With Central Park and Coyote Point Fenced, San Mateo's Playground Season Moves to the Neighborhood Parks

The Japanese Garden in Central Park is still open every afternoon until 4. A short walk away, past the Rose Garden, construction fencing surrounds the spot where the playground used to be. In July the city moved the fence out onto the lawn next to the Fallen Heroes Memorial so crews could repair irrigation and lay sod. On the Bayfront, Coyote Point's Magic Mountain Playground has been closed since mid-September.

So San Mateo's two big destination playgrounds, one run by the city and one by the county, are closed at the same time. For the rest of 2026, the playground that just reopened is a 2.1-acre neighborhood park on 31st Avenue, and the smaller parks near it are where kids can play this fall.

Two Closures, Two Different Clocks

The closures started at different times and are running on different schedules, so it helps to see them together.

The Central Park date takes a little math. The City Council approved the construction contract on March 17, 2025, and it gives the contractor 548 days, roughly 18 months. Counting from the June 2, 2025 start, that lands in early December 2026. The city's own FAQ says the project could run up to 24 months, which would mean June 2027. The FAQ lists what could stretch the schedule: protecting heritage trees and their roots, overseas shipping of the custom play equipment, manufacturing the prefabricated restroom building, nesting-bird protections, and hazardous-materials cleanup before the old restroom could be demolished.

The latest update is from April. Palo Alto Online reported that the new prefabricated restroom had been installed and the four major play structures were substantially complete. The finished playground will have custom play structures, picnic areas, new walkways, lighting and seating. So the structures are up, but the city has not announced when the fence comes down. Updates go on the city's Central Park Playground Renovation page.

The county's dates are firmer. Its notice says the Magic Mountain picnic sites can't be reserved until the area reopens in spring 2027, and the parking lot behind the playground is closed along with its EV chargers. The RV campsites and the restroom near Magic Mountain are still open. The design was picked by the public: the county says 78% of the more than 840 people who took its final survey chose the seaside theme.

The Eucalyptus Playground closure is the one that won't reverse. The county took it out of service because the equipment was old and replacement parts are no longer available, and it says there are "no immediate plans to install new play equipment." When Magic Mountain reopens, Coyote Point will have one playground where it used to have two.

East Hillsdale Finished First

Of the three playground rebuilds the city and county have had underway, Central Park, Magic Mountain and East Hillsdale, the one that has reached the finish line is the smallest. The city set Wednesday, Oct. 7 as the reopening day for East Hillsdale Park at 123 31st Avenue, with a ceremony at 1 p.m. The San Mateo Record reported that the 2.1-acre park had been closed since Sept. 2, 2025, and that this was its first playground upgrade in 20 years. The work included new play equipment, a repaved perimeter path, upgraded lighting and a new storm drainage system. Photos from the city show a spiral slide, a climbing structure and artificial turf.

That's a big step up. According to an earlier San Mateo Record report, the old play area was a small toddler section and a spiral slide. The renovation cost about $2 million and was built by Suarez & Munoz Construction. The city says the project was paid for by its Park and Recreation Revenue Fund and California's Proposition 68.

The neighborhood had a hand in the design. The process started with a survey in February 2020 and ended with an in-person vote at the park in January 2022, when more than 60 residents, including children, chose among three equipment vendors. The Park and Recreation Commission approved the Miracle Play Group design that March.

Getting it built took longer than planned. In April the city said the project could finish by late August if nothing else slipped. By Aug. 19, the Record reported that delays in getting play equipment and light poles had pushed it past that target, with no new date posted. The Central Park FAQ also lists overseas shipping of custom equipment as a schedule risk. Playground parts arriving late is a known risk for both city projects.

If you're driving over, the park has no parking lot of its own. The city's reopening notice asked visitors to use street parking and not to block driveways or double-park.

Where to Play, Sorted by Which Closure Affects You

The city has published two lists of nearby playgrounds, one for each of its closures. With East Hillsdale reopened, the second list now works as a cluster of options around it, and together the two lists cover most of the city.

If Central Park was your usual playground, the city points families to these four parks, listed here with the Record's distances from Central Park:

• Gateway Park, 800 E. 3rd Ave., 0.65 miles
• Sunnybrae Park, 625 Folkstone Ave., 0.73 miles
• Borel Park, 425 Barneson Ave., 0.75 miles
• Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 725 Monte Diablo Ave., 0.9 miles

If you live in the Hillsdale area, these are the playgrounds the city recommended while East Hillsdale was closed. Now that it's open again, they give you a nearby rotation:

• West Hillsdale Park, 345 31st Ave., on the same street as East Hillsdale
• Indian Springs, 313 W. 39th Ave.
• Beresford Park, 2720 Alameda de las Pulgas
• Paddock Park, 2900 Baze Rd.
• Bay Meadows, 301 E. 28th Ave.

If Coyote Point was your outing, the playgrounds are closed but CuriOdyssey is not. Its museum and zoo at 1651 Coyote Point Drive are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4:30. CuriOdyssey closed on Monday, Oct. 19 for maintenance, so check its hours page before you go. The county's trackless Kiddo's Chu Chu train ran weekends from May 2 through Sept. 27, so its 2026 season has ended.

Central Park still has plenty going on. The Japanese Garden, designed by Nagao Sakurai of the Imperial Palace of Tokyo, is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Central Rose Garden and the Recreation Center at 50 E. 5th Ave. are also open. The city's FAQ says less than 10% of the park is affected by construction. Restrooms are open near the E. 5th Avenue entrance by the grandstands and parking garage, and portable restrooms were planned for the southwest entrance on El Camino Real.

One October Saturday, Two Stops

Martin Luther King Jr. Park is on the city's list of Central Park alternatives, and on Saturday, Oct. 24, it's also the site of an event. The playground and the community center share the 725 Monte Diablo Avenue address, so a single trip can cover both.

1. Día de Los Muertos Celebration, Saturday, Oct. 24, noon to 3 p.m. This free event is at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 725 Monte Diablo Avenue, according to the city's Fall 2026 Activity Guide.
2. Boos and Brews on B Street, Saturday, Oct. 24, 3 to 5 p.m. This one is on the downtown pedestrian mall, on B Street between 1st and 3rd Avenue, per the city calendar.

Leave MLK Jr. Park when the Día de Los Muertos event wraps up at 3, and the B Street event is already underway downtown.

What Changes in Spring

From the schedules alone, the earliest Central Park could reopen is when its contract window closes in early December, and the city allows for as late as June 2027. Magic Mountain is set for spring 2027. Until then, the newest playground equipment in San Mateo is at East Hillsdale, a small neighborhood park that was designed with input from the kids who use it and opened after more than a year behind a fence. Next spring, if both rebuilds finish on time, San Mateo will have two new destination playgrounds within a few months of each other, and Coyote Point will have one fewer playground than it had before.

If you'd like to know which parks, open or reopening, are a short walk from a particular San Mateo street, Laura at D & L Properties keeps track of these openings and is happy to talk through what's close to where you live or where you're looking. Let's Connect.