U-Me is play space with designer genes

That Menlo Park (and surrounding communities) want the best play space for their young children – hermetically sealed, brightly colored, imaginative – is a given. Enter U-Me. Housed in a warehouse space on Edison Ave.,  it’s picture postcard perfect.

Pampered babies, toddlers and kids under seven are treated to set designs out of Hollywood. That underneath it all are the same climbing steps, slides, jumpy places and play areas found on some nearby public play yards is not the issue. It’s the entire package – play space, Wi-Fi, cafe – that the founders hope will build community.

U-Me, which opened in January, was started by three Menlo Park moms, who as founder Melody Mortazavi explained, all had the same need: “We wanted somewhere our kids could play together and we could hang out and talk.”

To transform their dream into reality, took “hard work and imagination,” said Melody. “But there was also lots of laughter – and we had our children to test things out. The three of us had such a great time doing this together – it’s been very rewarding.”

In addition to indoor play space for the under seven set, U-Me offers classes, rental space for birthday parties and adult fitness classes. Day use rates start at $20 and various membership packages are available.

Photos by Chris Gulker