Brighton Playfield, Brighton

Happy Vernal Equinox 2011 to you all! Spring is finally here! It's been a very wet, miserable winter here in Seattle, so it was nice to enjoy some swinging in the sun today. I bring you today the TWO (¡2!) swingsets of Brighton Playfield.

Location: 39th Ave S and S Juneau St
Number of swings: 2 regular/2 baby buckets, and 4 regular/1 baby bucket/1 baby seat
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Medium and Medium-long.


As I've said before, South Seattle is a mecca of playgrounds with swings. Brighton Playground has 2 swingsets, one near the entrance of the main playground with 2 regular swings/2 baby buckets and another older set a little away with 4 regular swings and 1 each of the baby styles. This older set is my preferred set of the 2, as the chains are longer, there's a nostalgic creaking of the old swingset, and it seems like it would be the less busy of the two. But who knows, I imagine this is a popular park on some days.


Children are invited to play the "Paleontology Game" posted at this playground, which involves looking for pictures of fossils, as seems to be the theme of the park. This is similar to the posted "Hot Lava Game" from Cascade Playground.

How to get there: Bus route 8 stops nearby on MLK, route 7 on Rainier.

Othello Playground, Brighton

Othello Playground is located in one of those gems of parks in Seattle. We are so lucky to have so many quality green spaces.

Location: S Othello St. & 45th Ave S
Number of swings: 4 regular, 2 baby
Ground material: Wood
Chain length: Long.


Standard good all-around swings. The chains are thicker than other chains in Seattle. I had a really enjoyable time swinging here back when it was sunny here in Seattle. Look at this great swingset as you shield yourself from today's cold. Let it warm you.

How to get there:

South Park Playground, South Park

Sorry it took me 1.5 months to make a post, the only post from June 2010. The sun is shining in Seattle these days, and many parks will be soon visited. Today I was one of the last to drive across the South Park Bridge. (It closes as of 7pm today) Of course, I stopped by for a swing.

Location: 738 S Sullivan St.
Number of swings: 4 regular, 2 baby buckets
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Long


Good, classic swings. Pretty fish and world map painted on the concrete in the playground to peer at while swinging high. More sentence fragments. Even though the South Park Bridge is closed now, you should make the trek down to South Park. There are other bridges.

How to get there: Bus routes 60 and 131 run along Cloverdale St. and the 132 runs along 8th Ave S.

Lakewood Playground, Columbia City

Lakewood Playground is tucked away in a residential part of Columbia City, before you fly down the hill into Seward Park. It's one of the older-style playgrounds in Seattle; I'm sure a previous generation once enjoyed these swings.

Location: 5013 S Angeline St.
Number of swings: 2 regular, 2 baby
Ground material: Wood
Chain length: Long.


Seats are low to the ground, but when combined with the long chains, it makes for a nice SWOOP. Oh, the joy. And so continues my love affair with Columbia City.

How to get there: Bus routes 34 and 39 run along 50th.

Lakeridge Playground, Rainier Beach

Lakeridge Park, last park in the Seattle city limits before you're in *gasp* Renton. I felt like I was far, far away from home when I rode my bicycle all the way down Rainier on this day. It's quite nice down there, despite being so close to *gasp* Renton.

Location: 10145 Rainier Ave. S
Number of swings: 2 regular, 2 baby
Ground material: Sand
Chain length: Medium short.


Not the classiest, prettiest park, but oh lordy, what a nice lake view. Check it out.

How to get there: Take the 7 all the way to the end. Get off along 64th, perhaps Ryan St. That's as close as you're going to get on a bus.

Beer Sheva Park, Rainier Beach

Beer Sheva Park, known as Atlantic City Park prior to 1978, is in Rainier Beach between Rainier Beach High School and Lake Washington. It is one of the many parks in Seattle named after Seattle sister cities, in this case Beer Sheva, Israel. Other sister cities with parks in Seattle: Kobe, Japan; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and perhaps Perugia, Italy, if they do decide to name the new Park at Summit & John after the city of Amanda Knox fame. Sister city parks may deserve a post of their own some day.

