For a city with such crappy weather, San Francisco has a shortage of indoor play spots. When you wake up to pea-soup fog for the third day in a row and you know the playground’s going to be bone-chillingly cold, where do you take a kid who needs to run and scream? The library? You’ll be tossed out on your ear. A coffee shop? Good luck facing down the gauntlet of hairy eyeballs from telecommuters trying to work. The Randall Museum? Great idea! So great that approximately 2,000 other families are crowding its play space.
That’s exactly why Peekadoodle Kidsclub has a shot, if it can manage to sign up enough members to make a go of it. Located in a magnificent spot at the corner of Ghirardelli Square, Peekadoodle is a spacious, well-appointed members-only play space for kids and comfy lounge for moms. Opened in February by mom-preneurs Kayla Lee and Ellen Park, the club is intended for kids aged 0 to 5.
“We send them off on their sixth birthday,” says Lee with a smile. She was the one with the idea for Peekadoodle, during a Chicago summer when her son was small. “It was 100-plus degrees outside, and I found an indoor place to play that was $100 a month. One hundred a month and nothing there but a play space, and I was happy to pay it just to get out of that heat. I knew we could do something better.”
They have. I visited last week with my 3-year-old, and both of us were bowled over by the accommodations. A big play-den filled with miniature wooden San Francisco icons like a Victorian house, cable car, and the Golden Gate Bridge! Friendly staffers overseeing the play as moms and nannies lolled on long benches, reading magazines! Kid-sized toilets in the bathrooms! Washers and dryers by the changing tables in case someone has a blowout! The rooms where kids can take cooking, language, music, and other classes were spiffy too, particularly the small-scale kitchen, and the food at the cafe is delicious.
The downside, of course, is the price. Membership at Peekadoodle starts at $100 a month, and most everything else — classes, food, childcare if you want to play on the computers or work out uninterrupted — is extra. The small hotel-style workout room is free, a plus; as are the computers in the lounge, and the free Wi-Fi. The convenient underground parking is a huge plus, but again, it’ll cost you: $2.25 for 90 minutes if you get a validation from Peekadoodle, but then $2.25 every 20 minutes thereafter.
If I had the extra cash, I’d be at Peekadoodle in a second. It’s posh, friendly, relaxing, safe, and my kid went insane for it. If you find yourself with kicking-around money, check it out. Work-at-home parents in particular might find Peekadoodle cost-effective. With on-site childcare available for a mere $5 an hour, Peekadoodle makes a lot of sense for telecommuters. Hey, maybe you could write membership off as a business expense? Check with your accountant on that one.
900 North Point St., 415-440-7335, peekadoodlekidsclub.com.