnic tables and ample places to sit throughout the amphitheater. The playground is neat with cool slides and swings. Kids can also go up the hill for short hikes. It's gorgeous. The only drawback is there is no real toilet but only 1 Porta potty unfortunately. Otherwise we totally enjoyed this experience.

This park has been undergoing major improvements for over five years and it is ready for prime time. Come for a short walk in among the oaks, redwoods, and laurel trees, to let your kids play in the brand new playground, picnic, or be entertained in the ancient amphitheater. The neighborhood is quiet and parking is almost always easy with few restrictions.

A very cool unique hillside park with that is hidden from most non-locals. My friend and I walked through it on our way to another park. Pros: Unique, neighborhood park, small, hidden, amphitheater, water fountains (even for dogs), waterfall after rains, great for meditation, benches, and lots of stairs for stair training.Cons: Not much parking, not the greatest for wheel chairs, no bathrooms, no grass, and no playground equipment.

Incredible event at the Hinkle Park, The Tempest, a welcoming event at the park with the great performers of Gia!!!!!

Beautiful park in a very affluent part of town. Cute little picnic spot where a group of people were celebrating a child's birthday. The little playground was nice but not necessarily built with toddlers in mind. Not even a toddler swing. My main thought was why wasn't a bathroom built there? The city can obviously afford one. But instead there was only a tiny little out-house.

Review for Sept 2022:- we don't live in Berkeley so we don't know how this park was before the renovation - checked out the playground and walking trails with our 5.5 year old daughter - newly renovated playground area as of Spring or Summer 2022- lots of natural logs for the swings, climbing area- extremely small parking lot (maybe 4 spaces?). If you can't get a parking space infront of the playground, drive a block or 2 to find street parking.- port-o-potty was there, no other bathrooms- one water fountain up the hill from the new playground - nice amphitheater; I heard they may do plays there? Not sure.- would go there again if we are in the neighborhood.

** The following review reflects my experience DURING the COVID-19 pandemic. **As I've come to discover in this part of the Berkeley Hills, there are a lot of little nook-and-cranny parks that fit into seemingly inconvenient spaces that usually involve a steep hill to scale. Of all of those parks, this one could be the nookiest or maybe the cranniest because you can tell it was designed with a purpose in mind, and sure enough, I later found out John Hinkel was an early 20th-century philanthropist who bequeathed the area to the city.Passionate about theater and architecture, he decided to build an arts-focused clubhouse and an amphitheater in the middle of the four-acre space. The clubhouse was demolished just a few years ago, but the amphitheater is still here as well as an elevated picnic table area and a playground that's been closed due to the pandemic. Otherwise there's a strong "Swiss Family Robinson" vibe with all the wooden guardrails and hillside staircases. Cute spot if you're in the 'hood.RELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2CbVh8u

I love this hidden jewel of a park. SF Shakes was holding its yearly summer camp there and it is a shady, cool, beautiful place to cultivate creativity.http://sfshakes.org/camp/index.html

After the city forgot about the park for decades leaving it to decay and slowly become more and more dilapidated, the city has finally re-done it. Why is the play ground in the line of sight for the amphitheater? It does not seem like the city really wants the amphitheater to be used for theater anymore. It would be very distracting to see children on the play ground in one's line of sight while watching a play. It's also disappointing the city did not replace the club house that burned down because it was empty because the city had left it to disrepair. The area needs a community gathering place, though I guess climate change might mean the outside park might be warm enough to gather in the summer, something that never used to be possible.

The new playground is really beautiful. Good for a broad range of kids ages. Plus hilly little trails through the woods that are fun to wander through.