New beach art no Surfhenge, I hope

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

I heard something this week that sent up a huge red flag.

The city has begun phase two of refurbishing city beaches, a

project that will benefit residents who enjoy the beaches and

tourists in Surf City.

What worries me is that besides new parking lots and lifeguard

headquarters, the city plans to install three new pieces of art.

This is where the alarms sounded.

It is a great concept. Unfortunately, it is one that for me, and

many other Surf City residents I’d wager, now conjures an image of a

two towering, pockmarked concrete slabs sticking out of the sand,

with a third resting across the top.

Yes, that monstrous waste of space and money that residents

not-so-affectionately call “Surfhenge” was the city’s last attempt at

public art.

I cringe at what might be at the beach when it reopens in 2004 and

how much it will have cost taxpayers.

Surfhenge, you might recall, is actually titled Surf Circle and

cost the city $45,000. That is just for the statue alone. The city

also spent $72,000 on surrounding benches and lighting.

It was with relief that I listened to Dave Dominquez, acting

manager of facilities, development and concessions, describe the

artwork planned for the area.

One of the three pieces is an old favorite, the Morehouse Monument

pelican. It is merely being moved to a new grassy knoll and put on a

new pedestal.

Another area will incorporate artwork of the junior guards, which

should at least give the area a local feel. The hopefully artistic

young lifeguards made sea animals out of clay, which were glazed by

an artist and will be mounted on a wall to create an ocean scene.

Finally, and here’s where the real money comes in, an artist out

of Northern California (at least she’s not from New Mexico, like the

Surfhenge creators) has designed 3-D figures of dolphins and the like

that will grace an access ramp down to the beach. She will also

design a surfboard piece (uh-oh) with flags from the various

countries that visit our shores to surf, such as Japan and Australia.

Her artwork sounds simple and relatively tasteful. The price tag,

however, is a bit high at $340,000. I suggest city officials instead

commission a local surfboard shaper to make a board. Depending on the

size, it will only run us $900 tops.

Guess we can’t have taste and a low price.

Our best hope is this artist will at least know to put fins on her

surfboard.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at danette.goulet@latimes.com.