Entry No. 27 — the San Francisco file — filed under: folk-built
Seward Street Slides
Two steep concrete slides poured into a hillside in 1973 after a 14-year-old neighborhood girl, Kim Clark, talked the city into her design instead of a standard playground — locals still show up after dark with flattened cardboard boxes to ride them.
The story
In 1973, San Francisco city planners were preparing to outfit a steep, narrow residential lot in Corona Heights with a standard-issue playground. Fourteen-year-old neighborhood local Kim Clark fought back with her own blueprint: instead of metal swings and plastic structures, she convinced the city to pour two parallel concrete chutes directly into the slope.
The result is a rare piece of kids' engineering that survived decades of urban safety redesigns. Hidden inside Seward Mini Park between Douglass and 19th Streets, the two slick, heavy concrete tracks stand as a brutalist middle finger to generic park equipment—and a reminder that sometimes a teenager with a drawing pad knows better than a city department.
What it's like
Tucked away in a quiet Castro/Corona Heights residential pocket, the slides look unassuming until you stand at the top. You'll often find a pile of battered cardboard scraps left at the base by previous riders, but bring your own thick flat box just in case. Tuck your legs, keep your elbows inside the concrete channel so you don't lose skin, and shove off. The descent takes mere seconds, but the speed on smooth concrete is surprisingly intense. Keep noise down out of respect for the surrounding houses, and pack out your shredded cardboard when you finish.
The move: Grab a cardboard flat, climb the hill at dusk, and race down twice before anyone official notices — free, absurd, and over in seconds.
- 📍 Corona Heights / Castro
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Seward Mini Park, Seward Street between Douglass & 19th Streets, San Francisco, CA
Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Crystal Way — Walk half a mile downhill into the Castro to go from racing down raw concrete to browsing quiet, color-sorted towers of amethyst and quartz.
- The Golden Fire Hydrant — Pair a slide run with a quick seven-minute walk to the famous iron hydrant that saved the Mission District during the 1906 earthquake fires.
- The Sword and Rose — Head less than a mile west into Cole Valley to swap childhood thrill-seeking for an obscure, garden-hidden occult shop.
Good to know
Do I actually need cardboard to ride the slides?
Yes. Concrete friction will grab your clothes, slow you down, and tear up your jeans. A clean sheet of stiff cardboard acts like a sled and gives you real speed.
Where exactly are the slides located?
They sit inside Seward Mini Park on Seward Street, tucked between Douglass and 19th Streets above the Noe Valley and Castro neighborhoods.
Is there an admission fee or ticket required?
No, it is a public city mini-park and completely free to visit.
Can adults ride the Seward Street Slides?
Yes. While designed by a 14-year-old, the chutes easily fit grown adults—just exercise caution on the quick drop at the bottom.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Atlas Obscura · secretsanfrancisco.com · Reddit · inside-guide-to-san-francisco-tourism.com
last checked: 2026-07-20