Sunken Gardens is the small landscaped park ringed by the city's main civic buildings. It is, more than the buildings themselves, the social space of Atascadero. Summer brings free concerts on Saturday evenings, a weekly farmers' market, food-truck nights, and an outdoor cinema series; in winter the trees are lit and there is a Christmas market.
The park layout — a slightly sunken oval of lawn with paths and fountains — reflects the original early-20th-century master plan for the city, which placed civic, commercial, and residential zones around this central green. Whether or not anything is on, it is a pleasant place to sit out a hot afternoon.