Civic Art Is a No. 1 Priority

The tiny plaque on the fountain in the park at Sunset Boulevard, Griffith Park Boulevard and Edgecliffe Drive--site of the weekly Silver Lake farmers market--reads: “In Memoriam, Mildred P. Flaggerty, 1888-1962, Inventor of the Bedpan, Los Angeles Civic Council 1977.” From there, the eye travels to the fountain, which features three misshapen ovals and protruding spouts.

Then the “wait-a-minute” moment arrives. Though it looks weathered, park regulars don’t recall any plaque before a few months ago. Hovering around this momument, in short, is the whiff of a prank, or perhaps a conceptual art project (clue: that’s the Los Angeles City Council, not “Civic Council”).

In the 13th Council District, one member of Councilman Eric Garcetti’s staff says he heard the history and dedication were true, though he can’t recall who told him. Another deadpans (so to speak) that the plaque seems apt given that the district’s largest employer is Kaiser Permanente.

Vince Brook, the Silver Lake Improvement Assn. board member who recommended designer/builder Joel Mueller for the fountain project in 1995, not 1977, says he doesn’t recall plans for a homage to the humble bedpan, though he can’t rule it out. Michael McKinley, director of Sunset Junction, the group that commissioned the fountain in the first place, lays it on the line.

“No,” he says, sternly, when asked if a plaque was part of the original design.

Garcetti, for one, marvels at his irreverent constituents. “It is not surprising that one guerrilla artist is also a critic of one fountain artist,” he says. “I think art should surprise, confuse, confound and challenge, as long as it is done well. Some neighborhoods paint angels. The truly daring place bedpan plaques.”