Elmhurst Park Playground

The crown jewel of the year-old green space known as Elmhust Park—built on the site of a former gas storage facility—is, for parents, the capacious, gorgeously landscaped playground. Thanks to smart engineering, lovely graded hills mute the traffic noise of the Long Island Expressway and keep exhaust at bay. Kids, though, will be more intrigued by its climbing structures, which look like squiggly doodles come to life, and graded pile of rocks that acts as a lookout for little explorers (there’s even a fast slide for quick getaways). Rubber flooring throughout, energy-generating stationary motorbikes and a gated-off spot for toddlers ensure it pride of place in the industrial neighborhood.