21 upcoming events · 3 local studios
A quiet, residential corner of Staten Island's North Shore, West Brighton is the kind of place where you push a stroller past old Victorian houses and hit green space pretty quickly. The Staten Island Zoo sits right in the neighborhood on Broadway, small enough that a toddler doesn't melt down before you've seen everything, and kids two and under get in free. McDonald Playground on Forest Avenue is a proper NYC Parks facility with play structures, spray showers, and bathrooms. The West Brighton branch of the New York Public Library is on Castleton Avenue and runs storytime and kids' programs year-round. For bigger outdoor days, Clove Lakes Park is just south, with paths along three connected lakes that are genuinely manageable with small kids in tow. This is car-friendly Staten Island, so most families drive, but several local buses run along the main corridors if you're coming from the ferry. On weekends the neighborhood moves at a slow pace. The studios running events here, Ironhand Boxing and Staten Island Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/MMA, keep things lively for the older-kid crowd, giving the area a bit more range than it might look like from the outside.