Story by John Vonderlin
Email John ([email protected])
Hi June,
This first picture of a wonderfully rugged stretch of our coast is looking towards Bean Hollow Beach.
I just happened to stop here to document an easier path to Peacock Rock and the new arch, Iceplant Arch, I wrote about previously. I can’t think of a busier chunk of our coast as far as rocks, inlets, promontories, reef, etc, that is as easy to catch in one photograph as right here.
Having absorbed its complexity for a minute, I’m feeling a glow from the post-card-eye-candy aspects of the view. As I walk a little further towards the ocean, looking for a path down into the rock garden of tafoni and concretions, I see this:
Grrr. What kind of nut would bring a spray can to a beautiful place and paint both the sign warning of poison oak and this huge log? In the big picture it is pretty small stuff. Teenage angst at their powerlessness? An overexuberant budding artist? A cry for recognition? Probably. Still its jarring, ugly intrusion into my glow had bummed me out. Somebody needs a good horsewhipping, I’m thinking. But, since I’m not sure if you can even do that to horses anymore, a hundred hours of community service as the “World’s Dirtiest Jobs” guy’s assistant is what I’m sure my Reptilian brain intended.
I hear you have had one of those “stupid crooks” events where young vandals do crimes and then post them on YouTube. In this case, I think it was the Pillarcitos Bridge they painted and Facebook where they posted their handiwork. I’d be curious if any of my graffitti photos are their “styles?” I’d love to add to their misery.
I expect the Graffitti guerillas will obscure the log’s graffitti soon, as it is so public. Enjoy. John