Pranksters Give Surfer Sculpture A Makeover

August 6, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- When a sculpture of a surfer was unveiled in Cardiff-by-the-Sea on July 23, many people immediately called it an eyesore.

They said the sculpture, and more specifically the surfer's pose, didn't really represent the surfing community.

Some time on Sunday morning, some pranksters gave the $120,000 sculpture an unexpected makeover.

The surfer was dressed up in a bikini top, a skirt and a Lucha Libre wrestling mask.

"I think it's better," said Ted Williams of Cardiff. "The people have spoken.""Whoever put it up there did a lot of work to get up there," said another resident. "I think it's great."

Throughout the morning, many people who walk and jog past the sculpture on Chesterfield Drive and South Coast Highway stopped to snap pictures with their camera phones. But not everyone was happy with the Big Kahuna of a prank.

Late in the morning, two unidentifed men showed up at the sculpture with a ladder and removed the skirt, bikini top and mask. The men would not identify themselves or speak.

A few people booed when they finished up.

The sculpture was created by artist Matthew Antichevich of Riverside. It was paid for in part by Cardiff-by-the-Sea and commissioned by the Cardiff Botanical Society.

No representatives were available to comment on the prank, but one resident said it is likely the beginning of a new tradition.

"I think this is the beginning of years and years of hazing," he said.