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Paseo Nuevo Fountain
updated: Dec 20, 2012, 3:10 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

What happened to the top of the phallic fountain at Paseo Nuevo? It's missing.

The top was there yesterday, but now it's rebar.

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Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 356106	2012-12-20 03:13 PM
I miss the old fountain. The new one seems oddly out of place - it doesn't really seem to fit with the asthetic of the area.
COMMENT 356107P	2012-12-20 03:13 PM
Do you know what material it was? If copper, it was probably stolen! Horrible.
COMMENT 356111	2012-12-20 03:22 PM
Must have made a great topper for someone's tree. Seriously though...who is making these design decisions down there? Is anyone thinking to themselves...I heard they got a new "rod" downtown...let's brave the bums and go stare at it and maybe buy some overpriced tea or sunglasses.
COMMENT 356114	2012-12-20 03:31 PM
thats a sweet bong man!
ROGER DODGER	2012-12-20 03:33 PM
Copper brings in the Moola Welcome to the nude Santa Barbara!
COMMENT 356118	2012-12-20 03:34 PM
Is that a fountain in your plaza or are you just glad to see me? - Neal
COMMENT 356121	2012-12-20 03:37 PM
It is so industrial looking, maybe would look OK in the Funk Zone, but not in sophisticated downtown SB. Maybe someone who dislikes it as much as we do decided to "remodel" it.
COMMENT 356123	2012-12-20 03:40 PM
A lot of people in the arts community fought against this design which is by a local architect. Nothing about it represents Santa Barbara and it's rather phallic as far as I'm concerned. It is supposed to be topped with some sort of winged creature. I loved it the way it was before with the beautiful tiles.
COMMENT 356124	2012-12-20 03:45 PM
A column is phallic now? Wow.
COMMENT 356125	2012-12-20 03:46 PM
Kids really loved the wall with the hole you could crawl through. So sorry to see that wall go.
COMMENT 356126P	2012-12-20 03:47 PM
It's really, really ugly. We laughed out loud the first time we saw it and said "WTF????". It looks incredibly phallic and doesn't represent anything particularly "Santa Barbara". I wonder how or why it ever got approved. Nasty.
COMMENT 356128P	2012-12-20 03:47 PM
It just blew its top!
COMMENT 356131P	2012-12-20 03:52 PM
INCREDIBLY phallic. That's the only thought I had when I saw it, didn't even think about the old fountain because this one is so...well, phallic.
COMMENT 356132	2012-12-20 03:57 PM
It was very windy on Tuesday, I wonder if no one ever secured it properly and off it went?
SHAKEY	2012-12-20 04:06 PM
That's not a fountain , it's a statue of a true pillar in our commuity !!
COMMENT 356138	2012-12-20 04:09 PM
Yeah, this thing makes no sense. Why have a huge column with water spouts only from the base? It seems aesthetically pointless.
COMMENT 356139	2012-12-20 04:16 PM
Sorry, but it looked like a part of manly anatomy. Perhaps that's why they took it down? Everyone has been talking about how awful it looks.
COMMENT 356142	2012-12-20 04:18 PM
What is so wrong with phallic?
NATURE BOY	2012-12-20 04:40 PM
I agree, the wall with the big hole to climb through was LOVED by kids -- shame it's gone. And that they replaced two perfectly lovely fountain pools with THAT thing. Waste of money, the whole remodel.
COMMENT 356152	2012-12-20 04:51 PM
Do the people that approve these things have a sense of humor or what? Can you imagine how many locals and tourists looked at that thing and said exactly what we are all saying? To think, there was a time when our beautiful dolphin fountain had a difficult time getting approved.
COMMENT 356163	2012-12-20 05:04 PM
142, personally speaking, nothing. But I think that Paseo Nuevo doesn't want to be the....subject of jokes for the weird looking fountain they spent ages and a lot of money to produce. That's my theory anyway.
REXOFSB	2012-12-20 05:59 PM
I look at that picture and one word springs immediately to mind: HYPOSPADIAS. Rex sez Google it.
COMMENT 356193	2012-12-20 06:12 PM
Anyone know the catalyst for the change?
COMMENT 356195P	2012-12-20 06:22 PM
Maybe it is getting full length protection in its next reincarnation. Always want to send the correct public health message.
COMMENT 356200	2012-12-20 06:38 PM
The real question is; what makes someone replace a fountain anyway? Then to put a smoke stack in to boot? Dumbacus.
AUNTIE S.	2012-12-20 06:38 PM
Circumcision?
COMMENT 356211P	2012-12-20 06:54 PM
Maybe it's a chimney for Santa to climb down to deliver presents to all of the procrastinators stuck in the parking garage on Christmas eve? Hideous.
COMMENT 356216	2012-12-20 07:07 PM
I figure they may be getting ready for the winged thingies to be placed on the top. The concrete half-dome topper was rather odd given the whole design of the fountain. I see it almost every day and my comment to friends had them accusing me of a certain type of "envy."
COMMENT 356219P	2012-12-20 07:09 PM
Don't go to PN very often, but the renderings of the fountain that I saw looked too much like the moronic angel to me.
REXOFSB	2012-12-20 08:50 PM
@216: Winged thingies? Like flying monkeys? Actually, that might be kind of a nice touch. Bring 'em on!
COMMENT 356268	2012-12-20 08:58 PM
I wonder if the people complaining about the phallic aspect, well, for lack of a better phrase, are they perhaps... not getting laid?
TAZ	2012-12-20 10:03 PM
