An artistic birthday

Eron Ben-Yehuda

Huntington Beach will celebrate its 90th birthday Saturday with the

dedication of rare murals at City Hall.

Hundreds are expected to attend the free two-hour ceremony beginning at

11 a.m. with performances by the Huntington Beach Concert Band and the

Festival Ballet Company.

The band will play a mix of holiday and birthday music while the ballet

troupe will dance a sequence from “The Nutcracker,” said Michael Mudd,

the city’s cultural services manager.

The main event will be the dedication of the ceramic tile murals, a

fitting tribute because they represent parts of the city’s history, City

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff said.

Mounted on several walls at the civic center, the murals depict native

birds in their natural habitats. One work shows a black-necked stilt

standing in a wetland. Another illustrates a pelican swooping into ocean

water teeming with fish.

The art transforms the “drab” government buildings, said Mayor Peter

Green, who will preside over the ceremony.

“It makes all the difference in the world,” he said. “You will think you

are walking through an outdoor art gallery.”

Dettloff said the murals set the standard for enhancing city property.

“It’s probably the best example you can find of what good public art can

be.”

Designed in 1976 by Edward Carson Beall, they were salvaged from the

demolished Seacliff Village shopping center. These murals are a rarity,

and are valued at more than $1 million, in part because the artist

created only one similar work, which is now on display in Maui, Mudd

said.

But the city inherited the art without putting up a dime, other than

staff time, thanks to the hard work of the city’s Save the Birds

Committee, which collected $255,000 in private donations, Mudd said.

Shea Properties contributed $210,000, and the balance was paid with

donations ranging from $5 to $1000 from over 500 residents, he said. “The

response was just overwhelming,” Mudd said.

For more information about the festivities, call (714) 536-5258.