Ping Pong Park
July 26, 2009

Santa Barbara is a great town for people who love the great outdoors. Not only do we have a beautiful ocean, acres of beach volleyball courts, a nice harbor for boats, endless miles of bike paths, and lovely hiking trails, but we also have rooftop basketball, and outdoor ping-pong. While rooftop basketball at the Old Carrillo Gym is totally old school, the outdoor ping-pong table at Pelican Park on Del Playa in Isla Vista is a piece of art in itself.

A pretty picture of the ping-pong table at Pelican Park was presented for placement per last Sunday's Where Is It contest.

You don't need a paddle to appreciate its beauty. The table emerges from a rock pedestal. The metal net looks like it is made up of sticks from a nearby tree. And the flat surface of the table is terrazzo. Local artist, Scott Peterson, created both the ping-pong table, and the rock collage piece on the other side of Pelican Park. His other work in town includes the Sail Sculpture by the stage at Chase Palm Park.

As nice as the table is, the dedicated staff of edhat.com has been to the park a number of times, and we have yet to see any topspin smashes or rallies for serve. However, if there was someone playing to 21, we're sure they'd switch sides at 11. You see … one player gets a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean, while the other gets a view of an Isla Vista apartment.

The table was constructed in 2001, at the same time that the one-acre park was built. Susan Van Atta designed the park. On her company's website, the park is touted as a place to "study, chill, procrastinate or enjoy the amazing sunsets". Susan told the dedicated staff that the plants in the park are native to the Channel Islands. Also, the benches in the park are not benches, but stone couches - a type of couch that doesn't burn (I.V. joke).

Van Atta Associates is also designing the new Walter Capps Memorial Park, just down the road on Del Playa. That project should be open for park activities within a year.

Eight Edhat subscribers correctly identified the location of the table. The Edhat Dog was given the choice of eight different pieces of cheese in different varieties and sizes. She ate one of them, and then, without missing a wag, ate the other seven. Gooddeko's cheese was the first eaten. He/she wins an Edhat t-shirt.

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