Welcome to the Hotel California … when signs ain't sculpture

Insight on the News, Dec 22, 1997 by Gayle M.B. Hanson

When the Alameda County Arts Commission erected a $100,000 `sign sculpture' at the entrance to Castro Valley, residents weren't happy. Once again, the public decided it didn't like modem art.

They've taken down the welcome sign in Castro Valley, and the 60,000 residents of the largest unincorporated city in California aren't sure they want it back. It's not that the townspeople aren't friendly. They just don't care much for modern art.

"The only things missing are the words vacancy and heated pool," says local businesswoman Jolene Medina of the 20-foot-high "sign sculpture" created by artist Nancy Klein. The work, a takeoff on signs that often announce $32-a-night motels, reads "Castro Valley Welcome" in colorful letters of various type styles.

According to Klein, who lives in Washington state, the typefaces are in homage to the different cultural influences in the community. The script for the word Castro evokes the city's Hispanic heritage, for example, while a stylized rendering of a canoe that also appears on the sign represents the Ohlone Indians who once inhabited the area.

The sculpture, originally placed in a median strip dividing a busy six-lane road, competed with other "real" signs, including one for Hollywood Video that mimics the famed Los Angeles landmark. Trouble is, when most Castro Valley residents looked at Klein's sculpture, they saw red.

"It's like the county just didn't even think about what the residents wanted"' says Hanna Carbone, co-owner with her husband, Ken, of a local coffeehouse. "People would come into the store and nobody could believe that they put it up there, and that they paid $100,000 for it. It is absolutely ridiculous. It's not art. It's a sign. And it's a traffic hazard."

Fueled by the fervor of their customers' dislike for the sculpture, the Carbones took an informal poll of some 250 customers. All but 10 checked "Hate It" on the ballots. More recently, 800 residents turned out for a public meeting about the sculpture, most to complain about it. When the artist returned to do some touch-up work on the sign, sheriff's deputies had to protect her against harassment.

The sculpture, funded through a federal grant mandating a percentage of construction costs for public art, was commissioned by the Alameda County Arts Commission's Committee on Public Art. Committee members now say they realize that they didn't properly inform the public and county commissioners.

"We failed in two areas"' says Francis Rush, a commission member. "We did not fully understand the amount of outreach that needed to be done in the community. And we did not warn the county commissioners that there was going to be a lot of negative feedback on the project."

County Commissioner Mary King, who represents the unincorporated city (which has no government of its own), has been overwhelmed by constituent calls regarding the sculpture. "I've spent too much time on this"' she acknowledges. "This has become the most important issue I've had to deal with."

In November, the full county board of commissioners voted to temporarily remove the sculpture from its site. Next June, the entire city will vote on whether the sign should be returned.

"I am very disappointed that the sign had to be taken out," says Steve Huss, arts program director for Alameda County. "I think that this was a very politically charged situation and I think that the sculpture got caught up in a lot of other feelings residents have been having." Indeed, when residents talk about the sculpture they link it to other complaints having little to do with art, including the placement of a Bay Area Rapid Transit stop in the community.

On the morning that county workers removed the sign, the Carbones and other citizens created a card for King thanking her for supporting them. One signatory mimicked the sculpture by lettering in a curvaceous Thank You. "See," says Hanna Carbone, pointing to the mock lettering. "He could have made the sign. I could have made the sign. It's not art.... The money could have paid the salary of four art teachers for a year."

Members of the Alameda Arts Commission say supporters of the sculpture will spearhead a movement to bring it back. The commission also is exploring an alternative location for the piece. Artist Klein would have approval over a new site, however. In the meantime, the sculpture will be stored at county expense.