Debate over lunarscape at Costa Mesa’s Moon Park resurfaces after 30-year hiatus
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With the recent completion of NASA’s Artemis II mission, which saw astronauts circle the orb ahead of an anticipated 2028 lunar landing, the moon has regained a prominence not seen since Apollo 11 crewmembers took “one giant leap for mankind” in 1969.
And locally, lunar history is also repeating itself in Costa Mesa, where a band of parents are petitioning officials to renovate the city’s Moon Park, including ripping out its namesake cement moonscape — a debate that last surfaced exactly 30 years ago.
The 30-foot-diameter cratered dome was set into the grounds of the Mesa Verde park, along with outer-space themed playground equipment that’s since been replaced, and dedicated in 1972 to mark America’s historic achievement.
But parents who live nearby say the structure is a hazard for children who use the two playgrounds on either side of the giant hemisphere. For that reason, and the park’s proximity to the Santa Ana River Trail, they are seeking safety and security upgrades at the 1.7-acre site.
Complete with social media accounts and a website at moonparkproject.com, parents are rallying neighbors for “A New Moon.”
The issue was raised during a March 31 Costa Mesa City Council study session on capital improvement projects proposed as part of the 2026-27 budget. On the list is a $50,000 earmark for some concept designs and community outreach about a possible Moon Park renovation.
Maintenance services manager Rob Ryan said the lunarscape is a bit of a wedge issue in the neighborhood.
“We have residents who look at the moon there and they see it as an integral part, an iconic feature of that park,” Ryan told the council. “Then you might hear from some residents this evening who look at that as being an obstruction, they can’t see from one playground to the other, and they’d like to see that gone and the playground expanded.”
Residents obliged, sharing frustrations with what they characterized as a neglected site that attracts graffiti and vagrants who access the site from the river trail.
“Moon Park is a problem and it needs to be invested in,” said a speaker identifying himself only as “Ramon,” the father of a 1-year-old son and daughter, 3, who each use a different play area.
“That [moon] really is a visual obstruction. If I take them by myself, I can’t be in two places at once… And a kid wandering out onto the bike trail is a very real risk, something that could be extremely tragic.”
Officials at the study session mulled whether the Artemis II mission might revive interest in Moon Park as a place where young visitors could learn about space science if signage were installed.
Public works officials acknowledged a dedication plaque with information about the 1969 moon landing appears to have been stolen.
Last Saturday, Costa Mesa police arrested a 50-year-old Santa Ana man found on the bike trail near Moon Park, after he’d allegedly started 11 small brush fires. The incident inspired a frisson of response from parents on social media.
Still, a contingent of pro-moon residents say the local lunarscape is more of a community treasure than a trouble.
Resident Debbie Marsteller — who’s lived across from the park since 1992 — watches the park’s comings and goings and says a typical weekend sees visitors of all ages trekking across the moon’s surface.
“On the weekends, there are picnics. On Easter, there was a big family reunion and an egg-rolling contest,” she said in a recent interview. “The moon is my closest neighbor.”
Aware of some residents’ desire for a park makeover, Marsteller says the same debate reared its head in March 1996, when a handful of parents organized for the structure’s removal. A wave of Cub Scouts partnered with neighborhood military veterans, mounting a defense to keep it.
The competing campaigns were covered in a March 9, 1996, Daily Pilot article titled: “Costa Mesa, we have a problem,” outlining how parents piled into a parks commission meeting to air concerns about visibility problems presented by the park’s moon.
Officials were contemplating a $15,000 demolition, when the scouts submitted a signed petition to then-Mayor Joe Erickson, who told The Pilot, “The little boys like playing on it — it makes sense. I don’t want the moon to go.”
At the time, Marsteller spoke on the moon’s behalf. Her son Nathan, now a 40-year-old microbiologist, urged city officials in a letter to retain the structure.
“It’s hard to believe 30 years later we’re back together again. It’s just a different generation of people with the same issue,” she said. “Nobody I know wants the moon to be taken out. I can see bringing back everybody to keep it going. I still have 10-year-old friends.”
Marsteller says the recent resurgence of moon exploration is a perfect opportunity to get kids excited about science right in their own backyard.
“Wherever we can celebrate greatness and humans who’ve done some special things, we need to celebrate that as often as we can,” she reasoned.
The City Council is scheduled to consider the $50,000 Moon Park funding commitment in a June 2 budget hearing.
