Bocce Ball Court Near Me in Williamsburg: McCarren Park's Last Lane

McCarren Park's bocce court sits at Union Avenue and Bayard Street, at the south edge of a 36.49-acre park split between Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and NYC Parks rules make it free, first come and permit-free outside tournaments. The city's athletic facilities data, updated in July 2026, lists one active asphalt court here and its twin as removed, so a bocce ball court near me search in north Brooklyn ends at a single lane, which is the first thing to plan around.

With only one active lane, the usual public-court etiquette matters more than usual. Arrive, watch the frame in progress, and ask the players whether you can take the next game; nobody holds the court with a sign-up sheet. NYC Parks' own advice for its bocce courts is to arrive early because the sport keeps growing in popularity, and here that applies to weekend afternoons when the surrounding handball courts and track are busy too.

Bring your own set. City courts do not lend balls, and the asphalt surface rewards a slightly heavier, slower roll than sand courts elsewhere in the borough. If you are teaching friends, start with a short game to seven points so the people waiting behind you get their turn, and agree on who measures before the first throw. The court is not marked accessible in the Parks dataset, so plan accordingly.

The lane sits in the park's southern section next to a cluster of twelve handball courts, just south of the running track and the synthetic soccer field and about a block west of Lorimer Street. If you come from the Bedford Av L station, walk north toward the park and follow Bayard Street to the foot of Union Avenue; the handball walls are the landmark to look for, and the bocce lane lies alongside them.

The four parcels that make up the park were acquired between 1903 and 1905, and the space opened as Greenpoint Park. In 1909 the Board of Aldermen renamed it for Patrick Henry McCarren, a cooper and sugar refinery worker who became a lawyer, won a State Assembly seat in 1881 and a State Senate seat in 1889, and died the year the park took his name. Brooklyn's first children's farm opened here in 1914.

The park's landmark is its pool. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia dedicated it on July 31, 1936 before a crowd of 75,000, one of eleven pools the Works Progress Administration opened that summer, planned under Robert Moses and designed by Aymar Embury II, with room for 6,800 swimmers. It closed in 1984, sat derelict for decades, became a city landmark in 2007 and finally reopened in summer 2012.

The bocce and handball area has its own chapter: the handball and bocce facilities received a $601,000 renovation in the mid-2000s, which is why the walls nearby still look newer than parts of the older park. Losing one of the two lanes since then is the reason the remaining court can have a line on a sunny Saturday.

Do not confuse the bocce area with the asphalt lot project. In 2025 the park secured $14.7 million to turn its big asphalt lot into green space, a dog run and possibly tennis courts, and NYC Parks held the first community design workshop on May 7, 2026. That lot is several hundred meters northwest of the bocce lane, and Greenpointers reported a projected finish in 2029, so for now it is a design process rather than fencing near the court.

Late October afternoons are short. Sunset at the court falls at 5:54pm on October 31 and jumps to 4:53pm on November 1 after the clocks change, so a weekday game after work becomes impossible in November. For restrooms, the city lists a Zone 3 comfort station open year-round from 7:30am to 11pm and fully accessible, plus a Zone 1 station that opens 8am to 4pm and later in season.

The nearest treat is Patisserie Tomoko at 568 Union Avenue, roughly 200 meters from the court, a Japanese-French dessert bar where a macaron costs $5.50 and the Matcha Crème Brûlée $7.50; the weekend dessert prix fixe is $29.50. It is closed Mondays and opens at noon the rest of the week.

For a post-game drink, Pete's Candy Store at 709 Lorimer Street is a bar and music venue a short walk away, with a Classic Grilled Cheese for $10, a Narragansett draft for $7 and house cocktails at $14. Weekday happy hour runs until 7pm with $6 drafts, which lines up neatly with an early-evening frame. Honest advice: skip the cocktails if you only have time for one round, and take the cheap draft back to the bench.

If you face a wait of more than two games, walk north into Greenpoint instead of standing at the fence. Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop at 727 Manhattan Avenue, family-owned for over 60 years, opens at 4:30am on weekdays and stays open until 7pm on Thursdays to Saturdays. Fortunato Brothers at 289 Manhattan Avenue, toward Williamsburg, serves cannoli and sfogliatella until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Check the G train before you travel on a weekend. Streetsblog reported weekend shutdowns north of Bedford-Nostrand Avs in 2026, including the first three weekends in December, which affects Nassau Av and Metropolitan Av. On those days the L to Bedford Av, about 485 meters from the court, is the better route.

Location: McCarren Park, bounded by Nassau Avenue, Bayard, Leonard and North 12th Streets, Brooklyn; the bocce court is at Union Avenue and Bayard Street. Cost: free, no permit, first come, first served, tournaments take priority. Courts: one active lane, asphalt surface, not marked accessible. Park hours: 6am to 1am unless posted. Subway: Bedford Av (L), Nassau Av (G), Lorimer St (L) and Metropolitan Av (G). Bring your own balls.