TimesOC: The art of losing presidential campaign signs on display in Orange

Good morning, and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter. It’s Friday, Oct. 9.

My name is David Carrillo Peñaloza, the author of the TimesOC newsletter and an editor for Los Angeles Times Community News.

Who is going to be the next U.S. president, Joe Biden or Donald Trump?

Whoever loses will still have his campaign sign up on a residential lawn in Orange. And he will have plenty of company.

Reporter Vera Castaneda wrote about artist Nina Katchadourian and her “Monument to the Unelected” art installation, which features campaign-like signs of every failed U.S. presidential candidate. The collection of 58 signs are currently displayed at the corner of Fairhaven Avenue and South Oakwood Street in Orange.

Signs are on display Tuesday as part of the “Monument to the Unelected” art installation by Nina Katchadourian. The signs planted on the front lawn of an Orange home bear the names of losing candidates of every U.S. presidential election.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

“This piece is sort of a statement of fact about the past. You could feel happy or sad about any one of these signs and it depends on your own political perspective,” Katchadourian told Castaneda over Zoom. “There’s something kind of paradoxical about the fact that it’s using a form that is so partisan, but doesn’t express a partisan view about any election.”

The artwork, which is also on view in New York, San Francisco and Scottsdale, Ariz., will be on display until Nov. 17. At each site, a first-time voter will plant the next sign.

It might take all 14 days after the election to determine whose sign goes up next to the other presidential runners-up.

Retirees offer masks, positive messages — all for free

Welcome to the home that Nancy Buck, 75, and Nita Livingston, 69, share on Azure Avenue. Reporter Matt Szabo featured the retirees who have been doing their part to protect and lift their neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newport Beach residents Nita Livingston, left, and Nancy Buck have been sewing masks and putting them on a line in their front yard for anyone to take since the coronavirus pandemic began.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

In front of their house, masks hang on a clothesline. Just below the masks is a planter with rocks offering positive messages. Rocks also line up the edge of the sidewalk near the front lawn.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Bridgette Cobb, who stopped by on her bicycle to meet the women and pick up a mask. “It’s a wonderful act of generosity. The world needs more people like that.”

More O.C. stories

— Orange County has a shortage of childcare options for working families, according to a report by First 5 Orange County’s Children and Families Commission.

— Newport Beach resident Ian Charles Schenkel, the CEO of Ontario-based Haliburton International Foods, and Huntington Beach resident Amanda Emilia Perez have been charged by the Orange County district attorney’s office with child prostitution.

— Need helping paying rent during the pandemic? Costa Mesa will help pay three months’ rent for residents struggling financially.

— Santa Ana has taken the final step to ban Orange County’s lone needle exchange program.

— Do you know where Stanton is in Orange County? The city hopes Rodeo 39, a new public market on Beach Boulevard, will help put the city on the map.

— Laguna Beach is going to unveil new rules for short-term lodging in the city’s residential areas.

— The 21st Newport Beach Film Festival, which began showing films online on Oct. 1, ends Sunday. The festival is showcasing 40 feature-length narrative and documentary films and 231 short films.

— The Wild and Scenic Film Festival, one of the largest environmental film festivals in the U.S., isn’t coming to Costa Mesa this year due to the pandemic. Organizers are holding a virtual event on Oct. 17.

— Natalie Elliott, a Fountain Valley High School graduate, wrote a book about her aunt “Peny.” The book, “Peny’s Purse: A True Story of a Determined and Brave Woman,” was released on Oct. 1. In May, Peny died at age 88, eight years after earning her college bachelor’s degree.

Get in touch

Have any questions or suggestions for the TimesOC newsletter? Email me at david.carrillo@latimes.com.

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See you next week.