Places: Highland Park Super Playground

Highland Park Super Playground

Dress your kids in bell bottoms, take them to the Highland Park Super Playground, slap an instagram filter on your phone and pretend it’s 1972. The playground is built entirely of wood, metal and rubber and other old-timey materials, with not a single piece of colored plastic (we love a wooden playground on this here blog). Despite the retro appearance, it was built in 1991 in five days by community volunteers.

The playground is located in the Maple Grove section of Highland Park, technically at 925 Mellon St. A castle of sorts surrounds the playground, with wooden bridges connecting spires for climbing. The inner section of the playground is filled with fun play structures like wooden trucks, rubber tire swings and metal monkey swings.



There are a few minor downsides: Because of all the bridges and the bumpy wood chipped surface, navigating the interior of the playground can be tricky with a stroller. Also, the metal slides get hot in the sun. And I could be wrong, but I didn’t see a ton of stuff for really young kids to do.



Any other Super Playground thoughts? Other playgrounds or Pittsburgh playspaces that you’d like to see profiled? Let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Anya Sostek is a Post-Gazette reporter and moderator of the PlayGround.