Menlo Park Elementary School
This was my elementary school. I started in 1985, and the playground has drastically changed since then. Back in the mid-80's, the school playground equipment was situated on the blacktop. There were six swings, chinup bars and a flip bar (which are still there, but have moved), a square jungle gym (which we used to pretend was a fire station, and as I recall had no barkdust under it), several sets of giant-ring crossing bars, another jungle gym (complete with parallel bars, chin-up bars, and monkey bars) that the kids called the "muscle man" for some unknown reason, and some teeter-totters. The teeter-totters disappeared when I was in first or second grade, as did the square jungle gym. Not long afterward, they added the patch of barkdust out in the field, and I remember the flip bar and chinup bars had moved over there by 1986 or 1987. Not long afterward, they brought in a new "dome" jungle gym, which is still there to this day.
Around 1991, the school decided to build a new playground structure. They gave the students a list of features the new equipment could have, and the kids got to vote on what they wanted. The result was a glorious play structure that included a zip line, two slides (a novelty for us), and a tire climb. This was built on a barkdust patch in the field as well. However, this play structure disappeared around 2004 or 2005, and they built this new red & yellow one in its place. Since they converted most of the old blacktop into a parking lot, all the play equipment is now located on the barkdust. The swings have been replaced. The "muscle man" is no more. The giant rings are gone, but similar rings can be found at Mill Park Elementary (maybe they were even moved there, who knows?) The only things that remain from my school days are the dome jungle gym, the flipbar, and the chinup bars.
In first grade, we were all over those bars. The little one was great for doing flips. We'd put our coats over the bar, then one knee over the coat. We'd then grab our ankle from behind and launch ourselves into series of flips. The three-tiered chinup bars were great too. When I was in first grade, I could only reach the shortest one, so I'd climb up onto that to reach the second bar, then scoot across the second bar to reach the highest one. Ingenuity at work!
Location: Between NE Glisan Street and Burnside, at about 129th Ave
2023 Update: The playground is practically unchanged since I first photographed it 2008, which I find comforting, considering that its previous iteration (mentioned above) lasted from only 1991 to 2004/2005. So we're coming on the 20th anniversary of this setup.
2023 Mini-Update: As far as I can tell there have only been three changes to this playground in the last 15 years. One, that blue thing in the photo above (that maybe once held swings?) -- it's gone, and there's one of those Sky Runners there now... those big loops that you grab onto and hope you don't dislocate a shoulder. Two, the swing set on the southwest side of the bark chips has been replaced with... a different swing set (was red, now green... different shape, too.) Finally, there's now a cover over the blacktop.
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