Lake Merritt

Category: Parks

from a yelp.com review... Lake Merritt is known as the jewel of Oakland,and that name is very fitting. The lake is a wonderful place to walk, jog, take the kids (whether it be to the playgrounds or to Children's Fairyland), or just enjoy the beauty of Oakland (if you chuckled or scoffed at that last one, that just means that you haven't been to Oakland, or at least you haven't gotten off of BART or the freeway when you passed through). I can't think of another city that has a lake such as this right next to downtown. And of course it is surrounded on three sides by residential neighborhoods for which it provides a welcome green oasis of recreation and relaxation. While I'm giving it 5-stars, that doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement. The lake and the park are looking a little run down because it's so popular, however the citizenry of Oakland recently passed a multi-million dollar bond ($30 mil if my memory serves me correct) that will be used to improve the conditions around the lake as well as throughout the city in the form of much needed new and rehabilitated parks.