If I weren't a committed urbanite with a healthy appreciation for interesting characters I think I would have walked on by (my suburban friends would freak out and refuse to enter, I'm sure). I think the first time I sat down on the swing with my baby it was really an experiment, because I'm pretty yuppie and it shows. I don't think I expected to be chased out of there, but I think I expected at least a sideways glance. Sometimes amongst a group so eclectic the one thing not so well tolerated is being entirely not eclectic (guilty). But nope. Nothing. No one batted an eyelash.
It's a great, safe place to take your kids if you want to make sure they don't grow up to be sheltered, prissy brats who freak out at the site of a homeless person or a group of punk teenagers with highly interesting piercings