Shredding public art.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Artifact - Brief article

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

THE GOLDEN STATE maybe getting munched by a monster recession and gouged by gnarly government, but there's one thing you can still count on: Californians taking surfing skills seriously.

In 2007 the Botanical Society in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, a town near San Diego, put up "Magic Carpet Ride," a 16-foot bronze statue of a young surfer whose awkward form, in the words of a society official, was meant to "represent a kid learning how to surf." Locals, however, were unwilling to give the hodad any quarter. They quickly dubbed the statue the "Cardiff Kook" (surfspeak for feckless beginner) and created a mock MySpace page dedicated to ridiculing the Kook's amateurish look.

Local artists began using the statue as a template...