Location: 55th Ave S & S Cloverdale St.
Number of swings: 2 sets: 2 regular/2 baby, 3 regular/1 baby seat/2 baby buckets.
Ground material: Sand and Wood.
Chain length: Short/Medium short.


Good park. Expansive grass. Two swingsets, each with different ground material, so you can get a more comprehensive swinging experience.


Note that this second swing set is obviously the better of the two. Its chains have rubber grips, the chains are slightly longer, and the seats are the more comfortable style.

How to get there: Bus route #34 runs along nearby Seward Park Ave S.

Rainier Beach Playfield, Rainier Beach

Rainier Beach Playfield = swing jackpot. I was on a little bike excursion down through Rainier Beach recently, and after hitting up so many parks, I came across this playfield behind Rainier Beach High School. So. many. swings.

Location: 8802 Rainier Ave S
Number of swings: 12, 2 sets of 6 regular.
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Long.



This park is adjacent to the Rainier Beach Family Center and Dunlap Elementary, so maybe that's why this is such a great playground. Or is it? There are 12 long-chained swings, so that's all I really care about. The swing sets each have about 50% regular seats and 50% the more ergonomic kind (see seat discussion). Note the broken tire swing (may be fixed at some point):


Go to Rainier Beach if you want to get your swing on. Just sayin'.

How to get there: Bus routes #8, 9, 106, 107 stop along Henderson. You can also take LINK Light Rail to Rainier Beach on MLK and walk 2 blocks over.

Rainier Community Center, Columbia City

Rainier Community Center, another park in the park chain of Rainier Playfield (to the north and west), Genesee Park and Genesee Playfield (both to the east).

Location: 4600 38th Ave S.
Number of swings: 4 regular, 2 baby
Ground material: Wood
Chain length: Medium long.


Located behind the community center, in the chain of Columbia City parks I've been blogging about lately, I felt that this park was slightly higher quality than its neighbo(u)rs. It's a relatively new park, in the grand scheme of Seattle parks. Note that there are 2 types of seats:


The rounded-end seats are a little more comfortable/ergonomic (as noted in the post from Beacon Hill Playground).

How to get there: Bus routes #7, 39, 42 all stop a couple blocks away on Rainier.

Rainier Playfield, Columbia City

Happy first day of spring! Vernal Equinox! Nowruz! Come to Rainier Playfield, gateway to a string of parks with swings that will be documented today and in upcoming entries.

Location: Rainier Ave & S Oregon St.
Number of swings: 6 regular, 2 baby
Ground material: Sand, Wood chips
Chain length: Medium long.


Two (2) swingsets, on the corner with 38th! 4 regular swings over a sand pit and a playground with wood chips containing a 2:2 regular:baby set. I like this park, you can follow the trail and come across a few more between Rainier and Lake Washington.

How to get there: Bus routes #7, 39, 42 stop along Rainier. 42 turns on to Oregon and gets you closer to the swings.

Seward Park

Seward Park, located in the neighborhood of the same name, can easily be considered one of the best parks in Seattle. The park contains old-growth forest, lake shoreline and views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier on clear days. And I saw an eagle there during my last visit, so it got me really excited about the place. There are two playgrounds, a lower playground near the park entrance/lake shore and an upper playground in the interior of the park.

Location: 5895 Lake Washington Blvd S
Number of swings: 1 regular, 1 baby seat, 1 baby bucket (lower playground); 4 regular, 2 baby buckets (upper playground).
Ground material: Wood chips at both playgrounds.
Chain length: Medium-long (lower playground); Long (upper playground).


The lower playground is located near the lake shore at the entrance to the park. It's a smaller swingset with only a single regular swing, a baby seat and 2 baby buckets. The baby seat is big enough for an adult to sit in, but it's not quite the same. This part of the park is amazing; there are amazing views of Mt. Rainier and Lake Washington as you swing.



