Porter Ridge Park

Porter Ridge Park is a public neighbourhood park in Porter Ranch in the northern San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, situated near the northern end of Reseda Boulevard at Sesnon Boulevard. The approximately 17.8-acre park contains open lawns, mature trees, a children’s playground, basketball courts, picnic areas and elevated views across the surrounding San Fernando Valley. The site was initially known as Reseda/Sesnon (Porter Ranch) Park and briefly as Sesnon Recreation Center before the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners adopted the name Porter Ridge Park in 1974. It is particularly notable for a distinctive caterpillar-shaped climbing frame that has survived several renovations to the playground. The structure became a local landmark after appearing in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and residents have consequently referred to Porter Ridge Park informally as “E.T. Park” for decades. In 2022, the Los Angeles City Council supported a proposal to make E.T. Park the official name, specifically recognising the location’s connection with the film, although the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks continues to list it as Porter Ridge Park.

Porter Ridge Park appeared in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). The park is used during the climactic escape sequence when Elliott and Michael bring E.T. there after breaking him out of the government-controlled quarantine surrounding their home. Michael’s friends are waiting at the playground, where they see E.T. before the group transfers him from the van to Elliott’s bicycle and begins the famous BMX escape through Porter Ranch. The caterpillar-shaped climbing frame visible beside the boys remains at the park today and has become the location’s principal connection with the film.

In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Porter Ridge Park is the meeting point during Elliott and Michael’s attempt to get E.T. back to the forest before the government agents can recapture him. After Michael takes control of the government van containing Elliott and E.T., he escapes from the temporary quarantine surrounding the family home and heads towards the park, having arranged for his friends Greg, Steve and Tyler to meet them at the playground. Michael drives the van into Porter Ridge Park, where the boys gather beside the distinctive caterpillar-shaped climbing frame and see E.T. at close range. They then abandon the van, place E.T. in the basket on the front of Elliott’s BMX bicycle and leave the park together on their bikes. Government vehicles arrive shortly afterwards and find the van empty, beginning the extended bicycle pursuit through the developing streets and hills of Porter Ranch. Those later chase scenes were filmed at several other locations around the neighbourhood, while the famous moment when E.T. sends Elliott and the other boys flying over the pursuing authorities was filmed elsewhere. Porter Ridge Park is specifically the location where the group assembles and the bicycle escape begins. The caterpillar climbing frame seen in the sequence was deliberately preserved when the playground was later renovated and remains one of the few physical features of the park that can be directly matched to the 1981 filming.

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