THE MOOD OF THE SPOT

By Corky Carroll

I was reading about the situation in Laguna Beach the other day where artist Andrew Myers was taking back his bronze surfer statue, that he had been commissioned to make by the City, that was supposed to be installed at the foot of Brooks Street, home of the legendary surf break and also the oldest running surfing competition that I know of.  From what I get is that the locals asked that the statue not be place right in the center of the viewing area due to the fact that nobody wants to lose any view.  I guess that was all good.  But then there is also the fact that the statue, which is called “The Classic,” depicts a surfer holding a longboard and checking out the surf.  All that is fine and dandy too.  But there is a request that the artist change the color of the surfboard from bright orange to something else, I don’t know what but I guess anything other than bright orange.  The color doesn’t fit in with the beaches culture.  From what I understand this miffed Andrew the artist and he has pulled his placement of the statue.  

This is kind of a typical deal, artists are known to be temperamental and locals are known to be knit picky about stuff like bright colors in their neighborhood.  But, in respect to the locals I have to go along with the notion that a bright orange surfboard is not exactly something that would blend into the atmosphere.  Yes, it would grab your eye, and maybe that is what the artist was looking for, but would that be attractive or one of those deals where you go, “geeze, what was this guy thinking?”  The fact is that you don’t see too many bright orange surfboards and that is probably for a good reason.  He could have made it blue and it would have fit in the ocean view. 

This goes along with a little side story that fits in with the last two weeks columns about the sharks down at San Onofre.  The general consensus is that a dead whale that the lifeguards buried on the beach a long time ago is a main factor in the presence of the sharks hanging out there.  The feeling is that the decomposed remains of the whale seeps oils and stuff through the sand and into the ocean, and the great whites are attracted to that and stay in the area because they think there is some tasty whale jerky or something like that nearby.  Makes sense.   Well, not long after the whale thing they got a new park ranger in for San Onofre, it’s a state beach.  I guess the new dude wanted to get rid of the nudists that used to hang out at trail 6, which was the local nude beach for awhile.  So, when a dead sea lion washed up on the beach he had the lifeguards take it down and bury it in the middle of the nude dudes volley ball court, with just one fin sticking up.  He must have figured the smell would drive them away, but they didn’t seem to notice and keep right on playing nude volleyball.  Ya gotta love it, why is it that new guys always seem to have to “fix” something? 

I don’t know that the nudists were much of a menace.  I went down there one time, just out of curiosity (ok, I was hoping to check out some hot nude babes) and there was just a bunch of fat old dudes and one really not pretty woman.  I would not use the term “ugly,” as it is disrespectful, but she was so not pretty that her nickname was “the Wolfman.” 

I am not so sure that she and her naked pals were all that view enhancing either, but at least they were off by themselves and seemingly were not bothering anybody or their oceanic views.  In Laguna Beach this statue was gonna be right there where everybody known to man would see it.  Is a bright orange surfboard that much of an eye sore?  Maybe, maybe not.  Beauty and aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder.  I mean, you are talking to a guy who rides a board airbrushed to look like a cow.  Hey!  There is the answer.  Change the board to cow colors and the statue can be me.  (Shut up, I can hear you gagging from here.)