The upper playground has a bigger swing set: 4 regular swings and 2 baby buckets. It's at the top of the hill after you enter the park and go up into the peninsula. It is surrounded by trees and your swinging view is of a grassy clearing and the meandering trail that enters the forested area. The swings are a little low to the ground, but the seats are of the wider variety, giving one a more comfortable swinging experience.

How to get there: Bus route #39 stops at the park entrance.

Pratt Park, First Hill/Yesler

Originally posted on 04 Sept. 2009, I have updated this post with a photo of the awesome water sprinklers, although it's a post-water-shut-off winter photo.

Location: 18th Ave S & E Yesler Way on the Yesler Terrace area outside the Central and International Districts.
Number of swings: 2 regular, 1 baby bucket, 1 baby seat.
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Medium-short.


This place made me a little excited, but not because of the swings. The swings were just ok. Short chains, but good momentum. I actually cut my swinging short here because I got distracted by the water.


There's a little children's water park adjacent to the playground: this horse shoots water, you can swivel to aim it, and you can play with other sprinkler water guns or stand under a shower...!!! This place is probably very fun in the summer during one of those few hot hot days here in Seattle.

How to get there: Bus route #27 stops along Yesler Way in both directions. Route #14 stops nearby along S Jackson St.

Georgetown Playfield, Georgetown

Georgetown is great. It's really isolated from the rest of Seattle, but it's a neighborhood that I enjoy. This swings in this park are very close to the door of Georgetown Liquor Company.

Location: Padilla Pl S & S Homer St in Georgetown
Number of swings: 2 baby seats, 2 regular, 2 baby buckets
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Short. Maybe medium-short.


These are fun swings. Short chains, but it's a great location to swing. There's nothing but sounds of I-5 and the trains. Aaah, Georgetown.

How to get there: #131 Bus stops along Airport Way. So does #134. #60 Bus stops along nearby Bailey St.

Maplewood Playfield, Beacon Hill

Here are some nice swings tucked away next to I-5 on Beacon Hill, pretty near to Georgetown.

Location: Corson Ave S & S Snoqualmie St. on the southwestern side of Beacon Hill.
Number of swings: 4 regular, 1 baby seat, 1 baby bucket
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Medium-long.


I had an enjoyable time here. There are lots of trees surrounding and a huge grassy hill behind. It's a mostly residential area, but that means you're more likely to swing in peace.

How to get there: Bus route #60 stops along 15th Ave in both directions.

Judkins Playground, Atlantic

According to Wikipedia, the Atlantic neighborhood "is the northernmost neighborhood of the Rainier Valley, between Mount Baker Ridge and Beacon Hill. Atlantic is in turn located in the Central District of east-central Seattle, Washington, though it may also be considered part of South Seattle and the Rainier Valley. Atlantic contains the Judkins Park neighborhood." I'm a geography nerd, so sentences like the previous are like talking dirty to me. Maybe you find it a little dry. But anyway, Judkins Playground has some nice swings!

Location: 23rd Ave S & S Judkins St
Number of swings: 2 regular, 2 baby
Ground material: Wood chips
Chain length: Medium-long. (low to ground)


I really enjoyed these swings, once I was able to get a turn from the children who also enjoyed them immensely. The chains are long, so you can get pretty high, but they are also low to the ground, so sometimes pumping your legs causes some flying wood chips.

I was greeted very nicely by a mom at this playground. It went something like "How are you today?" "I'm good, how are you?" "Very well, thank you." What a nice lady. What a crazy guy to type all this right now, when it's completely irrelevant. I'm kind of awkward when approached sometimes, so her "How are you today?" sent messages into my head like "What you doing at this playground? My children need a safe place to play away from the likes of hoodlums like you!" Actually I think it's pretty obvious I'm one of the least threatening people in the world. There ARE nice people in this world who really just want to greet you on a beautiful, sunny day.

How to get there: Bus route #48 stops along 23rd, #7 and 42 stop along Rainier.