Dennis the Menace Playground at the El Estero Park Complex in Monterey, California holds special memories for adults who played there in their youth. The park first opened in 1956! I learned about the park from my friend, Connie, and took the opportunity to visit the first time we were in the area. Because of new safety standards, the park isn’t the way everyone remembers it. But it’s still fun for little kids who don’t have any point of comparison.
Directions to Dennis the Menace Playground: Coming from downtown Monterey, take Del Monte Avenue and turn right on Camino Aguajito. Then turn right again onto Pearl Street and park at the playground on your right.
Highlights:
- Double windy slides
- Suspension bridge
- Hedge maze
- Climbing wall for older kids
- Red roller slide
- Stairway bridge
- Crawl-through tunnels
- Cypress forest shading the slides
- A beautiful setting with water surrounding it
Checklist:
- Restrooms nearby
- Drinking fountain in the lion head at kid level
- Ballfield with bleachers
- Skate park
- Official El Estero Park Complex page
- Awesome official Dennis the Menace Playground video tour by the City of Monterey
- Save the Train page on Facebook
Thanks to Connie for recommending the park back in 2009! And thanks to my husband and son for finally visiting this summer.
Traci Lehman
Monday 13th of October 2014
My girls and I pitstopped here on our drive from Big Sur to Big Basin It was a nice park...looks like they've updated it a bit since we visited in 2012.