EDITORIAL -- Bag the bones for a sculpture that suits Surf City
It’s a beautiful day at the beach, so you decide to go for a little
stroll along the boardwalk and enjoy the sights and sounds.
You marvel at the water’s shade of blue and how it sparkles in the
sun. You watch as children run up and down the beach and frolic in the
ocean. You listen to the waves crash on the shore and study the surfers,
admiring how effortless their ride along the waves looks.
Then something strange catches your ear.
It sounds a little fuzzy, kind of like a recording -- a recording of
bell buoys and foghorns.
And then you see it.
Big. White. Pointy.
It’s the city’s latest beautification effort. A sculpture of, well, a
whale carcass - or what’s left of it.
And that noise is a tape -- so visitors can hear the sounds of the
ocean.
In a city that has so much to boast, it’s puzzling why the council
chose a sculpture of whale bones -- with piped in sounds of the ocean --
to welcome visitors to our most prized possession.
We have so much to celebrate -- a beautiful coastline, an eclectic mix
of cultures. Heck, we’ve even earned the right to call the town Surf
City, a nickname many beach towns must envy.
The sculpture hasn’t won us over, and it hasn’t won over a lot of
residents. Since the council decided on the work May 1, the Independent
has received dozens of letters, the majority of them lambasting the
council for its choice in public art, which will stand at Pacific Coast
Highway and Beach Boulevard, the city’s gateway to the beach.
One resident calls it ‘absurd,’ another suggests the McDonald’s arches
would make a more attractive landmark.
“What do whale bones raising from the sand have to do with Huntington
Beach?” asks Cecelia Sparks. “The only connection I could think of is the
three whales that have been washed ashore [at Sunset Beach].”
“This is Surf City, not Whaler’s Village,” says Phil Wilder. “How can
they pick whale bones over surf boards?”
Actually, the council tried that with the proposed “Surfhenge”
sculpture. Residents didn’t like that one much either, but we believe it
would be a better match for Huntington Beach than whale bones.
Kimberly Kolpin, director of the Bolsa Chica Stewards, finds a sad
irony in the situation. The $35,000 the city will use to purchase the
sculpture will come from a settlement in the American Trader oil spill.
“It is in bad taste to glorify the death of marine life, which
certainly the oil spill contributed to at that time,” Kolpin says.
Surely city leaders could have come up with something better -- a
sculpture that celebrates the many families whose beach outings have
become annual traditions, or one that pays homage to the lifeguards who
stand watch over the millions of visitors who flock to the shore every
year, saving lives while risking their own.
We urge the council to reconsider. Abandon the bones and work to find
a sculpture that truly represents Huntington Beach. Enlist the help of
residents to serve on a special committee whose sole focus would be on
finding the best piece of art to display at that corner. But please, no
whale bones.
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