We loved the wall with the hole in it too (we're seniors), and loved seeing kids discover they could crawl through it. The round area for seating is gone too, and we used to roll coins around the barrier and kids loved learning that too. The previous fountain seemed perfect. I wonder why the changes were made?
GOBBLEDYGOOK	2012-12-21 07:28 AM
I recall that years ago, when Paseo Nuevo was new, the mall management got in trouble with the City. First, there were still empty retail spaces at the mall, and the mall manager had hired someone to paint trompe l'oeil pictures of potted vines curling up the blank white temporary partitions covering the empty storefronts. The trompe l'oeil work was very pretty and I thought it a classy touch. But the City said the paintings were "not approved" and didn't match the "scale" of Paseo Nuevo, which is apparently supposed to be a giant Spanish fortress, not a sweet place covered with flowering vines. They also chided the mall for planting orchid trees there near the fountain. Those small trees with the elegant purply-pink flowers. The City claimed they weren't approved trees, and moreover they were, once again, the wrong scale for the location. It was glaringly obvious that the City was just having a hissy fit because someone had done something without their approval and fees. Upshot: empty storefronts were returned to their blank white grandeur, but the trees stayed. (I don't know why they didn't add some stocks, or a gibbet, or a body hanging in chains, or some other more "authentic" references to the Spanish Inquistion.) I had just moved to SB then; my mom was a city planner up in the Bay Area and I knew a bit about that sort of thing; I thought SB had some kind a giant stick up its a-s. Which brings me to the new fountain: I'm assuming that after 20 years going through the approval process the giant stick is finally on view for all to see.
COMMENT 356323	2012-12-21 08:32 AM
Wrong about the orchid trees, they were on the original approved plans. And the fortress reference also wrong. But then you weren't at the ABR meetings or the city coucil appeal. Never cared for the fountain wall. Was an art element as required by redevelopment agency/ arts commission. This new confabulation is, well what is it. Can someone post the architect who designed the new fountain, please. Better still explain the design to us common folk. S'Auntie Barbara
KATYDID	2012-12-21 08:51 AM
Just ugly. Such a shame.
COMMENT 356337	2012-12-21 08:55 AM
My husband and I had returned from Italy and had seen beautiful fountains and tile work. We could not help but notice the earthy phallic fountain, its lack of colored tiles, its odd placement (it blocks pedestrian flow and doesn't blend in). The new bench shapes were all wrong, the other end of the mall lost its arches and looks very plain Jane. Who hired that architect and who approved those plans? The plans don't upgrade the area, but down scale it. It made us miss the mosaic wave wall; it was unique.
COMMENT 356343	2012-12-21 09:05 AM
Who designed this and who approved it? that's all we need to know... I'd like to make sure that I or anyone I know never hires this person or company to design anything...
COMMENT 356355	2012-12-21 09:27 AM
Whatever happened to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
SEEDLADY	2012-12-21 09:27 AM
here's a sketch of the fountain with the "winged figure" and the bench seating near it: http://www.santabarbaraview.com/art-critics-new-fountain-and-statue-for-el-paseo536363/ (for the entire remodel PN project) Designer: Henry Lenny Design Studio Architect: DeVicente Mills Architecture
COMMENT 356358	2012-12-21 09:29 AM
s. b. now stands for sity bassackwards
COMMENT 356373	2012-12-21 09:55 AM
Rex - I googled it - hilarious!
COMMENT 356394	2012-12-21 10:37 AM
WHY did they take out the old fountain? It was so pretty and this one is hideous! Everyone I've talked to thinks so. Ugh... more money wasted on NOTHING. Lame.
COMMENT 356400	2012-12-21 10:46 AM
Old fountain was beautiful and fun to play on. Done by very talented local artists. It should have stayed there forever. This new thingie has no soul.
COMMENT 356403	2012-12-21 10:56 AM
These same planners approved the infamous, now degenerating, "Chromatic Gate", sited at the the entrance to bum-view park. How can you criticize their imperious taste and judgment!
COMMENT 356408	2012-12-21 11:11 AM
Look at it, then look at yours. If you detect a resemblance, go see a urologist.
COMMENT 356433	2012-12-21 12:27 PM
The phallus is pretty funny and totally out of place at Paseo Nuevo. What was amiss with the original fountain?
COMMENT 356435	2012-12-21 12:32 PM
Gotta agree with 408. What the heck is wrong with you people that a simple column looks phallic?
COMMENT 356442	2012-12-21 12:52 PM
You know some legal consultant said to get rid of the hole & small fountains the kids all loved because someone "might" get hurt and sue. Let's pad & fence & uglify everything in the name of lawyers hot to make more money. I hate the new monstrosity :(
COMMENT 356460	2012-12-21 02:20 PM
Looks like a pepper grinder to me. I must be hungry.
COMMENT 356550	2012-12-21 07:18 PM
268, or perhaps they're getting TOO much. Actually, I think it's phallic and I am not complaining. It's just kinda stupid looking.
COMMENT 356706	2012-12-22 12:22 PM
Couldn't agree more with 123 and Nature Boy. The old climb-through window, tiles, the double fountains and the stadium seating all provided a welcome respite. Why would they have spent all the time and money on such an unsightly (yes, phallic) creation. Such a ridiculous waste!!!

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