Tuesday, March 3, 2009
So, let’s just say you’re taking a walk along the cliffs near Devereux Beach. You look out at the islands and see them shimmering in the afternoon light. You see the dolphins leaping up out of the water and surfing on the waves. You see the college students playing football on the beach.
And then you look down and see a group of guys, with their spray cans in hand, defiling the remains of an abandoned building, red paint floating in the air. Some might call them artists, others might call them something else entirely.
Cat Neushul
The abandoned building that has become a favorite haunt of graffiti artists has been an accepted part of the Devereux experience for a long time. Right now it’s just a few walls, a chimney, and some weird kind of room with prison-like bars, but I like to imagine what it used to be like in its heyday.
I know that the Campbell family owned the building, and used it as a beach house. At that time it was covered in abalone shell and surrounded by trees, and didn’t have such words as JAKA and RICKS painted on the walls. But that’s not the way I like to think of it. I like to think that in its past glory it was used as a lookout point during World War II. I can imagine a bored Army officer sitting in a small room waiting day after day for the enemy to come. That is assuming that anyone in the Axis leadership knew where Goleta was, and had a reason to attack it. However, that’s just my idea. There are rumors that the building was once used as a storage facility for alcohol during Prohibition, and that there were tunnels designed to store the contraband. I like that idea as well.
With this history, real and imagined, you’d think that someone would have done something to preserve the building’s remains. Maybe even put up a plaque. Instead, it seems to be in a sort of limbo. It’s a piece of history that hasn’t been preserved, or completely destroyed. In fact, you could say that people are trying their best to trash it. People throw their empty beer bottles on it, toss their trash on it, and, in general, use it as their dumping ground.
The rest of the Campbell Ranch, which once covered 500 acres, is in various states of repair. The Campbell Barn, a red building near Isla Vista School, looks like it needs a serious facelift after suffering earthquake damage, but other buildings, such as the Cliff House overlooking Devereux and Sands, are still in use. The area near the Cliff House has become a site for native plant restoration, and a walk along the paths can be eye opening. The wetland areas feature a variety of plant life, including at least three different types of verbena, blue-eyed Marys, and wild Canterbury bells. This area is also home to the snowy plover. With all this natural beauty, you’d think that graffiti wouldn’t be a part of the landscape, but it is.
And that’s another reason the graffiti artists on Devereux made me cringe. It’s not just about the building on the beach. In some cases, the artwork on the walls is kind of interesting. Let’s even ignore the fact that the guys were letting off toxic fumes while I was trying to enjoy the beach. The thing that really bothered me was that I wondered what these guys were going to do with their spray cans when they were done. Were they going to walk through I.V. and spray indiscriminately?
I’d already had a bad experience with graffiti. One morning I woke up and there were green letters spray painted on my fence. It really made me angry. You have to figure out how to remove it. Then you have to get some kind of graffiti remover and waste your time scrubbing, all because of someone’s misguided view of a good time. I’m not the only graffiti victim. If you look around I.V., you can see graffiti in all different places, and it stays for a long, long time. I had a neighbor who was so disgusted with the graffiti that he spent his weekend walking around with a paint can and a brush, and covered it up.
But he isn’t the only person who is concerned about graffiti. Former 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone proposed an ordinance to curtail graffiti in I.V. The graffiti abatement ordinance was passed by the Board of Supervisors in January, and is now in effect. If there is graffiti on someone’s property, the owner has five days to remove it, call a county representative to do it for them, or risk a fine. While most people know graffiti when they see it, I thought the county definition was pretty cool. Graffiti is “any unauthorized inscription word, figure, mark or design that is written marked, etched, scratched, drawn or painted on any structural component of any building, structure or other facility.” That should about cover it. The fine for neglecting to remove graffiti after the grace period is $100, and the fine is repeated each day until the offending marks are removed.
While I’m not against art and free expression, I think that spray painting on people’s property is going a bit far. And I’d like to see the relics of the Campbell Ranch treated with some respect and care. Let’s see what the graffiti abatement ordinance does to solve this problem.