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Monterey, California: Dennis the Menace Statue (Gone)

Commissioned by Monterey resident and cartoonist Hank Ketcham. The original 1988 statue was stolen in Oct. 2006. A replacement was ordered, and anchored in menace-proof concrete. Then it was stolen -- sliced off at the foot with a grinder -- in Aug. 2022. The Menace was found in a nearby lake in Feb. 2023.

Dennis the Menace Playground

Directions:
Hwy 1, exit onto Fremont St., then a quick right onto Camino Aguajito, then a left onto Pearl St.
Status:
Gone

Visitor Tips and News About Dennis the Menace Statue

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Dennis the Menace.

Dennis the Menace Statue #1

I would like to let anyone who still cares (as I do) that in 1998-1999 there were many of us kids from Pacific Grove and Carmel -- hell, even Salinas -- who made plans on this heist. No one ever followed through with it because we would be too drunk, and riding the playground slides was more entertaining than trying to lift a statue, however light it may have been. Whomever took it most likely graduated either PG or Carmel in 1999, and it would be in their room or back yard or garage. They wouldn't go out to steal anything else.

It was a silly idea we all joked about and it looks like some person or persons grew tolerance to alcohol enough to go down the slides a few times and still care to swipe the statue. I'm sorry it happened. My friends and I wanted to take it and put it somewhere obscure, like the front of the adult book store.

It is sad the people who "borrowed" it haven't returned it yet. I hope they do -- and do it somewhere clever so we can at least get a laugh out of it.

[C.S., 03/17/2014]

The statue, installed at a Monterey playground in 1988, disappeared in 2006. It was replaced by an identical statue in 2007, this one securely anchored in cement.

Dennis the Menace.

Dennis the Menace Statue

The new statue of Dennis the Menace is installed.

[Dave Fallon, 06/17/2010]
Despite Dragnet, Dennis the Menace Still Missing

In Monterey, California, a three-foot-tall bronze statue of Dennis The Menace disappeared on October 25. By October 27, angry city officials were offering a $5,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the thieves.

...

[11/12/2006] Complete News Story


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