Boise, ID

London, New York, and Chicago all have a town, part of a town, or a public place called Hyde Park. They’re all pretty special places. We here in Boise have a Hyde Park of our own! It is a tiny stretch of popularity on 13th Street in the North End of town.

At the risk of being labeled an infiltrator since I don’t live in the North End myself, I have to preemptively defend myself by saying we love Boise’s North End neighborhood and visit it frequently. We adore its historic homes, early suburban layout made for walking to churches and schools, mature trees, and community feel. There are grand mansions, beautiful cottages and bungalows, and schools like Boise High where my dad and my grandparents went. My daughter and I are jealous of everyone who lives there. Hyde Park is a quaint, family-friendly retail stretch at the end of the neighborhood. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

We like to walk, so we decided to spend a few hours strolling together from Goody’s at one end of Hyde Park to Camel’s Back Park at the other. Goody’s Soda Fountain is an old fashioned ice cream shop with counter stools, tall soda spoons and straws, handles to jerk, and lots of yummy candy. We each got an ice cream cone (really good ice cream) and headed for the park. Along the way there are no less than seven places to dine al fresco and in decent weather, it seems the patio tables at all of them are full.

This is a casual, cool place where you can meet up with friends, eat, drink a beverage or two, shop for antiques, art, clothing, or gifts, or listen to the occasional band that sets up for whatever the reason might be. The last event we went to was the Scooter Rally. There was a band near the intersection playing for a street dance and a seriously good jazz ensemble at Goody’s.

Camel’s Back Park is not quite one-half mile north at Heron Street. It seems every spot of shade gets filled with picnickers, moms with babies, laughing teenagers, couples—you name it. The playground is usually teeming with little kids. This day was no different; the park population was alive and well.

Every September, the park morphs for a weekend into The Hyde Park Street Fair. The grass is covered with arts and crafts booths, non-profit organizations, food booths, art projects, and live music on a couple of different stages. The fair ushers out the end of summer and is a signal that fall is on the way.

The hill at the back of the park has an infamous sand trail that is great fun to climb up (it takes a while) and then run/tumble/fall back down.

Camel’s Back Reserve is on the back side of the hill. It’s about 60 acres of hiking and biking trails into Boise’s foothills. On this visit, we didn’t climb or hike. We just lazily hung out in one of those spots of shade. It was that kind of a day and we were pretty content to just people watch.

If you’re not already downtown, the easiest way to find Hyde Park from the west side of the valley is to drive down the connector until it ends on 13th Street. Take a left and keep going until you get there. You’ll be glad you took the time to visit.